NR 326 Mental Health Nursing Defense
Mechanisms
Denial - answer Avoidance of disagreeable reality by ignoring or refusing to recognize it
Displacement - answer Transferring painful feelings to a neutral object
Projection - answer Attributing our own thoughts or impulses to another person
Rationalization - answer Offering a socially acceptable or logical explanation for
otherwise unacceptable impulses, feelings and behaviors
Reaction formation - answer Displaying the opposite behavior or attitude
Regression - answer Returning to an early level of emotional development
Repression - answer Unconscious, involuntary forgetting or unacceptable or painful
thoughts, impulses, feelings, or actions
Undoing - answerA compulsive response that negates or reverses a previous
unacceptable act
Intellectualization - answerPerson avoids uncomfortable emotions by focusing on facts
and logic
Mechanisms
Denial - answer Avoidance of disagreeable reality by ignoring or refusing to recognize it
Displacement - answer Transferring painful feelings to a neutral object
Projection - answer Attributing our own thoughts or impulses to another person
Rationalization - answer Offering a socially acceptable or logical explanation for
otherwise unacceptable impulses, feelings and behaviors
Reaction formation - answer Displaying the opposite behavior or attitude
Regression - answer Returning to an early level of emotional development
Repression - answer Unconscious, involuntary forgetting or unacceptable or painful
thoughts, impulses, feelings, or actions
Undoing - answerA compulsive response that negates or reverses a previous
unacceptable act
Intellectualization - answerPerson avoids uncomfortable emotions by focusing on facts
and logic
