Anxiety Responses and Ego Defense Mechanisms

Flashcards covering ego defense mechanisms and clinical workbook exercises from Principles and Practice of Psychiatric Nursing, 10th Edition.

Regression

An ego defense mechanism exemplified by a man who loses his job and begins to stay in bed most of the day reading and eating candy bars.

Denial

An ego defense mechanism exemplified by a woman whose son died 3 years ago and keeps his room and all its contents intact.

Projection

An ego defense mechanism exemplified by a wife who has repressed attraction toward another man accusing her husband of having an affair.

Splitting

An ego defense mechanism exemplified by a young man who tells his nurse that she is wonderful but that the rest of the staff has no ability to help people.

Dissociation

An ego defense mechanism exemplified by a man with posttraumatic stress disorder who has an episode of anxiety and is unable to remember what he is doing or where he is.

Compensation

An ego defense mechanism exemplified by a woman who becomes relentless in business deals as she responds to the pressure of the all-male network in her company.

Sublimation

An ego defense mechanism exemplified by a woman feeling anxious about her new status as a divorcee and single parent who begins to redecorate the house.

Intellectualization

An ego defense mechanism exemplified by a frightened mother of a hospitalized child who begins to read incessantly about his illness and uses her new knowledge to attempt to teach staff about her child's illness.

Reaction formation

An ego defense mechanism exemplified by a man who has recently stopped drinking and devotes all of his spare time to the organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

Identification

An ego defense mechanism exemplified by a teenage boy who greatly admired his uncle, who committed suicide, beginning to dress like the uncle and engage in self-destructive behavior.

Rationalization

An ego defense mechanism exemplified by a student who receives a low grade on a test and complains that the problem is the disorganized presentation of course material.

Displacement

An ego defense mechanism exemplified by a patient who angrily shouts at his nurse after arguing with his mother on the telephone.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)

The organization to which a man who recently stopped drinking devotes all of his spare time as an example of reaction formation.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Cafeteria Scenario

A student workbook clinical scenario where a patient meticulously inspects and wipes the surface of a food container before choosing a serving, causing line frustration and derogatory comments.