Seven Defense Mechanisms

Projection

anxiety is reduced by attributing threatening impulses to others

Repression

anxiety is reduced by banishing provoking thoughts (that could reemerge dreams)

Displacement

anxiety is reduced by diverting aggressive feelings to an acceptable object

Reaction Formation

anxiety is reduced by making unacceptable impulses look like opposites

Regression

anxiety is reduced by moving back to a previous psychosexual stage

Denial

anxiety is reduced by refusing to admit that something unpleasant has happened

Rationalization

anxiety is reduced by self-explaining things in a way that hides that behavior's actual reason