'defense mechanism' definitions:
Definition of 'defense mechanism'
From: WordNet
noun
(psychiatry) an unconscious process that tries to reduce the anxiety associated with instinctive desires [syn: defense mechanism, defense reaction, defence mechanism, defence reaction, defense, defence]
Synonyms of 'defense mechanism'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- alienation,
- autism,
- autistic thinking,
- avoidance,
- avoidance mechanism,
- avoidance reaction,
- avoiding reaction,
- blame-shifting,
- block,
- blocking,
- circumvention,
- compensation,
- conversion,
- decompensation,
- defence,
- defense,
- defense in depth,
- defenses,
- dereism,
- dereistic thinking,
- deterrent capacity,
- displacement,
- dissociation,
- dodge,
- duck,
- ego defenses,
- elusion,
- elusiveness,
- emotional insulation,
- equivocation,
- escape,
- escape into fantasy,
- escape mechanism,
- escapism,
- evasion,
- evasive action,
- evasiveness,
- fantasizing,
- fantasy,
- flight,
- forbearance,
- forestalling,
- forestallment,
- getting around,
- guard,
- isolation,
- jink,
- mental block,
- negative taxis,
- negativism,
- neutrality,
- nonintervention,
- noninvolvement,
- overcompensation,
- prevention,
- projection,
- protection,
- psychological defenses,
- psychotaxis,
- rationalization,
- refraining,
- repression,
- resistance,
- self-defense,
- self-preservation,
- self-protection,
- shunning,
- shunting off,
- shy,
- sidestep,
- sidetracking,
- slip,
- sociological adjustive reactions,
- sublimation,
- substitution,
- suppression,
- symbolization,
- the defensive,
- the runaround,
- ward,
- wish-fulfillment fantasy,
- wishful thinking,
- withdrawal,
- zigzag