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[The ego--defense mechanisms and coping].
1Psychiatrischen Universitätspoliklinik Basel, Schweiz.
Zeitschrift Fur Psychosomatische Medizin Und Psychoanalyse
|January 1, 1989
Summary
Defense mechanisms help individuals cope with reality by managing unconscious drives or reducing environmental demands. While some defenses enhance coping, others, like excessive rigidity or perceptual blocking, hinder it, though rigid defenses can prevent ego fragmentation and improve long-term reality adaptation.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Psychiatry
- Psychoanalysis
Context:
- Defense mechanisms are psychological strategies used to cope with reality.
- These mechanisms manage unconscious drives, emotions, and environmental demands.
- Examples include regression, transference, and autism.
Purpose:
- To explore the relationship between defense mechanisms and coping with reality.
- To differentiate between defenses that enhance and hinder coping capacities.
- To examine the impact of defense rigidity and specific defense types on psychological well-being.
Summary:
- Defense mechanisms serve to manage internal drives and external demands, aiding in reality coping.
- Defenses primarily managing drives can improve situation coping, while those reducing environmental perception or expectations do not.
- Rigid defenses, though difficult, can prevent ego fragmentation and, with psychotherapy, improve reality adaptation.
- In terminal illness, active coping defenses show better prognosis than resignation.
- Managing anxiety through object-related fear can free ego resources.
Impact:
- Understanding defense mechanisms is crucial for effective psychological treatment and patient prognosis.
- Identifying maladaptive defenses can guide therapeutic interventions to improve coping skills.
- This research informs psychoanalytic and psychodynamic approaches to mental health and illness.
- Findings suggest tailored defense strategies may be beneficial in managing chronic pain and terminal illness.