Defense Mechanisms

Repression

the basic mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing impulses

Regression

Retreating to a more infantile psychosexual state, where some psychic energy remains fixated

Reaction Formation

Switching unacceptable impulses into their opposites

Projection

Disguising one’s own threatening impulses by attributing them to others

Rationalization

Offering self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening unconscious reasons for one’s actions

Displacement

Shifting sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person

Sublimation

Transferring of unacceptable impulses into socially valued motives

Denial

Refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities