Protecting the Self: Defense Mechanisms in Action

by Phebe Cramer

Integrating theory, research, and practical applications, this timely book provides a comprehensive examination of defense mechanisms and their role in both normal development and psychopathology. The author describes how children and adults mobilize specific kinds of defenses to maintain their psychological equilibrium and preserve self-esteem, particularly in situations of trauma or stress. Many lucid examples illustrate what these mechanisms look...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1593852983
• ISBN13: 9781593852986
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Guilford Publications
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

An authoritative resource especially recommended

Protecting The Self: Defense Mechanisms In Action by Phebe Cramer (clinical psychologist and Professor of Psychology at Williams College) is an in-depth reference and resource about the mental defense mechanisms that ordinary people use upon themselves every day of their lives to deal with unpleasantness, criticism of the self, stress, and other psychologically jarring effects. When taken to extremes defense mechanisms can play a key role in violent or even sadistic behavior, yet they are a routine and daily occurrence among nearly all people everywhere. Chapters particularly focus upon the defense mechanisms of denial, projection, and identification; other topics include how the mechanisms are used between genders, how they are used in childhood versus adulthood, and how to recognize and deal with them in psychotherapy. An authoritative resource especially recommended for medical school libraries, social workers, clinical and personality psychologists, psychiatrists, and other practitioners or students in the field.