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DEFENSE MECHANISM
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(psychiatry) an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires
Synonyms:
defence; defence mechanism; defence reaction; defense; defense mechanism; defense reaction
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural processes
Hypernyms ("defense mechanism" is a kind of...):
process; unconscious process (a mental process that you are not directly aware of)
psychoanalytic process (a process that is assumed to occur in psychoanalytic theory)
Domain category:
psychiatry; psychological medicine; psychopathology (the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "defense mechanism"):
compensation ((psychiatry) a defense mechanism that conceals your undesirable shortcomings by exaggerating desirable behaviors)
conversion ((psychiatry) a defense mechanism represses emotional conflicts which are then converted into physical symptoms that have no organic basis)
denial ((psychiatry) a defense mechanism that denies painful thoughts)
displacement ((psychiatry) a defense mechanism that transfers affect or reaction from the original object to some more acceptable one)
idealisation; idealization ((psychiatry) a defense mechanism that splits something you are ambivalent about into two representations--one good and one bad)
intellectualisation; intellectualization ((psychiatry) a defense mechanism that uses reasoning to block out emotional stress and conflict)
isolation ((psychiatry) a defense mechanism in which memory of an unacceptable act or impulse is separated from the emotion originally associated with it)
projection ((psychiatry) a defense mechanism by which your own traits and emotions are attributed to someone else)
rationalisation; rationalization ((psychiatry) a defense mechanism by which your true motivation is concealed by explaining your actions and feelings in a way that is not threatening)
reaction formation ((psychiatry) a defense mechanism in which a person unconsciously develops attitudes and behavior that are the opposite of unacceptable repressed desires and impulses and serve to conceal them)
regression ((psychiatry) a defense mechanism in which you flee from reality by assuming a more infantile state)
repression ((psychiatry) the classical defense mechanism that protects you from impulses or ideas that would cause anxiety by preventing them from becoming conscious)
