SIGNS OF DEFENSE IN OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER: A VALIDATION STUDY OF THE DEFENSE MECHANISM TEST1

Abstract

A group of 31 patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder was compared with an age and sex-matched group of 31 nonclinical volunteers on the Defense Mechanism Test, a tachistoscopic paradigm which confronts the subject with anxiety-arousing stimuli at increasing durations from subliminal levels until complete recognition. It was hypothesized that distortions of the stimuli coded as Isolation or Reaction Formation would be more frequent in the obsessive-compulsive sample. Reaction Formation and one variant of Isolation (Barrier Isolation) were significantly associated with the obsessive-compulsive diagnosis.