Citation

Apter A, Plutchik R, Sevy S, Korn M, Brown S, van Praag H. Am. J. Psychiatry 1989; 146(8): 1027-1031.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY 10461.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, American Psychiatric Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2750974

Abstract

This paper reports on an empirical study of defense mechanisms in 60 psychiatric inpatients. Eight defenses--compensation, denial, displacement, intellectualization, projection, reaction formation, regression, and repression--were studied in the context of a two-stage model of suicidal and violent behavior. The results showed that use of regression as a defense differentiated suicidal from nonsuicidal patients, and use of displacement differentiated violent from nonviolent patients. Repression tended to turn aggression inward, and projection and denial turned aggression outward.

Language: en