Denial Mechanisms Research Articles

Stress, Anxiety, and Depression among Medical Undergraduate Students and Their Coping Strategies

Background. Students’ mental health deteriorates after they enter medical school and continues to deteriorate throughout their training. Every individual has a certain number of coping resources, and once these coping resources are challenged, mental illness usually results. Objective. We aimed to determine the prevalence and severity of depression, anxiety, and stress as well as coping strategies used by medical undergraduate students enrolled in Arsi University. Methods. Institution-based, cross-sectional design was conducted on 265 sampled medical students. Participants were selected by a systematic, random-sampling technique. Data were collected by pretested, structured, and self-administrated questionnaires. Afterwards, logistic regression analysis was employed, and statistical significance was accepted at p < 0.05 . Results. In the present study, 5 questionnaires were rejected for incompleteness, resulting in a response rate of 98.1%. The mean age of the respondents was 22.03 (SD = 2.074) years. The current prevalence rates of depression, anxiety, and stress were 52.3%, 60.8%, and 40.4%, respectively. The proportion of respondents who had extremely severe symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress was 6.2%, 16.2%, and 2.3%, respectively. Depression was specifically associated with monthly income and residency. Anxiety was significantly associated with residency and educational level. Stress was associated with monthly income, educational level, and residency. The main coping strategy adopted by the respondents was religion with a mean (±SD) of 5.94 (1.85). The coping mechanisms of denial, substance use, behavioral disengagement, venting, and self-blame were significantly associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. Conclusion. Overall prevalence rate of depression, anxiety, and stress is alarmingly high. Therefore, implementing stress reduction interventions and establishing a student counseling center are highly recommended.

Clinical evidence in the phenomenon of Demonic Possession

Purpose: Starting from the classic definition of “demonic possession” (as a psychophysical condition in which a person becomes the victim of a supernatural being of demonic origin), the present research, starting from the study published in 2019 on the proposed clinical classification of this particular phenomenon, is aimed at confirming the theoretical assumption of psychopathological origin, refuting the assumptions of the most significant analytical orientations, such as the ethnopsychiatric, the socio-anthropological, the cultural, the religious and the esoteric, to reaffirm the accuracy of the theoretical approach of the multifactorial model proposed in the previous research. Methods: Clinical interview, based on narrative-anamnestic and documentary evidence and the basis of the Perrotta Human Emotions Model (PHEM) concerning their emotional and perceptual-reactive experience, and administration of the battery of psychometric tests published in international scientific journals by the author of this work: 1) Perrotta Integrative Clinical Interviews (PICI-2), to investigate functional and dysfunctional personality traits; 2) Perrotta Individual Sexual Matrix Questionnaire (PSM-Q), to investigate the individual sexual matrix; 3) Perrotta Affective Dependence Questionnaire (PAD-Q), to investigate the profiles of affective and relational dependence; 4) Perrotta Human Defense Mechanisms Questionnaire (PDM-Q), to investigate the defence mechanisms of the Ego. Results: The preliminary results of the interviews and the anamnestic form would suggest that the phenomenon of demonic possession has a greater tendency to manifest itself in the female group, in the juvenile group (and tends to decrease but not to disappear with the advancement of age) and in the group geographically originating in the centre-south of Italy (due to greater religious influences, popular beliefs and ancestral fideistic representations). Moreover, the subsequent findings would lead to deduce with almost total certainty, concerning the selected sample, that the phenomenon of demonic possession has an absolute prevalence in the believing population, faithful or in any case trusting in the existence of paranormal phenomena per se, even in the absence of objective and/or scientific evidence. Based on the PICI-2 it emerged that the primary emerging disorder turns out to be alternatively the delusional disorder, the dissociative disorder and the obsessive disorder; followed, as secondary disorders, by the delusional disorder (if it is not considered as primary disorder), the schizoid disorder, the borderline disorder and the psychopathic disorder. Even the analysis of functional traits has reported the marked dysfunctional tendency of the classes that refer to self-control, sensitivity, Ego-ID comparison, emotionality, ego stability, security and relational functionality, reaffirming here too the marked dysfunctional tendency of the clinical population. According to the PSM-Q, more than 1/4 of participants present a lack of acceptance of their sexual orientation and a marked tendency to chronicle feelings of shame into dysfunctional sexual behaviours of avoidance or hypersexuality. Still, nine in ten reports having experienced severe psychological or physical abuse at a young age, or intraparental relational imbalance, or otherwise a sexual upbringing that was not open and lacked free communication. According to the PDM-Q, 37.2% are affected by affective dependence, with a greater emphasis on types I (neurotic), V (borderline), III (histrionic), and VII (psychotic) in that order of descent. Finally, the PDM-Q reveals the widespread psychopathological tendency of the ego function framework for the mechanisms of isolation, denial, regression, reactive formation, denial, projection, removal, withdrawal, instinct, repression, and idealization. Conclusions: The present research demonstrates beyond any reasonable doubt the psychopathological nature of the phenomenon of demonic possession, which deserves to be treated pharmacologically and with a psychotherapeutic approach (preferably cognitive-behavioural and/or strategic), according to the symptoms manifested and the severity of the morbid condition.

Satisfaction with Life: Mediating Role in the Relationship between Depressive Symptoms and Coping Mechanisms.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the mediating role of life satisfaction in the relationship between fourteen coping strategies and depressive symptoms in the Portuguese population. To undertake this work, 313 Portuguese adults aged 18 to 70 years (M = 30.73; SD = 10.79) were invited to participate in this study. Their participation was completely voluntary, and participants granted and signed informed consent previously to the filling of the validated Portuguese questionnaires. These questionnaires measured depressive symptoms, coping, and life satisfaction. The results revealed that life satisfaction displayed a mediating role in the relationship between adaptive coping mechanisms, specifically between active coping, planning, reinterpretation, and acceptance and depressive symptoms, showing a negative and significant indirect effect. Maladaptive coping mechanisms of self-blame, denial, self-distraction, disengagement, and substance use had a significant positive association with depressive symptoms, considering the mediating role of satisfaction with life. Current investigation provides initial evidence of how each coping mechanism is associated with satisfaction with life and depressive symptoms. This study clearly demonstrates that not all coping strategies are capable of influencing well-being indicators and that health professionals should focus on endorsing those that are significantly associated with lowering depressive symptoms and increasing overall satisfaction with life.

Our contempt for weakness

AbstractIn this paper, I explore the mental consequences of Covid‐19. Starting with the images of the pandemic – the intubated patient, the anonymous mass grave, and the death on FaceTime – images that express the horrendous threat of the coronavirus death, I emphasize that the pandemic reminds us of our vulnerability and existential dependence on the other. Based on examples, I discuss different reactions to Covid‐19 from a psychoanalytic perspective, specifically highlighting the mechanisms of denial, splitting and projection – the latter is illustrated in the scapegoating of the pandemic, for example, blaming China, the immigrants or youth parties. I argue that a common characteristic of those different defense mechanisms may be a contempt for weakness – as demonstrated when coronavirus deniers and Proud Boys are marching together. The paper also examines the importance of structure and the consequences of the loss of everyday structure – be it job, school, peer groups, training studios, senior centers, or culture. I conclude by emphasizing that the pandemic has taught us how dependent we are on each other – and that it should inspire us to greater tolerance for vulnerability, and less contempt for weakness.

What a catch! A case report on denial and myocardial infarction

Background: Coronary disease has long been associated with different behavioral patterns (Pattern A,D) and denial mechanisms. Denial mechanisms can take various and unexpected forms that put the coronary patient at risk during the whole course of his illness [1,2]. Objective: This case shows to what extent denial mechanisms can interfere in the relationship between some coronary patients and their caregivers.

« What a Catch! »: A Case Report on Denial and Myocardial Infarction

Coronary disease has long been associated with different behavioral patterns (Pattern A, D) and denial mechanisms. Denial can take various forms that put the coronary patient at risk during the whole course of his illness [1,2]. Objective This case shows to what extent denial mechanisms can interfere in the relationship between some coronary patients and their caregivers. Case Presentation Roger, - now deceased - would have been 95 this year and had two heart attacks. His first infarction was anteroseptal, while his second was an inferior infarct. He suffers from coronary disease and has a history of unstable angina. He had a double coronary bypass (saphenous vein graft on left anterior descending artery and right coronary artery.). Heart wise, when we met him, he was currently symptom-free but presented a dyspnea of grade II to III. He denied any ongoing chest pain even during moderate effort. We assessed Roger in the context of his heart surgery. We met him in Intensive Care Unit both before and after the intervention. During the postoperative phase, he described his second heart attack. He really enjoyed telling us the story of his second infarction, which occurred while he was already on antianginal medication (i.e. Cedocard®). It all started while he was angling during the weekend. Roger had been fishing for several hours but had not caught anything. He was upset and about to leave (Pattern A typical impatience) [1-3] when all of a sudden, he felt his line snapping tight for a split second: a line bite! The trout was, allegedly, huge, and his fishing rod was too light to land the fish in one go. Being a strategic angler, Roger decided to wear the fish down and to slowly bring it back to shore so that he could scoop it with his landing net. While doing so, he felt the first angina pain occurring and persisting. He tried to reach for his tablets in his pocket but could not manage as his hand was already benumbed. He explained: « At that stage, I told myself: Roger, it’s you or the trout! » Well, he went for the trout! He landed the fish first (after a one-hour struggle) and only then agreed to go to hospital in emergency (if this term remains appropriate in such a context).

Welfare Washing: Disseminating Disinformation in Meat Marketing

Abstract In this article, our starting point is that people who are plagued by the so-called meat paradox must find ways of making meat consumption safe from the realities of meat production. They do this by way of various mechanisms of denial, which obfuscate contemporary industrial meat production. We focus on how advertisements become one notable vehicle of such denial, and select three examples for close reading. Focusing on the rhetorical techniques employed in three Norwegian ads for meat and how they mediate meat production to consumers, we argue that these ads all present an image of meat producers as progressive and caring proponents of animal welfare. This leads us to suggest that they exemplify a variant of greenwashing that we dub “welfare washing”—the main message of which is to keep calm and carry on consuming meat.

Public Violence: Viral Images Give the Alert

With the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) crisis the debate about police violence emerges as a major example of a counter-narrative, mainly relying on the online circulation of viral images. This article analyses the conditions for the emergence in public debate of a minority narrative thanks to digital media. Apart from activist communication, faced with powerful denial mechanisms, an autonomous alert process has been established based on the credibility of the documentary format, the argumentative dynamic of the online conversation, and the mobilization of an aesthetic of pity.

Return to Sepharad. Is it possible to heal an ancient wound?

The spanish government has issued a new law offering spanish nationality to sephardic jews around the world fulfilling some characteristics. This legal movement tries to undo the decree of expulsion of spanish jews in 1492. It has been received with a surprising lack of any significant debate (for or against the law) in Spain. The presentation explores this topic, addressing the emotional reactions towards this in spanish population using materials form a focus group qualitative study and also touches upon the identity problems exposed by the new law and the mechanisms of denial, guilt, reparation, displacement, reactive formation, etc. accompanying the whole process. Events in the distant past, often of a traumatic quality may contribute intensely to the construction of national identity. The healing of old wounds, if possible, might shake our large group structure and lead us to confront a complex reality and to a creative process of new identity formation. A deeper exploration of this situation might also help us to understand better the complex identity problems in many large groups around the world today, linked sometimes to group violence and war and to a general movement towards nationalist and isolationist political choices.

Codependency in the Relations of Couples of Imprisoned Women

Female criminal behavior has sparked the interest of many researchers who, from different perspectives, have tried to identify what are the factors that lead them to commit a crime. Studies indicate that female affective bonds change into a potentiator of crime behavior and/or withdrawal of it. The objective of this study was to find out if the couple’s bonds (previous or during the prison) were codependent, and to analyze the possible relation between the latter and female crime. This qualitative study used mixed tools in a sample of 27 women in the Bucaramanga prison (Colombia). The I-CO instrument was applied analyzing the four codependency factors: (1) denial mechanisms; (2) incomplete identity development; (3) emotional repression and (4) rescue orientation. The qualitative data obtained through the in-depth interview and focus groups were also analyzed, showing mainly three emerging categories: (1) I did it for him; (2) Although he doesn’t love me; and (3) I preferred to remain silent. The results suggested the difficulty of leaving violent relationships and the possible interaction between codependency, violent partner relationships and female crime. This research raises the need to strengthen the empowerment of women inside and outside the prison.

THE FEATURES OF DEFENSIVE-COPING BEHAVIOUR CHARACTERISTIC FOR PEOPLE WITH DIFFERENT LEVELS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING

An achieved sense of life fullness, life filled with meaning due to interactions with the outside world can be described by the concept of psychological well-being. Psychological well-being is a dynamic process depending on many mutually-linked external and internal factors. An experience of subjectively grave events threats greatly personal psychological well-being; but some adaptive constructs, such as defensive-coping behaviour based on the organization of certain optimal strategies, can greatly facilitate the stress and help overcome frustration situations. The defensive-coping behaviour consists of psychological defence mechanisms and coping strategies. The presented empirical study analyses the difference in defensive-coping behaviour characteristic for people with different levels of psychological well-being. The study involved 103 people aged 19 to 65 years, including 45 students of the Department of Psychology, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, 39 respondents worked in various occupational fields and 9 retired people. We used qualitative and quantitative analysis (discriminatory statistics, such as measures of central tendency, frequency analysis), Student t-test and correlation analysis to process the obtained empirical data. The results show that the intensity of defence mechanisms is higher in the group with low psychological well-being. This indicates that psychological defence of the respondents with low psychological well-being focus to a greater degree on maintenance of a once achieved positive state (or to restore the lost). In this group, adaptation to adverse events occurs through fantasizing and appropriation of the qualities of another person, as well as through the transfer of responsibility for their own inappropriate actions to other people. In the group with high psychological well-being, the mechanisms of intellectualization and denial are more often used, which indicates that logical conclusions help to ease an unfavourable situation and its consequences threatening for personal well-being. On the one hand, this behavioural pattern is less traumatic for an individual’s inner world, but on the other one, it can also be a source of distortion of the surrounding information. Also, the problem-oriented strategies prevail in the structure of defensive-coping behaviour of the respondents with high psychological well-being, for example, such strategies as: positive reappraisal, problem-solving planning, self-control, and distance. Coping behaviour in the group with low psychological well-being is based most often on the escape-avoidance strategy. &nbsp

Особенности защитных механизмов у иностранных студентов с разными уровнями адаптации

The paper presents the results of the experimental study of protective mechanisms in the process of adaptation in foreign students. The following methods were used in the study: a multi-level personality questionnaire “Adaptability” (MLO-AM) of Maklakov, AG, Chermyanin, SV, and a test questionnaire for psychological defense mechanisms “Life Style Index” (Plutchik, R, Kellerman, G, Сonte, HR, adaptation by Romanov, ES and Grebennikov, LR). Differences between groups were evaluated using the Student's t-test. As a result of the study, the following conclusions were made: foreign students with low adaptation level use protective mechanisms of denial, suppression and regression. Foreign students with medium and high adaptability apply projection and compensation. The materials of this work can be used in the activities of psychologists in the development of psychological and pedagogical support programs for foreign students studying at the university.

Revisiting the Psychology of Denial Concerning Low-Carbon Behaviors: From Moral Disengagement to Generating Social Change

This paper reassesses the scope for shifting high-carbon personal behaviors in the light of prevailing insufficient political and regulatory action. Our previous research has shown that citizens regard such behavioral shifts as extremely daunting and create a number of psychological denial mechanisms that draw attention to the inaction of others, including governments. Further theoretical insights and relevant new findings have been attained from a more recent survey of more than 1000 German residents. This reveals that direct denial of anthropogenic climate change is replaced by a denial of responsibility for individual climate action. Ways of moral disengagement play a more dominant role, such as the diffusion and displacement of responsibility, although a majority is aware of—and very much concerned about—the climate crisis. More attention needs to be given for further reinterpretation of the role of moral disengagement to single out adequate strategies for different individuals and groups of people, such as making role models more visible to encourage social learning that could accelerate further necessary moral and behavioral transformations.

Denial along the lines of truth

Abstract The text is a rewritten lecture on the staging of Mateja Bučar's dance installation On(the)line performed in Cankarjev dom on 19 October 2017. The author thinks of denial as the defence mechanism of the mental apparatus against facts that are too traumatic. And the technological present, with its tailored individualised news, sees to it that certain traumatic content doesn't pierce the veil of truth and never even reaches the user. In a way, the internal mental mechanism of denial has been externalised through the Internet codes of social networks.

Development and psychometric properties of a short form of the Illness Denial Questionnaire.

BackgroundCoping with chronic illness can be overwhelming for patients and caregivers, and may be inhibited by the denial mechanism, and therefore, denial represents a critical issue for health professionals. Assessing illness denial is far from easy, and brief tools suitable for medical settings are lacking. In this paper, the development of a short form of the Illness Denial Questionnaire (IDQ) for patients and caregivers is presented.MethodsIn study 1, the IDQ was administered to 118 patients and 83 caregivers to examine the internal structure of denial; then the properties of the items (DIF, fit, and difficulty) were evaluated according to the Rasch model in order to select the best items for the Illness Denial Questionnaire-Short Form (IDQ-SF). Study 2 included 202 participants (113 patients and 89 caregivers). The internal structure of the IDQ-SF was tested via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Reliability and concurrent validity were also studied using the Anxiety and Depression Questionnaire-Reduced Form (AD-R).ResultsThe CFA showed a two-factor structure encompassing “Denial of negative emotions” and “Resistance to change”. Results of the Rasch analyses led to the selection of 4 items for each dimension. The resulting IDQ-SF (8 items) showed a two-factor structure as well as good reliability and concurrent validity with AD-R.ConclusionThe IDQ-SF represents a valid tool for quickly evaluating the core of illness denial in patients and caregivers. This brief and easily administrable questionnaire allows health professionals to outline the presence and severity of illness denial in order to set individually tailored interventions.

Psychological Stressors and Their Relationships to Defense Mechanisms and Somatoform Disorders among An- Najah and Birzeit Universities Students

This study aimed to identify the levels of psychological stress and the most common defense mechanisms. Revealing the level of somatoform disorders among An- Najah National University and Birzeit students. This study also sought to detect the relations among these three variables, and effects of some demographic variables of (gender, college, university, living place, academic year, economical level) have been examined at this study in the psychological stress, defense mechanisms, and somatoform disorders, To achieve these goals, the researcher built and developed three instruments tools are: psychological stress scale, defense mechanisms scale, somatoform disorders scale. Reliability and validity of these scales have been verified and results show that, They are valid to use, The research population consists of all students of An- Najah National University and Birzeit University in Palestine, the study sample consists of (300) students from both universities, the sample have been chosen with stratified random method, and the researcher used the correlative descriptive method, The researcher used Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), suitable statistical processors have been used to answer the study questions. The study comes out with many results, the assessment of psychological stress represented by life, family, social, academic, and economical stress was intermediate. The assessment of political stress was low. The assessment of extent of using defense mechanisms represented by inhibition, projection, regression, denial, and reaction formation was intermediate, also the assessment of the range of having a somatoform disorders was intermediate, there were a positive correlation relation and it was statistically significant among all of the study variables which represented by somatoform disorders and psychological stress with different sources (life, family, social, academic, economical, and political factors) on psychological defense mechanisms (inhibition, projection, regression, denial, and reaction formation). The results showed that the variable of gender has an effect in the extent of using reaction formation mechanisms at (α = 0.01), while there were no effection in the rest of dependent variables represented by inhibition, projection, and denial mechanisms, and physical disorders, life, family social, academic, economical, political stresses. The results also indicated that males most likely to use the defense of reaction formation more than females, On the other have the variable of the college (natural sciences, and human sciences) has an effect in reaction formation mechanisms at the alpha level (α=0.05), in favor of human sciences students. The effect of college variable on somatoform disorders at (α= 0.01) was in favor for natural sciences students, while it did not affect the other variables, Based by on these results; the researcher recommendes to increase the awareness using brochures, TV channels, and the internet to make sure that students don't have to use defense mechanisms a lot as they are connected to have somatoform disorders. The students and those who have the responsibility to take care of them, have to find constructive outlets to reduce psychological stresses, have a good management and know how to deal with them as they are also connected to the somatoform disorders infection.

The role of lay beliefs about group transgressions in acceptance of responsibility for ingroup harm‐doing

AbstractDenial of responsibility by perpetrator groups is the most common response to group‐based transgressions. Refusal to acknowledge responsibility has dire consequences for intergroup relations. In this research we assessed whether shifting lay beliefs about group‐based transgressions in general influences acceptance of responsibility for a specific ingroup transgression. In two experimental studies we manipulated lay beliefs about group transgressions as reflecting either a group's stable character (i.e., a global defect construal) or a specific characteristic (i.e., a specific defect construal). Specific defect construals (compared to global defect construals) increased acceptance of ingroup responsibility by increasing group malleability beliefs, but reduced acceptance of ingroup responsibility by reducing the ingroup's perceived moral failure. These effects were moderated by ingroup superiority in Study 1, but not Study 2. We draw implications for our understanding of mechanisms of denial of responsibility, identity threat, and coping with this threat.

Overcoming the psychological barriers to energy conservation behaviour: The influence of objective and subjective environmental knowledge

AbstractEnergy conservation is a crucial aspect of responsible consumption which is the reflection of individual efforts for sustainability. However, especially young consumers are reluctant to reduce their energy consumption despite their pro‐environmental attitudes. Resistance to behavioural change can be attributed to various psychological barriers that help consumer to avoid engaging in pro‐environmental actions. In this context, the first aim of the study is to extend the theoretical and empirical evidence regarding impeding effects of psychological barriers on individual energy conservation behaviour. Secondly, the study investigates the alleviating role of environmental knowledge on those barriers that limit energy conservation. Proposed impeding effects of objective and subjective environmental knowledge on various denial mechanisms, which are in turn expected to hinder energy conservation, were tested using the survey data collected from young Turkish consumers. Results suggest that denial mechanisms hinder young consumers’ energy conservation behaviour indirectly through diminishing feelings of moral obligations. Moreover, it was found that objective environmental knowledge's effect can be used to break down the psychological barriers and to facilitate the change towards more sustainable energy consumption patterns. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Edifici fascisti e rappresentazione della violenza. Regressione ed elaborazione psichica nell'individuo, nel gruppo e nella civiltà

The author suggests that there are traces of fascist celebration of violence to be found on some Italian fascist buildings. Such a celebration shows a violation of the pact of civilization based on the renunciation of instinct (drive). Using these ideas on fascist buildings as a cue, the author proposes some hypotheses on the elaboration of the violence assumed as part of the fascist inheritance. This can be treated as a special case of the general phenomenon of the elaboration of violence. The author proposes that this process is prevented mainly by the mechanisms of denial, denegative pact and regression. These mechanisms are treated as the expression of a specific way of psychic gathering of subjects that are involved in the processing of violence as psychic content, and how this kind of interpersonal mechanism interacts with macroscopic social events such as the vicissitudes of a regime. The author proposes that through the observation of these phenomena it is possible: 1) to clarify the relations between the mechanisms implied in the elaboration of violence at individual level and at a group level, in the context of the examined historical and social Italian period; 2) to draw some general conclusions on the mode of operation of the process of psychic elaboration as a daily process, highlighting its fragility, especially when confronted with demanding psychic tasks such as the elaboration of violence.

СОВЛАДАЮЩЕЕ ПОВЕДЕНИЕ И ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ ЗАЩИТЫ У НАРКОЗАВИСИМЫХ С ПСИХИЧЕСКОЙ ТРАВМОЙ РАННЕГО ВОЗРАСТА

The paper presents the results of the study of conscious and unconscious components of the protection of a personality - coping behavior and psychological defense mechanisms of drug addicts with a history of infantile trauma. The respondents were 122 people aged 29 to 44 years with drug addiction. After studying the experiencing of infantile psychic trauma and other mental traumas got at the later age, the number of research subjects decreased, and the remaining respondents were divided into two groups. The empirical group consisted of 62 people who have repeated experience of infantile psychic trauma; the comparison group consisted of 60 people who have practically no experience of infantile mental trauma. The frequent infantile traumas are the negative attitude on the part of family members, their death, verbal, physical and sexual violence, the lack of appropriate attention, the neglect of the needs of a child (respondent), the divorce of parents, and criminal events, such as the attacks on family members and friends, robbery, rape, and sexual harassment. The characteristic of drug addicts with infantile trauma is the coping behavior that can develop in two directions - either drug addicts try to solve their problems or try to avoid problems, deny their existence. At the unconscious level, drug addicts have such dominant defense mechanisms as the denial and projection what leads to maladaptation, more frequent use of drugs and severe disorganization of behavior. The predominance of defense mechanisms of denial and projection in drug addicts at the unconscious level helps as well to reduce the internal anxiety when detecting signs of drug dependence, to deny the presence of addiction. In general, drug addicts with infantile psychic trauma and other mental traumas of later age are characterized by the maladaptive types of coping behavior both at the conscious and unconscious levels of personal protection.