Avoiding awareness of pain of reality by negative sensory data is in which of the following defence mechanism?
Ans. B. Denial. (Ref: Kaplan & Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry, Xth/Ch.6.1, Page no, 202).Kaplan & Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry, Xth/Ch.6.1, Page no, 202..........."Denial is the avoidance of awareness of some painful aspect of reality by negating sensory data. Displacement refers to the shifting of an emotion or a drive from one object to another (for e.gthe shifting of unacceptable aggressive feelings toward one's parents to the family cat)."Discussion:# Denial is a defense mechanism in which the conscious awareness of a painful reality is abolished. E.g. in case of a female with the bad news from her doctor about she being suffering from Ca breast, she will not pretend that her doctor's visit was uneventful; she consciously will believe that her doctor's visit was fine.# In displacement, an unacceptable impulse or emotion is shifted from one object to another. This permits the release of the impulse or emotion onto someone or something that is less unacceptable or dangerous.# Distortion is the reshaping of external reality to suit one's inner needs. For example, a singer who is told at an audition that she needs a lot of work to make her voice stronger remembers the audition as notable for receiving only positive feedback. Blocking is the inhibition of thinking, temporarily and transiently. Isolation is the splitting or separating of an idea from the emotion that accompanies it (but has been repressed).# Dissociation is the temporary but drastic modification of a per- son's sense of personal identity so that emotional distress can be avoided. Fugue states are one example of dissociation in action.Additional Educational points:Freud classified defense mechanisms as narcissistic (or primitive, including denial, projection, and distortion), immature (acting out, introjection, passive-aggressive behavior, somatization, and several others), neurotic (displacement, externalization, intellectualization, rationalization, inhibition, reaction formation, and repression), and mature (sublimation, altruism, asceticism, anticipation, suppression, and humor).# Projection is the act of perceiving and acting as if unacceptable internal impulses (which are unconscious) are coming from the external realm. For example, a patient with very aggressive impulses, which are unacceptable to him, begins acting as if the person in the room with him were being aggressive toward him.# Sublimation is the act of transforming unacceptable social impulses into acceptable ones, in order to achieve impulse gratification. For example, a man with strong homicidal impulses writes extremely graphic but successful horror novels as a way to channel those unacceptable feelings into something socially appropriate.# Reaction formation is the transformation of an unacceptable impulse into its opposite. For example, a woman who has feelings of hate and disgust toward another finds these impulses unaccept- able, so instead she behaves as if this other person is a good friend.# Altruism uses service to others as a way of getting one's instincts gratified.
Distortion
Denial
Displacement
Dissociation
Miscellaneous