Mrs. Taylor was referred to a social worker after her alcoholic husband was hospitalized following an acute episode. She felt there was no reason to see a social worker as she had consulted with several doctors and read popular books on alcoholism. She feels that her husband sees her as a mother symbol and blames her for all his problems. She offered him a psychology book to read that she thought would help him understand his behavior. Mrs. Taylor found passages from an abnormal psychology book that she thought described her husband. She read sections of the book to Mr. Taylor, especially chapters describing personality disorders, egocentricity and dependency. Mrs. Taylor's major defense mechanisms are
A. reaction-formation.
B. denial and intellectualization.
C. obsessions and compulsions.
D. compensation and displacement.
B. denial and intellectualization.
Reaction-formation (A) involves adoption of the opposite characteristics to those most hated or feared. It is possible that she is so angry at her husband that she wants to deny her anger, thus becoming overly conciliatory toward him. However, use of books and denying her feelings supports intellectualization and denial. Obsessions (C) would involve more preoccupation with one particular thought and compulsions would be expressed in repetitive behaviors. Compensation and displacement (D) would involve refocusing in another direction, such as anger at someone else or flirting with other men as compensation for feeling less than a woman with her husband.
You might also like to view...
The majority of the elderly poor are
A) women. B) living alone. C) members of racial/ethnic minority groups. D) all of the above
In which conceptualization of poverty is more government assistance seen as going to the middle and upper classes than to the poor?
a. poverty as deprivation b. poverty as inequality in the distribution of income c. poverty as structure d. poverty as exploitation by the ruling class
Studies of wisdom in older adults:
A) reveal increased levels as the person ages. B) reveal declining levels as the person ages. C) show enhanced active aging in people who have achieved wisdom. D) have generally used tests of convergent thinking.
Most human service agencies offer the client partial due process when they are embroiled in a dispute with that client
A. True B. False