Defence mechanisms

A shield against feelings1

When a thought or feeling is too threatening, the mind pushes it away or reshapes it before we notice.

Repression1

Keeping unacceptable desires and ideas out of awareness, though they may come back in disguised form.

Projection1

Seeing in other people a feeling or urge you cannot accept in yourself.

Reaction formation1

Acting the opposite of a forbidden impulse, often in an exaggerated way.

Rationalisation1

Justifying behaviour with logical-sounding reasons that hide the real motive.

Denial2

People with symptoms of a serious illness sometimes deny or ignore them because the idea is too disturbing. The American Heart Association names denial as a main reason heart-attack treatment is delayed.

Projection3

Someone conflicted about expressing their own anger turns "I hate them" into "They hate me".

Projection in a couple3

A person having an affair may fear that their spouse is planning one, or accuse the innocent spouse of adultery.

Displacement4

Criticised by the boss and unable to answer back, a person comes home and yells at a family member or slams a door, a safer target for the anger.

Rationalisation5

After a rejection: "I didn't get the job that I applied for, but I didn't really want it in the first place."

Reaction formation1

A wife infatuated with a man who is not her husband becomes, rather than cheating, obsessed with showing her husband love and affection.

Intellectualisation6

A man raised by a strict father he deeply resents says only: "Yes, my father was a rather firm person, I suppose I do feel some antipathy towards him even now." Cool, rational words stand in for painful feelings.

Sublimation1

Channelling aggression into a contact sport.

Suppression1

For example, someone who gets worrying news just before an exam consciously decides to think about it after the exam, so they can cope with the task in front of them.

Pathological1

Psychotic denial and delusional projection, which radically reshape reality.

Immature1

Fantasy, projection, passive aggression and acting out; common in major depression and personality disorders.

Neurotic1

Intellectualisation, reaction formation, dissociation, displacement and repression: short-term relief, long-term costs.

Mature1

Humour, sublimation, suppression, altruism and anticipation, found in emotionally healthy adults.

Where it came from1

Vaillant drew the hierarchy from the Grant Study, which followed Harvard men from 1937 into late adulthood.

Rating defences1

The Defense Mechanism Rating Scale by J. Christopher Perry sorts 30 defences into seven levels to give a defence profile.

Defence or coping?1

Coping is conscious and reasoned; defence is automatic and driven by impulse.

Borderline defences1

Otto Kernberg saw splitting, projection, denial and projective identification as central to borderline personality organisation.