Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Coping Mechanisms and Ego Defense
Coping Mechanisms and Ego Defense
Objectives
Student will be able to describe the defense mechanisms Student will be able to identify defense mechanisms from short vignettes
2)
Describes the dynamic interactions of unconscious and conscious forces in the mental life of a person The dynamic interactions are often interpreted as conflicts in unconscious drives and forces which in turn become expressed in the relationships of the individual
Ego defenses
When the conflicts in the unconscious rise to a heightened level the the conflicts threaten to become manifested in the conscious life of the person This is a way to discharge the anxiety created between the unconscious conflicts
Freud
Ego ID Superego
Determines that some needs are not consistent with an underlying view of ones self (Ego ideal)
Ego
Ego is the mediator between the unconscious world of the Id and Superego and the conscious world of reality The egos job is to mediate the struggle between the superego and id When superego and id are in conflict the person experiences signal anxiety Ego must convert the signal anxiety to defuse it and make it less threatening.
Ego Defenses
If the signal anxiety cannot be defused it may overwhelm the ego and allow the primitive primary process thinking of the unconscious to become manifested in the conscious life of the person
Developmental aspects
The infant is basically in a pleasure seeking mode of operating (sometimes this is confused with sexuality) The infant also conceives of the world in a narcissistic fashion. Things exist only as they relate to him or her At times the pleasure seeking runs into barriers in the outside world
This result in infants being confronted with reality New skills and coping mechanisms develop
Normally there is an orderly sequence as the child matures If significant trauma occurs the child may have difficulty learning the mechanisms that are normally learned at these times
Fixated uneven development of ego function which results in a part of the ego retaining more primitive or immature function Repetition compulsion replay of events related to significant traumas
Stages
It is possible to describe defense mechanisms along a hierarchy of maturation- actually done first by Freuds Daughter (Anna) The defenses used provide some evidence for stages where there are fixations
Immature
Acting out Regression Passiveaggressive behavior Schizoid fantasy Somatization Introjection
Neurotic
Displacement Dissociation Reaction formation Repression Isolation Rationalization
Mature
Altruism Humor Sublimation
Splitting
Hypochondriasis
Blocking
Sexualization
Intellectualization
The rigidity prevents the normal flexibility which is necessary in dealing with ambiguity Borderline and narcissitic PD use this
Magical thinkingUndoing
Anal
Phallic / oedipal
Latency
Symbolization, sublimation
Examples
After a difficult day on Internal medicine a Medical student returns home to his wife. He recounts every thing he encountered in meticulous detail without apparent emotional display.
#2
When his wife mentions that he seemed to not have much emotion about all that happened the student becomes irate and belittles his wife.
#3
At work the next day the student reports his outbursts to his colleagues and states she deserved it after-all she should know better than to bother him after a long day
#4
Maria is a song writer. She reports her best work is done when she feels near despair. It is as though her grief is expressed through her music.
#5
After Christmas you notice you over spent. You decide to forget to pay one of your credit card bills. Throughout the next month you periodic remember it needs to be paid but do not.
#6
You have just received the pathology report on one of your patients. It is cancer. When you inform the patient she becomes withdrawn and noncommunicative
#7
With time, 2 days, she begins to respond but becomes more dependent on her family for things she previously did even 2 days before.
#8
#9
Molly is in love with Bob. She describes him as her soul mate. On Saturday night he is sick and cancels their date. On Sunday she gets up and is extremely angry with Bob and breaks up.
#10
Molly misses Bob after 7 days and then goes out on Saturday night to a singles bar. She then ends up with a one night fling which she regrets.