defence mechanism

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defence mechanism

(PSYCHOANALYSIS) the method by which the EGO transforms the energies of the ID to make them acceptable to reality. Defence mechanisms reduce biological tension and mental anxiety The main defence mechanisms are:
  1. denial, where the instinctual urge is inhibited;
  2. repression, where it is made completely unconscious;
  3. projection, where the urge is inhibited in the self but attributed to another person;
  4. reaction formation, where the energies of the ID are redirected in the opposite direction;
  5. intellectualization, where unacceptable emotions are transformed by explanations making excuses for the undesirable behaviour;
  6. sublimation, where the energy of the ID is directed from the primary, but unacceptable, object to one that is socially acceptable. See also FREUD, LACAN.
Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000
References in periodicals archive ?
However, these details do not always include relevant information about the defendant's mental state, and such omissions may introduce uncertainties that make mental defenses more likely to arise and succeed.
[sections] 4242(a) requires "the court to order that the defendant undergo a psychiatric or psychological examination once the defendant has filed a Rule 12.2 notice of intent to rely on an insanity defense (not on any other mental defense), and the government has responded by requiring such an examination."(30) Federal courts are in disagreement regarding whether Rule 12.2(c) provides authority for a court-ordered mental examination upon a defendant's notice of intent to introduce expert testimony relating to a mental defense other than insanity under Rule 12.2(b).(31) Some federal courts have held, after analyzing the advisory committee notes to the 1983 Amendment of Rule 12.232 and the wording of Rule 12.2(c)--"pursuant to 18 U.S.C.
If I get to 400 feet and I'm still in the soup, I'm out of my standard-operating box, and at this decision time know I'll need to play mental defense against cognitive dissonance.
It's a twilight zone of sorts, that sweet spot right after one's dreams have ended but before the mental defenses against the shock of continued existence have kicked in.