Defense mechanisms 

• Compensation

A physically disabled boy is unable to participate in football, so he becomes a great scholar

• rationalization a patient tells a rehab nurse that he drinks because it is the only way he can cope with his bad marriage and job
• denial a woman drinks alcohol every day and can’t stop and doesn’t acknowledge that she has a problem
• reaction formation a student only attended nursing school to please her parents and hated it. During career day, she talks to prospective nursing students about how amazing the career is.
• displacement patient is angry with doctor but doesn’t express it. then is verbally abusive to the nurse. OR a person gets mad at work and comes home and kicks the dog
• regression a 2-year-old is hospitalized, and he will only drink from a bottle even though his mom says he has been drinking from a cup for 6 months.
• Identification A teen needs a lot of rehab after an accident and decides to become a PT as a result
• repression a trauma victim can’t remember anything about the event
• intellectualization a woman’s husband is being transferred to a new city (far away) for work. She hides her anxiety and discusses the advantages of the move.
• sublimation a mom whose son was killed by a drunk driver channels her energy into being the president of the mothers against drunk driving club.
• introjection a child integrates their parent’s value system into their own conscience formation. Like “don’t cheat.it’s wrong”.
• suppression “I don’t want to think about this now. I’ll think about it later.
• isolation a young woman describes being attacked and raped without showing any emotion
• Undoing a man is nervous about his new job and yells at his wife. He stops to buy her flowers on the way home
• Projection A man addicted to alcohol blames his wife for his drinking