Common Defense Mechanisms

Apathy

Indifference; lack of interest

Compensation

Balancing a failure or inadequacy with an accomplishment

Conversion

Transformation of an anxiety into a physical symptom that has no cause

Denial

Avoidance of unpleasant or anxiety-provoking situations or ideas by rejecting them or ignoring their existence

Displacement

Redirection of emotions away from the original subject or object onto another

Dissociation

Disconnection of emotional importance from ideas or events and compartmentalizing those emotions in different parts of awareness

Identification

Attribution of characteristics of someone else to oneself or the imitation of another

Intellectualization

Analysis of a situation with facts and not emotions

Introjection

Adoption of the thoughts or feelings of others

Physical avoidance

Keeping away from any person

Projection

Transference of a person’s unpleasant ideas and emotions onto someone or something else

Rationalization

Explanation that makes something negative or unacceptable seem justifiable or acceptable

Reaction formation

Belief in and expression of the opposite of one’s true feelings

Regression

Reversion to an earlier

Repression

Elimination of unpleasant emotions

Sarcasm

Use of words that have the opposite meaning

Sublimation

Rechanneling unacceptable urges or drives into something constructive or acceptable

Suppression

Voluntary blocking of an unpleasant experience from one’s awareness

Undoing

Cancelling out an unacceptable behavior with a symbolic gesture

Verbal aggression

Verbal attack on a person without addressing the original intent of the conversation