Roxan G.

Moquerio
BSN 3B
NCM 117 LEC
ACTIVITY: Freud's Defense Mechanism Pre Lecture Assignment
Instructor: Sandra T. Gruy, MAN, RN

Defense Mechanism Description Example

Denial Denial is a defense A student who is accused of

mechanism in which an cheating on an exam refuses
individual is faced with a fact to believe it, even though
that is too uncomfortable to there is clear evidence.
accept and rejects it instead,
insisting that it is not true.

Repression Repression is a defense A woman who experienced a

mechanism in which an traumatic event as a child can
individual unconsciously no longer remember the
pushes distressing thoughts, details, but still feels uneasy
feelings, and memories out of when thinking about it.
their awareness.

Projection Projection is a defense A person who is jealous of

mechanism in which an their coworker accuses them
individual attributes their own of being jealous of them
thoughts, feelings, or motives instead.
to someone else.

Displacement Displacement is a defense After an argument with their

mechanism in which an boss, a person comes home
individual redirects their and yells at their spouse.
emotions from a more
threatening target to a less
threatening one.

Rationalization Rationalization is a defense A person who fails a test

mechanism in which an blames it on the instructor,
individual creates false but saying that they were not
plausible justifications to teaching the material
explain their behavior. adequately.

Intellectualization Intellectualization is a A person who is grieving the

defense mechanism in which death of a loved one focuses
an individual attempts to on the scientific aspects of
distance themselves death and avoids talking
emotionally from a situation about their feelings.
by focusing on the intellectual
components.

Sublimation Sublimation is a defense A person who has a strong

 mechanism in which an desire to hit someone when
individual redirects angry instead takes up
unacceptable impulses or boxing as a way to release
desires into socially their anger.
acceptable behavior.

Suppression Suppression is the conscious During the therapy session,

effort to avoid certain Bella refuses to recall her
thoughts, feelings, and memories toward her late
behaviors, or to keep them best friend. She actively
out of consciousness. works against these
memories through a variety of
techniques (e.g., ignoring
them, changing the topic, or
just refusing). When pushed,
she tells her therapist that
quite simply, she ‘cannot go
there.’

Conversion Conversion is characterized Matthew has experienced

by the transformation of extreme trauma and distress
psychological pain or distress while relocating. A few days
into physiological impairment, later, Matthew wakes up to
typically of sensory or motor find that he is blind.
symptoms such as blindness,
paralysis, seizures, etc.
(Sundbom, Binzer, &
Kullgren, 1999).

Dissociation Dissociation refers to the Katherine is recalling an

experience where the client especially traumatic
experiences a short-lived gap experience to her therapist.
in consciousness in response While recalling the
to anxiety and stress. experience, Katherine feels
overwhelmingly exhausted
and cannot control her
yawning.

Isolation Isolation is defined as the act During her session, Emily is

of creating a mental or describing an argument with
cognitive barrier around her husband and is about to
threatening thoughts and describe a thought that she
feelings, isolating them from remembers thinking during
other cognitive processes the argument.
(Baumeister et al., 1998).

Splitting Splitting refers to the When Cary receives the help

mechanism where individuals and favors that she asks for,
are considered either only she describes the people who
good or only bad, but never a satisfy these needs in very
 mix of both. positive terms. They’re
extremely helpful, loving, and
patient, and in response, she
shows them love and
affection.

One day, she asks her friend

to help her financially, but her
friend is unable to assist. In
response, Cary becomes
extremely upset, and she
turns against this friend,
describing her as “unreliable,”
“good for nothing,” and
“selfish.”

Compensation Compensation refers to the Jeffrey is bullied at school by

client’s attempt to make up the other boys because of his
for what they consider to be slim build. In response,
their flaws or shortcomings or Jeffrey exercises regularly.
for dissatisfaction in one He undertakes an intense
domain of their lives exercise program, drinks
(Hentschel, Smith, Draguns, protein shakes, and is very
& Ehlers, 2004). diligent in his strength
training.

Undoing Undoing refers to a behavior Jayme recently argued with a

when individuals ruminate on customer, lost his temper,
previous events, replaying and consequently lost that
and reimagining them as a customer’s contract. He is
way to change what very angry about the
happened and, as a result, outcome. He relives this
help protect against certain argument, ruminating on how
feelings or behaviors he should have responded,
(Baumeister et al., 1998). and imagines delivering a
precise retort and
embarrassing the client.

Introjection Introjection is similar to Agatha experiences

identification (Cramer, 1991, introjection related to her
2006). highly critical mother as the
internal voice that
continuously criticizes and
berates her. As a result,
Agatha has developed low
self-esteem and often runs
herself down.

Reference: Nortje, A. (12 April 2021). Defense Mechanism in Psychology. Retrieve from
https://positivepsychology.com/defense-mechanisms-in-psychology/ on February 18, 2023.