31st January 2024

Defence Mechanisms

These are subconscious mechanisms that all humans use to cope with anxiety and unwanted feelings. They can be useful, but they can also be pathological and maladaptive. Various defence mechanisms have been linked to different personality disorders:

• Splitting: Something or someone is either all good or all bad. This is most commonly seen in someone with borderline personality disorder.
• Projection: Attributing own feelings or thoughts onto someone else. This is most commonly seen in someone with paranoid, schizoid and borderline personality disorder.
• Projective Identification: When someone attributes their feelings or thoughts onto someone else, the other person unknowingly acts on these thoughts. This is most commonly seen in someone with borderline personality disorder.
• Fantasy: Imaginary life is created in one’s mind. This is most commonly seen in someone with schizoid and narcissistic personality disorder.
• Dissociation: Feeling disconnected from self or from a traumatic event. This is most commonly seen in someone with histrionic and borderline personality disorder. 
• Isolation of Affect: Separating emotions from thoughts. This is most commonly seen in someone with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.
• Intellectualisation: Excessive use of abstract thinking and avoidance of any affective expression. This is most commonly seen in someone with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.

References

• Bailey R, Pico J. Defense mechanisms. InStatPearls [Internet] 2020 Dec 9. StatPearls Publishing.
• Hentschel U, Smith GJ, Ehlers W, Draguns JG, editors. The concept of defense mechanisms in contemporary psychology: Theoretical, research, and clinical perspectives. Springer Science & Business Media; 2012 Dec 6.