Coping Mechanism

VS.
Defense Mechanism
• COPING MECHANISM
- Are the sum of total ways in which people deal with minor to major stress
and trauma. some of the process are unconscious ones, others are learned
behavior, and still others are skills that individuals consciously master in
order to reduce stress, or other intense emotions like depression.

• DEFENSE MECHANISM
- Refer to an individual’s way of reacting to frustration. These are
unconscious psychological strategies brought into play by various entities
to cope with reality and to maintain self-image.
- According to Freud, defense mechanisms are methods of ego uses to avoid
of recognizing ideas or emotions that may cause personal anxiety
- The unrealistic strategies used by the ego to discharge tension (Lahey, 2001
& Rathus, 2003).
Lists of Coping
Mechanism
1. Acting Out
- This means literally acting out the desires that are forbidden by the super
ego and yet desired by the ID.
Example:
An addict gives in to her/his desire for alcohol or drug. A person who dislikes
another person seeks to cause actual harm to him/her.
2. Aim Inhibition
- Sometimes we have desires and goals that we believe or realize that we are
unable to achieve. In aim inhibition, we lower our sights, reducing our goals to
something that we believe is actually more possible or realistic.
Example:
A person who sexually desires another person (married) but is unable to fulfill
that desire convinces himself/herself that all she/he wants is to be friends.
3. Altruism
- Avoid your pains by concentrating on the pains of others. Maybe you can heal
yourself and feel good by healing them and helping them to feel good.
Example:
A self-made millionaire who grew up in poverty sets up a charitable foundation
and gains great pleasure from how it helps others get out of the poverty trap.
4. Attack
- “the best form of defense is attack” is a common saying and is also common
in action, and when we feel threatened or attacked. (even psychologically) we
will attack back.
Example:
A person is having a problems with his computer, he angrily bangs the
keyboard.
5. Avoidance
- We simply find ways of avoiding having to face uncomfortable situations,
things or activities.
Example:
I dislike another person at school. I avoid walking pass his/her desk.

6. Compartmentalization
- It is a ‘divide and conquer’ process for separating thoughts that will conflict
with another. This may happen when there are different beliefs or even when
there are conflicting values.
Example:
• My son is an angel in school and a demon at home.
• The belief of a religious person and a scientist.
7. Compensation
- Where a person has a weakness in one area, they may compensate by
building up strengths in another area.
Example:
• A person who failed in Math excelled in English.
• People who are not intellectually gifted may turn their attention to social
skills.
8. Conversion
- Occurs where cognitive tensions manifest themselves in physical symptoms.
The symptoms may well be symbolic and dramatic and it often acts as a
communication about the situation. Extreme symptoms may include paralysis,
blindness, deafness, becoming mute or having seizure. Lesser symptoms
include tiredness, headache, and convulsions.
Example:
A person’s arm becomes suddenly paralyzed after it has been used to threaten to hit
someone else.
9. Denial
- Simply refusing to acknowledge that an event has occurred.
Example:
A man hears that his wife has been killed, and yet refuses to believe it, still setting
the table for her and keeping her clothes and other accessories in the bedroom.
10. Displacement
-refers to the shifting of actions from a desired target to a substitute target when
there are some reasons why the first target is not permitted or not available.
Example:
A man, rejected by his girlfriend, goes out with another woman on the rebound.
11. Dissociation
- Involves separating a set of thoughts or activities from the main area of
conscious mind, in order to avoid the conflict that this would cause.
Example:
A religious person preaches kindness to all, yet is cruelly strict to children,
without realizing that there is a conflict between the two.

12. Emotionality
- When we become stressed or tension is caused, a number of negative
emotions may start to build, including anger, frustration, fear, jealousy and so
on.
Example:
Teenagers often cannot contain the emotions caused by physiological and
temporal development. As a result, they can be very emotional and can
contribute significantly to family problems.
13. Fantasy or Day Dreaming
- When we cannot achieve or do something we want, we channel the energy
created by the desire into fantastic imaginings. Fantasy also provides
temporary relief from the general stresses of everyday living.
Example:
A boy who is punished by a teacher creates fantasies of shooting the teacher.
14. Fight or Flight Reaction
- When we perceive a significant threat to us, then our bodies get ready
either for a fight to the death or a desperate flight from certain defeat by a
clearly superior opponent.
Example:
A lion suddenly appeared in front of a person while walking in the forest. That
person may chose to fight the lion or to run away to save his life.
15. Help-rejecting Complaining
- A person becomes upset or otherwise elicits supporting actions from other
people. When helpful suggestions or other comfort is offered, however,
he/she reject this and return to his/her complaint.
Example:
A person complains to his/her partner about problems at work. When the
partner suggest ways of resolving the problems, the solutions are rejected out
of hand and the person continues to complain.
16. Idealization
-an over-estimation of the desirable qualities and underestimation of the
limitations of a desired thing.
Example:
A teenager awes rock star regarding the strar’s grosser and rough backgrounds.
17. Identification
- Occurs when a person changes apparent facets of his/her personality such
that he/she appears to be more like other people.
- Areas of identification may include external elements, such as clothing and
hair styles as well as internal factors such as belief, values and attitudes.
Example:
A person in a meeting adopts similar body language of his/her manager, and
tends to take the same viewpoint.