Definition of defense mechanisms and their assessment: Some contributions

Abstract

In this article we present different perspectives on what are and what is the function of defense mechanisms, namely the perspectives of A. Freud. Vaillant. Cramer and Ihilevich and Gleser. Then we describes some instruments for assessing defense mechanisms that follow or operationalize the aforementioned perspectives. In this paper there is a special focus on the Defense Mecahnisms Inventory (Ihilevich & Gleser. 1986) that operationalizes the author's perspective and allows to obtain results for five scales: Turning Against Object, Projection, Principalization, Turning Against Se//and Reversal. Differently to a maturational. evolutionary approach, this perspective assumes that the different types of defense mechanisms may be equally adaptive, depending on their degree of flexibility and on the degree that they preserve reality testing, the Children Aperception Test (CAT; Bellak & Bellak. 1949. 1950) is also presented as an instrument that allows the assessment of defense mechanisms in children.