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Definition of Defense mechanism
1. Noun. (psychiatry) an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires.
Generic synonyms: Process, Unconscious Process, Psychoanalytic Process
Category relationships: Psychiatry, Psychological Medicine, Psychopathology
Specialized synonyms: Compensation, Conversion, Denial, Displacement, Idealisation, Idealization, Intellectualisation, Intellectualization, Isolation, Projection, Rationalisation, Rationalization, Reaction Formation, Regression, Repression
Definition of Defense mechanism
1. Noun. (context: psychology) A psychological strategy used unconsciously by people to cope with harmful or stressful situations. ¹
2. Noun. (context: evolutionary biology) An automatic reaction of the body against foreign antibodies. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Medical Definition of Defense mechanism
1. A psychological means of coping with conflict or anxiety, e.g., conversion, denial, dissociation, rationalization, repression, sublimation, the psychic structure underlying a coping strategy, immunological mechanism vs. Non-specific defense mechanism. (05 Mar 2000)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Defense Mechanism
Literary usage of Defense mechanism
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Reviews in Environmental Health (1998): Toxicological Defense Mechanics edited by Gary E. R. Hook, George W. Lucier (2000)
"In the second situation a low-level exposure at subtoxic doses could induce a
defense mechanism that protects against a subsequent potentially toxic ..."
2. Defense Vaccines: Force Protection Or False Security? edited by Dan Burton (2001)
"Is it viable and appropriate to use vaccines as a defense mechanism? Will it be
possible and practical to develop vaccines to protect against all known and ..."
3. The Urban Condition: space, community, and self in the contemporary metropolis by Ghent Urban Studies Team (1999)
"This defense mechanism is a strategy devised by human consciousness for reducing
the redundancy of stimuli to a bare minimum. To this end, the powers of ..."
4. Oxygen/Nitrogen Radicals and Cellular Injury edited by Kenneth B. Adler, Robert D. Devlin, Val Vallyathan (2000)
"... according to its cellular site of expression, direct evidence demonstrating
their role in vivo in antioxidant defense mechanism is very limited. ..."
5. Handbook of Severe Disability: A Text for Rehabilitation Counselors, Other edited by Walter C. Stolov, Michael R. Clowers (2000)
"The most common defense mechanism is denial, die patient's failure to recognize
the fact that he is ill at all. Another frequently observed mechanism is ..."
6. Treatment Services for Adolescent Substance Abusers by Alfred S. Friedman (1998)
"The adolescent's defense mechanism system may require only minor alterations or
may be in need of a major overhaul. The therapy room becomes a stage on ..."
7. Preventing Deadly Conflict edited by David A. Hamburg, Cyrus R. Vance (1998)
"The WEU was founded in 1948 as a collective defense mechanism, but quickly became
overshadowed by NATO. In 1994, members revived the WEU as a defense ..."
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