Definition
Defense mechanisms (sometimes called adaptive mental mechanisms) reduce conflict and cognitive dissonance during sudden changes in internal and external reality. If such changes in reality are not “distorted” and “denied,” they can result in disabling anxiety and/or depression. Choice of defense is involuntary, but such choice can lead to enormous differences in mental health.
Defense mechanisms can restore psychological homeostasis by ignoring or deflecting sudden increases in impulse, affect, and emotion. Defense mechanisms can provide a mental time-out to adjust to sudden changes in reality or self-image. Defenses can mitigate sudden irresolvable conflict with important people, living or dead. Finally, defenses can mitigate conflict due to social learning or conscience.
Introduction
The boundary between pathology and adaptation is ambiguous....
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Brown, H. N., & Vaillant, G. E. (1981). Hypochondriasis. Archives of Internal Medicine, 141, 723–726.
Freud, S. (1894). The neuro-psychoses of defence. In The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 3, pp. 45–61). London: Hogarth Press, 1964.
Freud, S. (1905). Jokes and their relation to the unconscious. S. E., 8. London: Hogarth.
Freud, A. (1937). The ego and the mechanisms of defence. London: Hogarth.
Haan, N. A. (1977). Coping and defending. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
James, W. (1890). The Principles of Psychology. New York: Henry Holt and Co.,
Perry, J. A., Beck, S. M., Constantinides, P., & Foley, J. E. (2008). Chapter 6: Studying change in defensive functioning in psychotherapy, using defense mechanism rating scales four hypotheses, four cases. In R. A. Levy & J. S. Ablon (Eds.), Handbook of evidence-based psychodynamic psychotherapy (pp. 121–153). London: Springer.
Sartorius, N., Jablensky, A., & Regier, D. A. (Eds.). (1990). Sources and traditions of classification in psychiatry. Bern: Huber.
Vaillant, G. E. (1971). Theoretical hierarchy of adaptive ego mechanisms: A 30-year follow-up of 30 men selected for psychological health. (Helene and Felix Deutsch Prize, 1969). Archives of General Psychiatry, 24, 107–118.
Vaillant, G. E. (1977). Adaptation to life. Boston: Little Brown.
Vaillant, G. E. (1992). Ego mechanisms of defense: A guide for clinicians and researchers. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
Vaillant, G. E. (1993). The wisdom of ego. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Vaillant, G. E. (1995). The Natural History of Alcoholism Revisited. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Vaillant, G. E. (2012). Triumphs of experience: The men of the Harvard grant study. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press.
Wundt, W. (1896). Lectures on Human and Animal Psychology. New York: Macmillan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Vaillant, G.E. (2016). Defense Mechanisms. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1372-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1372-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences