An objective instrument for measuring defense mechanisms.

Abstract

The Defense Mechanism Inventory, a paper and pencil test which purports to measure the relative intensity of usage of five major groups of defenses, is described. The inventory consists of 10 brief stories, two per conflict area, followed by four questions regarding S's actual behavior, fantasy behavior, thoughts, and feelings in the situations described. Five responses typifying the five defenses (i.e., hostility-out, projection, principalization, turning-against-self, and reversal) are provided for each question, from which S selects the one most representative and the one least representative of his reaction. Reliability, validity, and normative studies are presented, all indicating that this inventory has many potential uses as a clinical and research instrument.

The role of defense mechanisms in the modulation of anger experience and expression: Gender differences and influence on self-report measures

“…Test-retest reliability analysis, conducted on 40 subjects (21 males aged from 17 and 48 years and 19 females aged from 18 and 50 years), did not show significant differences on the five scales (Gleser & Ihilevich, 1969, Fioriti et al, 1994 as cited in Ihilevich and Gleser (1994).…”

“…Defense Mechanisms Inventory -DMI (Gleser & Ihilevich, 1969, Italian version by Fioriti, Fiumara, & Gentili, 1994, as cited in Ihilevich and Gleser (1994). The DMI is a paper-and-pencil forced choice test that measures the relative strength of five defensive clusters.…”

Évaluer les mécanismes de défense aujourd’hui

“…• Le Defense Mechanism Inventory (DMI) [10] s'appuie sur 12 histoires qui permettent de dégager cinq styles défensifs. Il n'y a pas de traduction française ;…”

“…• la possibilité de recherches programmées sur les corréla-tions avec les personnalités, en particulier borderline [3], a été envisagée à plusieurs reprises, mais aussi avec d'autres modèles de personnalité par exemple de type cloninger [10].…”

Socio-Demographic Factors as Moderators of Attitude Towards Coping Among Cancer and Cardiac Patients

“…Social support may be a key moderator of the effect of psychosocial stress on cancer development. Earlier investigations of coping with cancer focused on documenting the frequency of use of and the role played by psychological defense mechanisms (e.g., projection, suppression, denial, displacement, reaction formation) in adapting to the disease (Gleser et al 1969;Cooper et al 1978). Goldzweig et al (2009) studied the effects of gender difference among middle-aged cancer patients and their healthy spouses.…”