Muni's PlayThis note summarizes the hierarchy of defense mechanisms as defined by the Defense Mechanisms Rating Scales (DMRS). Defense mechanisms are organized into seven levels based on their adaptiveness and function, further grouped into three broader categories.
Hierarchy Overview
Summary Table
| Category | Level | Defense Level Name | Individual Defenses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mature | 7 | High-Adaptive | Affiliation, Altruism, Anticipation, Humor, Self-assertion, Self-observation, Sublimation, Suppression |
| Neurotic | 6 | Obsessional | Isolation of affects, Intellectualization, Undoing |
| Neurotic | 5 | Neurotic | Repression, Dissociation, Reaction formation, Displacement |
| Immature | 4 | Minor Image-Distorting | Devaluation of self-image, Devaluation of other’s image, Idealization of self-image, Idealization of other’s image, Omnipotence |
| Immature | 3 | Disavowal | Denial, Rationalization, Projection, Autistic fantasy |
| Immature | 2 | Major Image-Distorting | Splitting of self-image, Splitting of other’s image, Projective identification |
| Immature | 1 | Action | Acting out, Help-rejecting complaining, Passive aggression |
| Dysregulation | 0 | Psychotic | (Defensive dysregulation - e.g., Psychotic denial, Distortion) |
Defensive Functions of the Levels
| Level | Defensive Level | Core Function |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | High-Adaptive | Fully perceives stressors without distortion; maximizes positive expression and acknowledges limitations. |
| 6 | Obsessional | Keeps distance from emotions while remaining aware of the idea; feelings are minimized or indirectly expressed. |
| 5 | Neurotic | Blocks awareness of the threatening idea/motive while allowing the associated feelings to be expressed indirectly. |
| 4 | Minor Image-Distorting | Props up self-esteem through distortion to dismiss threatening aspects (e.g., failure or criticism). |
| 3 | Disavowal | Refuses to acknowledge unacceptable aspects of reality; misattributes problems to avoid personal role. |
| 2 | Major Image-Distorting | Protects from intolerable anxiety by splitting representations into “all good” or “all bad” extremes. |
| 1 | Action | Releases tension through impulsive action on the environment/self, treating internal conflict as purely external. |
Mature Defenses (Level 7)
Conceptual Overview of High-Adaptive Defenses (Level 7)
| Defense | Definition | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Affiliation | Turning to others for support and validation; sharing problems to enhance coping capacity. | Allies attachment needs with effective coping; reduces isolation and subjective tension. |
| Altruism | Dedication to fulfilling others’ needs, often reflecting awareness of one’s own underlying needs. | Gratifies social needs and channels past powerlessness into mastery through helpful responses. |
| Anticipation | Realistic consideration of future solutions and rehearsal of emotional reactions to prepare responses. | Mitigates future stress effects by tolerating anxiety during affective rehearsal and planning. |
| Humor | Emphasizing amusing or ironic aspects of conflict to relieve tension in a way shared by others. | Allows symbolic expression of blocked affects/wishes; transiently relieves frustration for self and others. |
| Self-Assertion | Direct expression of feelings and thoughts to achieve goals without coercion or manipulation. | Relieves anxiety of unexpressed wishes; allows functioning without shame or guilt for not speaking up. |
| Self-Observation | Reflecting on one’s own thoughts, feelings, and behavior to understand self and others’ reactions. | Enables better adaptation to reality by providing an accurate view of internal affects and impulses. |
| Sublimation | Channeling potentially maladaptive impulses into socially acceptable behavior (e.g., sports, art). | Allows expression of inhibited impulses with modified aims, often resulting in creative mastery. |
| Suppression | Voluntarily and temporarily avoiding thinking about disturbing problems to attend to more urgent tasks. | Keeps stressors out of awareness to prioritize immediate needs; acknowledges feelings but postpones dealing with them. |
Manifestations of High-Adaptive Defenses (Level 7)
| Defense | Example Manifestations |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Turning to others for help or advice to find a solution to implement oneself; confiding to enhance coping skills and emotional sharing. |
| Altruism | Helping others with similar past struggles for personal reward/mastery; protecting others at personal risk; gaining gratification from the act of helping. |
| Anticipation | Imagining upcoming challenges to prepare emotionally and plan resources; practicing to reduce anxiety; preparing for interpersonal responses without over-planning. |
| Humor | Using irony/amusement to diffuse embarrassing or competitive situations; making self-deprecating but non-hurtful remarks to mitigate negative feelings. |
| Self-assertion | Taking direct steps to deal with needs/problems; expressing thoughts/feelings clearly without inhibition; standing up for oneself appropriately. |
| Self-observation | Reflecting on personal experiences and motives to adjust to limitations; reliving distressing feelings to gain understanding and change perspective. |
| Sublimation | Channeling emotional conflict or unfulfilled wishes into creative, artistic, or physical outlets; finding the creative process itself satisfying and invigorating. |
| Suppression | Consciously putting aside negative feelings or impulses to attend to urgent needs; acknowledging limitations (like addiction) rather than pretending they don’t exist. |
Neurotic Defenses (Levels 6–5)
Level 6: Obsessional Defenses – Conceptual Overview
| Defense | Definition | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Isolation of affects | Cognitive and affective components are separated; details remain conscious but the associated feeling is lost or detached. | Protects against threatening feelings (anxiety, shame, guilt); allows dealing with ideas comfortably by keeping affect out of awareness. |
| Intellectualization | Excessive use of abstract thinking to avoid disturbing feelings; emotions are lost while cognitive elements remain generalized. | Cognitive strategy to minimize felt importance of problems; distances the subject by expressing impulses as impersonal generalizations. |
| Undoing | Behavior designed to symbolically negate or make amends for previous unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or actions. | Minimizes distress/guilt by expressing the opposite affect or action; behaves as if compelled to “erase” original actions. |
Level 6: Obsessional Defenses – Manifestations
| Defense | Example Manifestations |
|---|---|
| Isolation of affects | Telling emotionally charged stories in a detached way, recognizing that one should feel something but failing to experience or show the emotion. |
| Intellectualization | Generalizing personal issues or discussing them in scientific/logical terms to keep feelings at a distance (e.g., explaining a predicament as a “product of parental expectations”). |
| Undoing | Wary of committing to a clear stand; using qualifies like “not exactly”; following an action with an opposite intent or using disclaimers to neutralize a strong statement. |
Level 5: Neurotic Defenses – Conceptual Overview
| Defense | Definition | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Repression | Inability to remember or be cognitively aware of disturbing wishes/feelings; affect is felt but the associated “idea” is missing. | Protects from awareness of current or past experiences; keeps the cognitive element (the “what”) out of consciousness. |
| Dissociation | Temporary alteration in the integrative functions of consciousness or identity; affect/impulses operate outside normal awareness. | Allows expression of threatening material (e.g., trauma) by altering consciousness, thereby reducing guilt or threat. |
| Reaction formation | Substituting behavior/thoughts that are diametrically opposed to unacceptable ones (e.g., supplanted by renunciation). | Avoids feelings of guilt by supplanting unacceptable feelings with their opposite; may gratify a wish to feel morally superior. |
| Displacement | Redirecting a feeling or response from a threatening object/person onto a less threatening one. | Allows expression and acknowledgment of an affect/impulse but misdirects it toward a less conflictual target. |
Level 5: Neurotic Defenses – Manifestations
| Defense | Example Manifestations |
|---|---|
| Repression | Inability to remember facts or periods (like childhood); keeping loaded topics vague or “getting” the point when a discussion becomes emotionally loaded. |
| Dissociation | Sudden confusion, depersonalization (“spacing out”), or developing physical symptoms (headache, pain) that temporarily eclipse awareness of distress. |
| Reaction formation | Substituting a wish with its opposite attitude (e.g., being overly nice to an abusive person or showing exaggerated courage instead of fear). |
| Displacement | Focusing on minor/unrelated matters (like cleaning) instead of a central problem; directing strong feelings toward incidental details or unrelated people/objects. |
Immature Defenses (Levels 4–1)
Level 4: Minor Image-Distorting – Conceptual Overview
| Defense | Definition | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Devaluation | Attributing exaggeratedly negative qualities to oneself or others. | Uses sarcasm or derogatory remarks to fend off awareness of disappointment and boost self-esteem. |
| Idealization | Attributing exaggerated positive qualities to oneself or others (e.g., mentors, institutions). | Serves as a source of gratification and protection from feelings of powerlessness or worthlessness by association. |
| Omnipotence | Acting superior to others, as if possessing special powers or abilities. | Protects from loss of self-esteem triggered by stressors; subjectively minimizes feelings of powerlessness. |
Level 4: Minor Image-Distorting – Manifestations
| Defense | Example Manifestations |
|---|---|
| Devaluation of self-image | Making sarcastic/biting negative statements about oneself to dismiss failure or shame; preoccupied with faults while ignoring positive aspects. |
| Devaluation of other’s image | Finding fault/criticism in others to minimize their accomplishments; using sarcasm to dismiss competition or threat and prop up own self-esteem. |
| Idealization of self-image | Dwell focus on positive but superficial attributes (e.g., being “the best,” beautiful, smart) to ignore negative aspects or handle problems. |
| Idealization of other’s image | Reaching stories with glowing positive things about others without detail; relying on the “perfect” qualities of others to take care of problems. |
| Omnipotence | Acting with excessive bravado or an “I can handle anything” attitude; making grandiose claims about personal power or special abilities. |
Level 3: Disavowal & Autistic Fantasy – Conceptual Overview
| Defense | Definition | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Denial | Refusing to acknowledge aspects of external reality or internal experience that are apparent to others. | Prevents recognition of painful psychic facts (shame, grief) for which one might be responsible. |
| Rationalization | Devising plausible but incorrect explanations for one’s own or others’ behavior to avoid difficult motives. | Disguises real impulses by substituting a more socially acceptable reason; disguises selfish or uncomfortable feelings. |
| Projection | Falsely attributing one’s own unacknowledged feelings or impulses to others. | Allows dealing with emotions (especially shame/humiliation) that make one feel too vulnerable to admit directly. |
| Autistic Fantasy | Excessive daydreaming as a substitute for real-life relationships, effective action, or problem solving. | Provides temporary vicarious gratification; bypasses convictions of powerlessness through imagined solutions. |
Level 3: Disavowal & Autistic Fantasy – Manifestations
| Defense | Example Manifestations |
|---|---|
| Denial | Refusing to acknowledge important or distressing topics; claiming not to have feelings about a topic when it is highly unlikely; being “hard to talk with.” |
| Rationalization | Making plausible excuses to justify actions or minimize personal role in a problem/misdeed; explaining away faults by referring to external reasons. |
| Projection | Shaming or blaming others for a problem while ignoring own role; suspicious/paranoid attitude toward others’ motives or feelings. |
| Autistic fantasy | Retreating into repetitive daydreams or fantasy roles in lieu of real-life relationships, assertive action, or realistic problem-solving. |
Level 2: Major Image-Distorting – Conceptual Overview
| Defense | Definition | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Splitting (Self & Other) | Viewing oneself or others as “all good” or “all bad”; failing to integrate positive and negative qualities into cohesive images. | Protects against the anxiety of “ruining” good images with bad aspects; simplifies the task of predicting unpredictable people by quickly categorizing them. |
| Projective Identification | Projecting an unacceptable impulse onto another while remaining aware of it and misattributing it as a justifiable reaction to them. | Often seen in traumatized individuals who feel irrationally responsible; attack is felt as justified defense against an imagined threat; induces powerlessness in others. |
Level 2: Major Image-Distorting – Manifestations
| Defense | Example Manifestations |
|---|---|
| Splitting of self-image | Fluctuating between periods of high positivity and extreme worthlessness; rejecting attempts to see things in a balanced way; ignoring feelings that don’t match his current emotional tone. |
| Splitting of other’s image | Perceiving others in “black or white” terms; attributing unrealistic positive (savior) or negative (malevolent) traits to others; failing to recognize untrustworthy behavior. |
| Projective identification | Blaming others for causing one’s own loss of control; assumes others have exact same feelings/needs; provokes others into feeling the same negative emotions one mistakenly believed they had initially. |
Level 1: Action Defenses – Conceptual Overview
| Defense | Definition | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Passive Aggression | Indirect and unassertive expression of aggression toward others; facade of compliance masking covert resistance. | Expresses resentment/powerlessness in hierarchical relationships; avoids retaliation while annoying others or obtaining vengeance. |
| Help-Rejecting Complaining | Repetitious use of somatic or personal complaints while rejecting all help/advice offered. | Defense against anger from the conviction that nobody will satisfy needs; binds others to the subject while discharging resentment. |
| Acting Out | Expressing impulses or feelings in uncontrolled behavior without reflection or regard for negative consequences. | Discharges feelings and impulses rather than tolerating them; bypasses awareness to release tension rapidly. |