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Investigating Pain-Related Avoidance Behavior using a Robotic Arm-Reaching Paradigm

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Changes in defensive functioning in a case of avoidant personality disorder.

Michelle D Presniak¹, Trevor R Olson, John H Porcerelli

¹Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, Canada. Michelle.Presniak@usask.ca

Psychotherapy (Chicago, Ill.)

|March 10, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

This case study shows that psychoanalytic treatment improved a patient's defense mechanisms over five years. Key findings include increased overall and high-adaptive defense use, with decreased disavowal and fantasy defenses.

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Area of Science:

Psychology
Psychoanalysis
Personality Disorders

Background:

This case study examines defense mechanism utilization in a male patient diagnosed with Avoidant Personality Disorder.
Psychoanalytic treatment, lasting five years, was the intervention studied.

Observation:

Defense mechanism use was assessed using the Defense Mechanisms Rating Scales by three independent coders.
Session transcripts from intake, yearly intervals, and a one-year follow-up were analyzed.

Findings:

The patient demonstrated an increase in Overall Defensive Functioning and High-Adaptive defense levels.
Conversely, the use of Disavowal and Fantasy defense levels decreased over the treatment period.
A dynamic pattern of change was observed, including initial regression, pre-termination decline, and post-termination improvement in defensive functioning.

Implications:

The findings align with theoretical hypotheses regarding defense mechanism evolution during psychoanalysis.
This case highlights the importance of assessing defense mechanisms to evaluate treatment efficacy in personality disorder research.
Observed changes suggest that psychoanalytic treatment can lead to significant adaptive shifts in psychological defenses.