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defence mechanism

   Also found in: Medical, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.
defence mechanism
n
1. (Psychoanalysis) Psychoanal a usually unconscious mental process designed to reduce the anxiety, shame, etc., associated with instinctive desires
2. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Physiology) Physiol the protective response of the body against disease organisms
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.defence mechanism - (psychiatry) an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires
unconscious process, process - a mental process that you are not directly aware of; "the process of denial"
psychiatry, psychological medicine, psychopathology - the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders
compensation - (psychiatry) a defense mechanism that conceals your undesirable shortcomings by exaggerating desirable behaviors
conversion - (psychiatry) a defense mechanism represses emotional conflicts which are then converted into physical symptoms that have no organic basis
denial - (psychiatry) a defense mechanism that denies painful thoughts
displacement - (psychiatry) a defense mechanism that transfers affect or reaction from the original object to some more acceptable one
idealisation, idealization - (psychiatry) a defense mechanism that splits something you are ambivalent about into two representations--one good and one bad
intellectualisation, intellectualization - (psychiatry) a defense mechanism that uses reasoning to block out emotional stress and conflict
isolation - (psychiatry) a defense mechanism in which memory of an unacceptable act or impulse is separated from the emotion originally associated with it
projection - (psychiatry) a defense mechanism by which your own traits and emotions are attributed to someone else
psychoanalytic process - a process that is assumed to occur in psychoanalytic theory
rationalisation, rationalization - (psychiatry) a defense mechanism by which your true motivation is concealed by explaining your actions and feelings in a way that is not threatening
reaction formation - (psychiatry) a defense mechanism in which a person unconsciously develops attitudes and behavior that are the opposite of unacceptable repressed desires and impulses and serve to conceal them; "his strict morality is just a reaction formation to hide his sexual drive"
regression - (psychiatry) a defense mechanism in which you flee from reality by assuming a more infantile state
repression - (psychiatry) the classical defense mechanism that protects you from impulses or ideas that would cause anxiety by preventing them from becoming conscious
Translations
defence mechanism n (Psych) → meccanismo di difesa
defence mechanism n (Psych) → meccanismo di difesa


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? Mentioned in ? References in periodicals archive
 
The demo of the first module, nanomedicine, compels the player to select a suitable vehicle to deliver an anti cancer compound, and then navigate through the bloodstream to the site of the tumour, while avoiding the bodies' natural defence mechanisms.
While children recover adequate immunity from approximately 6 months post BMT, adults rarely regain specific immune defence mechanisms even after 2 years, because of the profound degeneration of thymus function from puberty and associated reduction in new T cell output.
ALM tools can be misused if implemented as a defence mechanism against the difficult issues in software development.
 
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