Defense Mechanism Test Research Articles

Relationship between Religious Orientation and Defense Mechanisms in Adolescents

The present study investigate the relationship between adolescents’ religious orientation and defense mechanisms. Research method was correlation two following tests were applied: Azerbaijani Religious Orientation Test and Martin Defense Mechanism Test. 200 female students selected randomly from one of the Tehran high schools and completed the questionnaires. Data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient. The results that there is a negative correlation between unimproved defense style and religious orientation, that is, the more one is highly religious-oriented, the less uses the mentioned style. Moreover there is a positive correlation between improved defense style and religious orientation. This means that the more one is highly religious- oriented, the more uses more improved defense mechanisms. Based on the findings we conclude that by increasing religious beliefs in adolescents, we can help them apply defense mechanisms efficiently.

The Defense Mechanism Test–Separation Theme in Two Anxiety Disorders

Two groups of 26 age- and sex-matched outpatients, with DSM-IV diagnoses of obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic disorder with agoraphobia, were compared on the Defense Mechanism Test-Separation Theme. A stimulus portraying a mother figure who is leaving a room where a baby lies alone on the floor was presented 22 times at increasing exposure durations in a single-view tachistoscope. Participants were asked to describe what they perceived at each step, according to the method of the Defense Mechanism Test. As predicted, reports of the mother seen as an inanimate object (phobic repression) were statistically significantly associated with agoraphobia, while reports of the mother entering the room or doing something other than leaving the baby (reaction formation) and reports of the baby as an angel (intellectualization) were associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The Use of the Defense Mechanism Test to Aid in Understanding the Personality of Senior Executives and the Implications for Their Careers

This paper describes the use of the Defense Mechanism Test as an aid in helping to assess senior executives in four areas: for selection, development, career strategy, and crisis intervention. The origins of this test, developed to measure the defense mechanisms used to protect the individual from stress, are described. The paper shows how it was used to predict the capacity of trainee fighter pilots to withstand stress and its later application to other stressful occupations. Finally, some ideal types of the test are shown followed by four real test profiles, two of them with their associated histories.

Signs of Defense in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Validation Study of the Defense Mechanism Test

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.

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

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.

An empirical look at the Defense Mechanism Test (DMT): Reliability and construct validity

Although the Defense Mechanism Test (DMT) has been in use for almost half a century, there are still quite contradictory views about whether it is a reliable instrument, and if so, what it really measures. Thus, based on data from 39 female students, we first examined DMT inter-coder reliability by analyzing the agreement among trained judges in their coding of the same DMT protocols. Second, we constructed a "parallel" photographic picture that retained all structural characteristic of the original and analyzed DMT parallel-test reliability. Third, we examined the construct validity of the DMT by (a) employing three self-report defense-mechanism inventories and analyzing the intercorrelations between DMT defense scores and corresponding defenses in these instruments, (b) studying the relationships between DMT responses and scores on trait and state anxiety, and (c) relating DMT-defense scores to measures of self-esteem. The main results showed that the DMT can be coded with high reliability by trained coders, that the parallel-test reliability is unsatisfactory compared to traditional psychometric standards, that there is a certain generalizability in the number of perceptual distortions that people display from one picture to another, and that the construct validation provided meager empirical evidence for the conclusion that the DMT measures what it purports to measure, that is, psychological defense mechanisms.

Possible influence of defenses and negative life events on patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: a pilot study.

13 patients with a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome and two contrast groups of conversion disorder patients (n = 19) and healthy controls (n = 13) were assessed using the projective perceptual Defense Mechanism Test to investigate if specific defense patterns are associated with chronic fatigue syndrome. Another objective was to assess the possible influence of perceived negative life events prior the onset of the illness. The overall results showed significant differences in defensive strategies among groups represented by two significant dimensions in a Partial Least Squares analysis. Compared to the contrast groups the patients with chronic fatigue syndrome were distinguished by a defense pattern of different distortions of aggressive affect, induced by an interpersonal anxiety-provoking stimulus picture with short exposures. Their responses suggested the conversion group was characterized by a nonemotionally adapted pattern and specific constellations of defenses, associated with interior reality orientation compared to the patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and the healthy controls. Rated retrospectively, the group with chronic fatigue syndrome reported significantly more negative life events prior to the onset of their illness than healthy controls. For instance, 5 of the 13 patients reported sexual assault or physical battery as children or teenagers compared to none of the healthy controls. A significant association was found between defense pattern and frequency of reported negative life events. However, these retrospective reports might be confounded to some extent by the experience of the patients' illness; for example, the reports may be interpreted in terms of present negative affect.

Preliminary Findings: An Anglo‐Swedish Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Outcome Study using PORT and DMT

Historically, professionals did not consider that people with learning disabilities could make use of psychoanalytic psychotherapy because of limitations of intelligence (Symington, 1981; Symington, 1993; Sternlicht, 1965). Additionally, many believed that people with learning disabilities enjoyed immunity from emotional stress and psychiatric disturbances (Fletcher, 1993). Maladaptive behaviours were perceived as a manifestation of the condition of learning disability and not as a possible sign of psychiatric disorder or emotional problems. However, over the last decade there has been a growing realisation that people with learning disabilities have emotional problems in the same way as others, but are in some ways more vulnerable to developing psychiatric and psychological disturbances. Psychoanalytic practitioners wishing to undertake outcome research have experienced difficulties in finding a measuring device that understands the subtleties of change in the internal psychological structure over time. PORT and DMT (the Percept‐genetic Object Relation Test and the Defence Mechanism Test) are two projective tests that have been extensively validated in Sweden. This paper explores the use of the PORT and DMT outcome measures in the context of Anglo‐Swedish psychotherapy research.

The Defence Mechanism Test (DMT) revisited: experimental validation using threatening and non‐threatening pictures

Although the Defence Mechanism Test (DMT) has been in use for almost half a century, it is still unclear what it actually measures. The psychodynamic theory on which the test is based states that the threatful DMT pictures activate various defence mechanisms. To test this proposition, the original DMT pictures were redrawn by a professional artist, changing the emotional content without altering the structural properties. In this way, a neutral and a friendly variant were shaped. Sixty participants were randomly assigned to the threatful, neutral, and friendly stimulus conditions. In contrast to predictions made from psychodynamic theory, that the threatful picture would activate more ‘signs of defence’ than the others, the results disclosed that the three conditions activated the same amounts of ‘signs of defence’ and the same levels of various perceptual thresholds. Thus, rather than capturing psychodynamic defence mechanisms, our results suggest that the DMT taps perceptual or information‐processing difficulties in correct identification of brief stimulus exposures regardless of their emotional contents. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Panic disorder and the Defence Mechanism Test

The aim was to study defence categories according to the modified version of the Defence Mechanism Test (DMTm) and to see if there was a relationship between DMTm and severity of illness. The material consists of 23 patients with panic disorder according to DSM-III-R who participated in a long-term follow-up of two clinical trials. The most common defence categories were repression, denial, disavowal or denial of the threat relation or of the identity of the peripheral person. The patients with denial or polymorphous identification had more severe symptoms and the latter group also were more handicapped by their symptoms. Denial and disavowal or denial of the threat relation may be defence categories, which are not so effective in preventing the individual from experiencing anxiety. Polymorphous identification, although not so common, does not seem to be an appropriate defence among patients with panic disorder.

A Study on MBTI Personality Type and Defense Mechanism of Nursing College Student

【The primary purpose of this study is to provide a useful insight for developing effective teaching and student counseling methods by understanding the relationship between four preference patterns of MBTI personality types and EWHA defense mechanisms of nursing college students. Method: The data used in this research were collected administrating EWHA defense mechanism test and MBTI personality type instrument to 195 nursing students in the period of November 3 through September 16 in 2000. Collected data were analysed by pc-SPSS 10.0. Result: Three general conclusions were drawn from the study results: (1) in terms of personality type, 'Extraversion', 'Sensing', 'Thinking', and 'Judgement' types showed high frequency respectively; (2) in terms of defense mechanism, 'Identification' showed the highest score, and then 'suppression' scored next followed by 'Humor'. However, 'Acting out' showed the lowest average score, and then 'Projection' followed by 'Denial'; (3) Based on the relationship between defense mechanism and four MBTI preference patterns, it can be drawn that students with the preference of 'Extraversion' usually use defense mechanism of 'Altruism', 'Sublimation', 'Distortion', 'Controlling', and 'Humor'. In comparison, students with the preference of 'Introversion' often use the defence mechanism of 'Evasion' and 'Projection'. Conclusion: The study results can be utilized in both fields of education and counseling: (1) in the field of education, this study can provide a basis for developing a suitable teaching method for each personality types of nursing students; (2) for counseling practitioners, the results of this study provide the useful insights to understand nursing college students' communication skills, behavior patterns, and ability of coping with problems in the process of counseling.】

Interrater reliability among three judges on 130 defense mechanism test variables: a multivariate approach.

The aim of this study was to examine the interrater reliability in the coding of the Defense Mechanism Test for 130 variables on both a variable and a subject level. Parallel with a traditional variable analysis, a multivariate strategy for measurement of interrater reliability, built upon principal component analysis, is presented. The results showed high agreement between judges with an overall interrater reliability coefficient of .98 but indicates the need for elucidation in the coding instructions for nine single variables. It also showed that multivariate modeling methods for handling personality test data are highly resistant to occasional differences on single variables but sensitive to major differences.

Conversion disorder and multiple chemical sensitivity: a comparative study of psychological defense strategies.

This study compared psychological defensive strategies in two groups of patients with multiple chemical sensitivity (n = 10) and conversion disorder (n = 10) by means of the projective perceptual Defense Mechanism Test. We attempted to create a model for personality assessment based on the test data of prior patients, in which new patients could successively be tested. The overall results indicated that it was possible to separate the clinical groups significantly from a control group and from each other. In comparison to the controls, the clinical groups were characterized by patterns that were more nonemotionally adapted as well by a lateness of perception, but the ways in which the clinical groups maintained this difference were not the same. The multiple chemical sensitivity group was characterized above all by blocking maneuvers, while the main defensive strategy of the conversion disorder group was distortion of content.

FC14.04 The defence mechanism test in panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and schizophrenia

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Defense mechanisms and morality: a link between isolation and moralization.

The relationship between morality and perceptual defense mechanisms was studied. Three new scales were constructed to measure different aspects of morality: moralism (the tendency to evaluate everything in terms of right and wrong), conscience (strength of feelings of right and wrong) and reparation (inclination to repair the damage one has caused). Perceptual defense mechanisms were measured with Kragh's Defense Mechanism Test (DMT). Three hypotheses about relationships between morality and defense mechanisms, derived from psychoanalytical literature, were tested on 54 male University students. Results show positive correlations between the defense mechanism isolation of affect and moralism, and between identification with the aggressor and reparation. Total amount of perceptual defense correlated positively with moralism. It is argued that the psychological study of morality should take unconscious processes into consideration.

CONVERSION DISORDER AND MULTIPLE CHEMICAL SENSITIVITY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DEFENSE STRATEGIES

This study compared psychological defensive strategies in two groups of patients with multiple chemical sensitivity (n=10) and conversion disorder (n = 10) by means of the projective perceptual Defense Mechanism Test. We attempted to create a model for personality assessment based on the test data of prior patients, in which new patients could successively be tested. The overall results indicated that it was possible to separate the clinical groups significantly from a control group and from each other. In comparison to the controls, the clinical groups were characterized by patterns that were more nonemotionally adapted as well by a lateness of perception, but the ways in which the clinical groups maintained this difference were not the same. The multiple chemical sensitivity group was characterized above all by blocking maneuvers, while the main defensive strategy of the conversion disorder group was distortion of content.

Imaginal experiences and perceptual defence.

Three studies are reported concerning the interaction between internal imagery and perceptual defence. This interaction may be a source of the magical ideation and perceptual anomalies which are thought to be a feature of schizotypal personality. The studies were designed to test the hypothesis that scores on the Magical Ideation Scale (MIS) can be predicted effectively from scores on the Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS) if defensiveness in handling imagery is included. The latter was measured instrumentally by a tachistoscope test known as the Defense Mechanism Test (DMT). Two studies (both N = 35) found MIS and TAS to be highly intercorrelated. The first study, using volunteers from the general student population, failed to find a global measure of defensiveness measured by the DMT to be a significant modulator of MIS scores. The second study using subjects with a greater frequency and variance in the reporting of anomalous experiences, did however confirm the hypothesis. In particular, projection scores together with TAS scores, were found to be a significant predictor of MIS scores (r = 0.79, p < .0001). A third study (N = 34), which compared the DMT profile of high scorers on the MIS with that of a comparison group, found the predicted differences on their DMT global scores and projection scores to be significant. The implications of these findings for understanding anomalous experiences are discussed.

Early visual information processing and the Defence Mechanism Test in schizophrenia.

The aim of this study was to determine whether impairment in visual information processing measured by backward masking was related to high threshold values in the Defence Mechanism Test (DMT) in patients with schizophrenia. A total of 20 patients with schizophrenia according to DSM-IV, most of whom were out-patients, were studied with backward masking and a modified version of the DMT (DMTm). Nine of the patients showed an impairment in backward masking. There was a relationship between impairment in backward masking and the DMTm with either no or a late C-phase (correct perception in DMTm) in the first series, and a late perception of the peripheral person in the second series. There was no relationship for the other 14 threshold values. The patients did not have high threshold values in the DMTm as was expected. In this sample consisting mainly of out-patients, there were few relationships between impairment in backward masking and high threshold values in DMTm. Their visual information processing was not as disturbed as expected. Most previous studies on both backward masking and the DMT in patients with schizophrenia have been conducted among in-patients, who could be expected to be more disturbed than the out-patients in the present study. The results of studies on in-patients with schizophrenia must not be generalized to include out-patients, and vice versa.

Psychological defense strategies according to the defense mechanism test among Patients with severe conversion disorder

Psychological defense strategies according to the defense mechanism test among Patients with severe conversion disorder

In defence of the criticism of the Defence Mechanism Test (DMT): A reply to Kragh (1998)

Kragh (Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 1998, 39, 123–124) criticises a recent empirical study of the Defence Mechanism Test (DMT) conducted by the present authors (Zuber &amp; Ekehammar, 1997) concerning methodological and other shortcomings. The present paper reviews and responds to Kragh’s critical points. As to the most serious criticism, the methodological, the main conclusion is that Kragh’s own published empirical studies of the DMT, and also those of other researchers, can be criticised along similar lines. Furthermore, and surprisingly, in contrast to our study, Kragh's main DMT studies do not employ the DMT picture(s) at all.