Compensation
Putting forth extra effort to achieve in areas where one has a real or imagined deficiency
Conversion
The expression of emotional conflicts through physical symptoms
Denial
Disowning consciously intolerable thoughts and impulses
Displacement
Feelings about one person are directed to another who is less threatening, satisfying an impulse with a substitute object
Dissociation
The blocking of an anxiety-provoking event or period of time from the conscious mind
Fantasy
Gratification by imaginary achievements and wishful thinking
Fixation
Never advancing to the next level of emotional development and organization; persistence in later life of interests and behavior patterns appropriate to an earlier age
Identification
The unconscious attempt to change oneself to resemble an admired person
Insulation
Withdrawing into passivity and becoming inaccessible so as to avoid further threatening situations
Intellectualization
Excessive reasoning to avoid feelings; the thinking is disconnected from feelings, and situations are dealt with at a cognitive level
Introjection
A type of identification in which the individual incorporates the traits or values of another into himself or herself
Isolation
Response in which a person blocks feelings associated with an unpleasant experience
Rationalization
An attempt to make unacceptable feelings and behaviors acceptable by justifying the behavior
Projection
Transferring one's internal feelings, thoughts, and unacceptable ideas and traits to someone else
Reaction Formation
Developing conscious attitudes and behaviors and acting out behaviors opposite to what one really feels
Regression
Returning to an earlier developmental stage to express an impulse to deal with anxiety
Repression
An unconscious process in which the client blocks undesirable and unacceptable thoughts from conscious expression
Sublimation
Replacement of an unacceptable need, attitude, or emotion with one more socially acceptable
Substitution
The replacement of a valued unacceptable object with an object more acceptable to the ego
Suppression
The conscious, deliberate forgetting of unacceptable or painful thoughts, ideas, and feelings
Symbolization
The conscious use of an idea or object to represent another actual event or object; often, the meaning is unclear because the symbol may be representative of something unconscious
Undoing
Engaging in behavior considered to be the opposite of a previous unacceptable behavior, thought, or feeling