Defense mechanisms in risk of suicide and risk of violence.
This paper reports on an empirical study of defense mechanisms in 60 psychiatric inpatients. Eight defenses--compensation, denial, displacement, intellectualization, projection, reaction formation, regression, and repression--were studied in the context of a two-stage model of suicidal and violent behavior. The results showed that use of regression as a defense differentiated suicidal from nonsuicidal patients, and use of displacement differentiated violent from nonviolent patients. Repression tended to turn aggression inward, and projection and denial turned aggression outward.
Apter
A
A
Department of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY 10461.
Plutchik
R
R
Sevy
S
S
Korn
M
M
Brown
S
S
van Praag
H
H
D000328:Adult; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011385:Projection; D012043:Regression, Psychology; D012307:Risk Factors; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology; D014754:Violence