#defense_mechanism__defensemechanism__defense_reaction__defensereaction__defencemechanism__defence_reaction__defencereaction__defense  (psychiatry) an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires
  supertype:  psychoanalytic_process  unconscious_process
  subtype:  compensation.defense_mechanism  (psychiatry) a defense mechanism that conceals your undesirable shortcomings by exaggerating desirable behaviors
     subtype:  overcompensation.compensation  (psychiatry) an attempt to overcome a real or imagined defect or unwanted trait by overly exaggerating its opposite
  subtype:  conversion.defense_mechanism  (psychiatry) a defense mechanism represses emotional conflicts which are then converted into physical symptoms that have no organic basis
  subtype:  denial.defense_mechanism  (psychiatry) a defense mechanism that denies painful thoughts
  subtype:  displacement.defense_mechanism  (psychiatry) a defense mechanism that transfers affect or reaction from the original object to some more acceptable one
  subtype:  idealisation__idealization  (psychiatry) a defense mechanism that splits something you are ambivalent about into two representations--one good and one bad
  subtype:  intellectualization__intellectualisation  (psychiatry) a defense mechanism that uses reasoning to block out emotional stress and conflict
  subtype:  projection.defense_mechanism  (psychiatry) a defense mechanism by which your own traits and emotions are attributed to someone else
  subtype:  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
  subtype:  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"
  subtype:  regression  (psychiatry) a defense mechanism in which you flee from reality by assuming a more infantile state
  subtype:  repression.defense_mechanism  (psychiatry) the classical defense mechanism that protects you from impulses or ideas that would cause anxiety by preventing them from becoming conscious

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