Psychiatry - Fear, Anxiety, Stress, and Defense Mechanisms

Anxiety

What psychological function allows a person to respond to danger and grow emotionally?

Signal Anxiety

What is the ego’s learned response to anticipated danger?

Pleasure Principle

What principle is involved when signal anxiety helps control id impulses?

Essential

Is anxiety pathological or essential in development?

Ego

Which part of the mind develops the skill to deal with anxiety?

Signal Anxiety

What kind of anxiety is triggered by new, unfamiliar danger?

Ego functions or coping skills

What does signal anxiety help develop over time?

Traumatic anxiety

What happens if the ego fails to control the id in a threatening situation?

Absence of anxiety

What makes education or socialization impossible according to Freud?

Internal (thoughts) and external (physical environment)

What are two main sources of anxiety?

False

T/F: Anxiety is always pathological and must be treated.

True

T/F: Signal anxiety allows the ego to respond rationally rather than impulsively.

False

T/F: The ego cannot learn from anxiety.

False

T/F: Anxiety must be completely eliminated for healthy mental functioning.

True

T/F: Anxiety can result from either real or imagined danger.

True

T/F: Without anxiety, people would gratify every id impulse.

False

T/F: Signal anxiety decreases ego’s ability to function.

True

T/F: Learning to handle anxiety is part of human development.

False

T/F: Freud saw anxiety as an entirely negative experience.

True

T/F: Signal anxiety helps the ego prepare for future similar dangers.

Stressor

What is any real, imagined, or symbolic event causing anxiety called?

Signal Anxiety

What is the second step after a stressor occurs?

Signal Affect

What follows the emotional disturbance triggered by the stressor?

Physiological, Visceral, Psychological, Social

What are the four categories of the stress response?

Defense Mechanisms

Which mechanism does the ego use to deal with stress?

Eustress (Positive Stress)

What type of stressor can feel pleasurable?

Intrusive thoughts

What is a common example of a psychic stressor?

Restore homeostasis

What is the final goal of ego defense mechanisms after stress response?

Ego

What psychological structure mediates stress through learned strategies?

Physiological Response

What part of stress response includes heart rate increase or muscle tension?

False

T/F: Stressors must always be negative to cause anxiety.

True

T/F: Signal affect comes after signal anxiety in the stress sequence.

False

T/F: The ego uses defense mechanisms only for trauma, not everyday stress.

True

T/F: Stress can originate from internal or external sources.

True

T/F: Homeostasis means returning to a stable emotional and physical state.

False

T/F: Only mature adults experience the full stress response.

False

T/F: Stress cannot be beneficial in any circumstance.

True

T/F: Pleasant events can be perceived as stressors.

False

T/F: Signal anxiety is always conscious.

True

T/F: Stress affects both body and mind.

George Vaillant

Which psychologist classified defenses into mature, neurotic, immature, and narcissistic?

Denial

Which defense mechanism denies a painful reality?

Displacement

What defense mechanism shifts emotional reaction from one object to another?

Rationalization

What neurotic mechanism justifies unacceptable behavior with logical reasoning?

Regression

What is the defense mechanism where one reverts to earlier developmental stages?

Schizoid Fantasy

What is it called when someone avoids intimacy by escaping into fantasy?

Altruism

What defense mechanism involves helping others to satisfy one’s own unconscious needs?

Humor

Which defense mechanism includes making jokes to avoid discomfort?

Identification with the Aggressor

What is the defense called when someone internalizes the aggressor’s traits?

Reaction Formation

What defense replaces an unacceptable impulse with its opposite behavior?

False

T/F: Defense mechanisms are only unconscious and cannot be changed.

True

T/F: Suppression is a conscious form of postponing thoughts.

False

T/F: Projection and projective identification are the same process.

True

T/F: Mature defense mechanisms are used by well-adapted individuals.

True

T/F: Repression involves completely forgetting an unwanted memory.

True

T/F: Sublimation channels impulses into socially acceptable behavior.

False

T/F: All defense mechanisms are maladaptive.

True

T/F: Undoing involves doing something symbolic to cancel out a past act.

True

T/F: Denial can be adaptive or maladaptive depending on context.

False

T/F: Asceticism avoids discomfort by indulgence in pleasure.