Page 98 - Meeting with Children Book

P a ge | 96

Psychological Defense Mechanisms As They
Commonly Emerge In Developmental
Sequence
DEFENSE MECHANISM DESCRIPTION
Infantile Defenses
Conservation When signaling (crying, cooing)
Withdrawal fails to find relief, the child
shuts down in sleep
Childhood Defenses
Denial Failure to acknowledge an
anxiety-inducing experience
Distortion Re-forming of an anxiety-
inducing experience to fit
existing beliefs
Regression Stress-induced abandonment of
most current and sophisticated
development in favor of earlier
levels of functioning
Adolescent Defenses
Fantasy Retreat into a false world
internally (as fantasy) or
externally (e.g., video games,
fiction, movies)
Passive Aggression Inaction that covertly expresses
rage
Idealization Attributing to someone
unrealistically positive
qualities; failing to recognize
someone's weaknesses or
faults
Acting Out Behavior that expresses a
strong emotion without
understanding or
acknowledgement that that
feeling exists