Defense Mechanisms: Theoretical, Research and Clinical Perspectives

The book is focused on defense mechanisms as theoretical constructs as well as the possibilities of their empirical registration by different methods, and the application of these constructs in different fields of psychology with special regard to concurrent and predictive validity. It is argued that defense mechanisms are in many ways to be seen as integrative constructs, not necessarily restricted to psychoanalytic theory and that the potential fields of their application have a wide ranging scope, comprising many fields of psychology. Consequently empirical studies are presented from the fields of clinical and personality psychology, psychotherapy research and psychosomatic phenomena and diseases. Methodological questions have a heavy weight in most of these studies.

Provides coverage of relevant literatureCovers different fields of applicationAttempts an integration of the contstruct of defense mechanisms into mainstream psychologyProvides explanations of the theoretical basis of the construct of defense mechanisms

Chapter 1: Defense Mechanisms: Current Approaches to Research and Measurement

Chapter 2: A Critical Perspective on Defense Mechanisms

Chapter 3: Defense Mechanisms in the Clinic, the Laboratory, and the Social World: Toward Closing the Gaps

Chapter 4: What is a Mechanism of Defense?

Chapter 5: Percept-Genesis and the Study of Defensive Processes

Percept-Genetic, Projective, and Rating Techniques for the Assessment of Defense Mechanisms

Chapter 6: Defense Mechanisms and Cognitive Styles in Projective Techniques and Other Diagnostic Instruments

Chapter 7: Percept-Genetic Identification of Defense

Chapter 8: Contributions to the Construct Validity of the Defense Mechanism Test

Chapter 9: Studying Defense Mechanisms in Psychotherapy using the Defense Mechanism Rating Scales

Chapter 10: The Motivational and Cognitive Determinants of Defense Mechanisms

Chapter 11: Repressive Coping Style and the Significance of Verbal-Autonomic Response Dissociations

Chapter 12: Perceptual and Emotional Aspects of Psychophysiological Individuality

Chapter 13: A Psychodynamic Activation Study of Female Oedipal Fantasies Using Subliminal and Percept-Genetic Techniques

Chapter 14: Adaptation to Boredom and Stress: The Effects of Defense Mechanisms and Concept Formation on Attentional Performance in Situations with Inadequate Stimulation

Chapter 15: Stress, Autonomic Nervous System Reactivity, and Defense Mechanisms

Defence mechanisms inpsychotherapy and clinical research

Chapter 16: Clinical Evaluation of Structure and Process of Defense Mechanisms Before and During Psychoanalytic Treatment

Chapter 17: The Measurement of Ego Defenses in Clinical Research

Chapter 18: Patterns of Adaptation and Percept-Genetic Defenses

Chapter 19: Intellectual Performance and Defense Mechanisms in Depression

Chapter 20: Defense Mechanisms and Hope as Protective Factors in Physical and Mental Disorders

Chapter 21: Defense Mechanisms and Physical Health

Chapter 22: Patients Confronted With a Life-Threatening Situation: The Importance of Defense Mechanisms in Patients Facing Bone Marrow Transplantation. An Empirical Approach

Defense mechanisms inPsychomatic Research

Chapter 23: Defense Mechanisms, Life Style, and Hypertension

Chapter 24: In Defense of Obesity

Chapter 25: An Experimental Study of Severe Eating Disorders (Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa)

Chapter 26: Defense Organizations and Coping in the Course of Chronic Disease: A Study on Crohn’s Disease

Defense mechanisms in neuropsychological contexts

Chapter 27: Defense Mechanisms and Their Psychophysiological Correlates

Index

Contributors