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    Immature Defense Mechanisms With Examples

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    clumsy16
    The document discusses several immature defense mechanisms: acting out, where unacceptable feelings are expressed through inappropriate behavior; denial, avoiding acknowledging difficult realities; regression, reverting to more childlike behaviors when stressed; projection, attributing one's own feelings to others; and introjection, unconsciously emulating more powerful people. Examples are provided to illustrate each defense mechanism.

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    Immature Defense Mechanisms With Examples

    Uploaded by

    clumsy16
    345 views3 pages
    The document discusses several immature defense mechanisms: acting out, where unacceptable feelings are expressed through inappropriate behavior; denial, avoiding acknowledging difficult realities; regression, reverting to more childlike behaviors when stressed; projection, attributing one's own feelings to others; and introjection, unconsciously emulating more powerful people. Examples are provided to illustrate each defense mechanism.

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    Immature Defense Mechanisms with examples

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    Immature Defense Mechanisms with examples

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    The document discusses several immature defense mechanisms: acting out, where unacceptable feelings are expressed through inappropriate behavior; denial, avoiding acknowledging difficult realities; regression, reverting to more childlike behaviors when stressed; projection, attributing one's own feelings to others; and introjection, unconsciously emulating more powerful people. Examples are provided to illustrate each defense mechanism.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    345 views3 pages

    Immature Defense Mechanisms With Examples

    Uploaded by

    clumsy16
    The document discusses several immature defense mechanisms: acting out, where unacceptable feelings are expressed through inappropriate behavior; denial, avoiding acknowledging difficult realities; regression, reverting to more childlike behaviors when stressed; projection, attributing one's own feelings to others; and introjection, unconsciously emulating more powerful people. Examples are provided to illustrate each defense mechanism.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    Immature Defence Mechanisms

    Acting out

    Acting out entails a strong display of emotions or behavior in order to


    hide the unacceptable underlying feelings or ideas. The displayed
    outburst or action may be socially inappropriate. This results in the actual
    emotion being masked.

    Acting out is often seen in patients with a borderline personality


    disorder or antisocial personality disorder.

    Example 1: A 16-year-old boy overreacts to cover up the underlying feelings


    of pain or emotional vulnerability.

    Example 2: A woman whose boyfriend just broke up with her becomes
    extremely sexually promiscuous to avoid dealing with the pain and the
    rejection.

    Denial

    Avoiding an obvious aspect of reality by pretending that it is false or that it


    does not exist thus blocking the external events from awareness. Facing this
    aspect may be painful.

    Example 1: Despite the fact that she received an official letter about the death
    of her husband on the battlefield, the soldier’s wife continues to believe that
    her husband will return home and keeps the house clean for him.

    Example 2: A 34-year-old factory worker spends most of his salary on alcohol
    and cigarettes, and claims that he only drinks and smokes occasionally,
    insisting that he does not have a problem.
    Regression

    Reverting to a behavior that is more childlike (or otherwise younger than


    age). Regression can be seen in people without any mental disabilities who
    are sick or otherwise uncomfortable. Playing games can also be seen as
    regressive behavior.

    Example 1: After being fired from his job, the 38-year-old man comes home
    and lies curled up on the bed in the fetal position.

    Example 2: When the second child was born, the older 3-year-old child starts
    having temper tantrums again or insists on drinking breast milk as well.

    Projection

    Attributing one’s own feelings, desires, or thoughts to someone else.


    This is associated with or may lead to paranoia. Thoughts that are commonly
    projected involve those that are likely to cause guilt such as aggressive
    behavior and sexual fantasies.

    Example 1: A man who had extramarital sex is convinced that it is, in fact, his
    partner who is having an affair.

    Example 2: A person with low self-esteem gets anxious around other people
    and says that other people make her uncomfortable.

    Introjection (Identification)

    Emulating behaviors of someone who is perceived to be more powerful. This


    is the opposite of the projection. The patterned behavior can be either
    positive or negative and occurs at a subconscious level. Conscious patterning
    is referred to as imitation.
    Example: A typical example is children acting like parents without realizing it.

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