compensation
counterbalances weaknesses by emphasizing strengths
Conversion
unconsciously changing anxiety into physical symptoms with no organic cause
Denial
escaping unpleasant, anxiety causing thoughts, feelings, wishes, or needs by ignoring their existence
Displacement
Displacing emotions with something to something else that is not threatening
Dissociation
Disruption of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception of environment that results in compartmentalizing uncomfortable or unpleasant aspects of oneself
Identification
coping characteristic of a person or group
Intellectualization
Things are looked at coldly without fact or passion rather than incorporating feelings and emotions into process
Projection
Unconscious rejection of emotionally unacceptable features and attributing them to others
Rationalization
Justifying illogical or unreasonable ideas, actions, or feelings by developing an acceptable explanation
Reaction Formation
Unacceptable feelings or behaviors are controlled and kept out of awareness by developing the opposite behavior or emotion
Regression
Reverting to an earlier, primitive, more childlike pattern of behavior that may or may not have previously exhibited
Repression
Unconscious exclusion of unpleasant experiences, emotions, or ideas from conscious awareness
Splitting
Inability to integrate the positive and negative qualities of oneself or others into cohesive images
Sublimation
Unconscious process of substituting mature and socially acceptable activity for immature and unacceptable impulses
Suppresion
Conscious denial of a disturbing situation or feeling
Undoing
Most commonly seen in children; makes up for an act or communication