Page 47 - Thrive Manual

Defense Mechanisms PSY
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DEFENSE MECHANISMS & COPING STYES HANDOUT
 Acting out - The individual copes with stress by engaging in actions rather than reflections or feelings.
o Healthy – Feeling high levels of distress and turning energy towards walking, working out, or completing tasks.
o Unhealthy – Throwing temper tantrums, acting impulsively, being aggressive.  Affiliation - Involves turning to other people for support.
o Healthy – Sharing your experience with others, asking for support or validation. o Unhealthy – Having others do things for you that you can do, becoming
dependent on others, losing independence.
 Altruism - Meeting internal needs through helping others.
o Healthy – Feeling high levels of distress and distracting yourself by helping a friend or neighbor, volunteering your time, becoming active in the community or with an organization.
o Unhealthy – Putting others needs before your own or engaging in self-neglect.  Avoidance - Refusing to deal with or encounter unpleasant objects or situations.
o Healthy – Feeling high levels of distress and taking a break, distracting yourself for brief periods of time, doing something nice for yourself.
o Unhealthy – Sticking your head in the sand, pretending things don’t exist, escape/avoid/or alter the distress.
 Compensation - Overachieving in one area to compensate for failures in another.
o Healthy – Feeling high levels of distress and turning energy towards things you
do well, applying the Building Mastery skill, doing things to feel competent.
o Unhealthy – Masking, engaging in things you do well to falsely appear competent, pretending you are doing well when you are not.