Defense Mechanisms and Coping Strategies: Working Together to Manage Distress

Defense mechanisms and coping strategies are adaptational processes for managing stress and emotions. Whilst they have been supported individually, few studies have examined them conjointly, and none have studied their simultaneous influence in a comprehensive mediational model. The present study therefore aimed to investigate the impact of the interplay of defenses and coping on mental health. Serial-parallel mediation analyses showed that, in response to current fears, depressive defenses and negative coping predicted increased depressive symptoms, and neurotic-level defenses and negative coping predicted higher anxious symptoms, after the effects of positive coping. The combined effect of mature defenses and positive coping was not sufficient to significantly decrease symptoms. Our findings suggest that interventions targeting decreases in maladaptive defenses and negative coping, as well as increases in high-adaptive defenses and positive coping, would improve mental health, particularly in times of high stress and uncertainty.