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Somaticization Expression of strong emotion
indirectly through bodily
(somatic) complaints (e.g.,
gastric upset, headache)
Projection Disowning one's own strong
emotion and attributing it
instead to someone else
Adult Defenses
Displacement Redirection of strong feelings
from their actual source to
another, less threatening
source
Dissociation Separation of strong emotion
from self, sometimes
expressed as "not me"
experience
Intellectualization Acknowledgement of an
anxiety-inducing event
without emotion

Reaction Formation Distorting an unacceptable
emotion into its opposite (e.g.,
the thief who becomes a
police officer)
Compartmentalization Distancing oneself from
threatening emotions by
locking associated events into
accessible but separate
experiences
Rationalization Imposing reason so as to
excuse or make sense out of
otherwise unacceptable and
threatening emotion
Garber, 2010 p. 98