Defence mechanisms in schizophrenia

Shaw, Richard J.; Geurse, Maria K.; Steiner, Hans

doi:10.1002/pmh.47

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 40 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…755–757), and agreement was reached on all of them. The REM-71 has been used in studies with both adults and adolescents, both from the community (Prunas, Preti, et al, 2014) and from clinical samples with various forms of behavioral or emotional problems, including self-injurious behaviors (Sarno, Madeddu, & Gratz, 2010), schizophrenia (Shaw, Geurse, & Steiner, 2008), and gender dysphoria (Prunas, Vitelli, et al, 2014); it also showed significant associations with various indices of well-being and satisfaction with several life domains (Prunas et al, 2009; Steiner et al, 2001). The validation study of the Italian version of the instrument (Prunas et al, 2009) indicated that both high-order scales showed an acceptable internal consistency (Prunas et al, 2009).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defense mechanisms, remembered parental caregiving, and adult attachment style.

Prunas¹,

Pierro²,

Huemer³

et al. 2019

Psychoanalytic Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The empirical study of defense mechanisms has taken place in relative isolation, with few connections to other fields deriving from psychodynamic theories, including attachment. This study aimed to explore the associations of remembered childhood caregiving and defense mechanisms with adult attachment styles in a nonclinical sample. Furthermore, we investigated which defenses are associated with specific insecure attachment styles. Participants were 238 university students (mean age ϭ 28.11 years, SD ϭ 9.42; 24.4% male) who volunteered to complete a set of questionnaires including the Response Evaluation Measure-71, the Attachment Style Questionnaire, and the Measure of Parenting Style. The main contribution to adult attachment style is given by immature defenses, which are associated with all dimensions of insecure attachment, and inversely related to secure attachment. Mature defenses seemed to play a secondary role because they predicted only secure attachment significantly. Maternal and paternal rearing style showed no significant effect on attachment scores, with the only exception of paternal abuse on need for approval and maternal overprotection on preoccupation with relationships and relationships as secondary. Splitting and repression emerged as mechanisms that characterized the avoidant dimension of insecure attachment, whereas the anxious dimension of attachment showed associations with projection and fantasy. The results support the hypothesis that immature defenses are a correlate of insecure attachment in adults and that specific defense configurations are associated with the avoidant and anxious components of attachment.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defense mechanisms, remembered parental caregiving, and adult attachment style.

Prunas¹,

Pierro²,

Huemer³

et al. 2019

Psychoanalytic Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Coping with the experience of different realities demands attempts at integration and defence. People with schizophrenic symptoms have immature defence mechanisms, such as negation, repression, fantasy, and splitting ( 63 ) or delusions ( 64 ). The concepts of splitting and disruption in the sense of self in schizophrenia are as old as the concept of schizophrenia itself ( 65 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The recovery of homicidal people diagnosed with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder—An interpretative phenomenological analysis

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ObjectiveIdentity recovery in people diagnosed with schizophrenia who have committed homicide poses several difficulties. Premorbid mental illnesses, the experience of psychosis, and the absence of cohesive ego functions may result in the inability to integrate the homicidal act into self-identity. Problems with integration increase the risk of recidivism and further mental problems. The aim of the present research was to explore how homicidal people diagnosed with schizophrenia make sense of their actions, and how they identify with the homicide.MethodSix semi-structured interviews were conducted at a long-term psychiatric home with people who had committed homicide and who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), an idiographic method rooted in phenomenologist traditions that focuses on how participants experience and make sense of events in their lives, and how those events affect their identity and sense of self.ResultsThree personal experiential themes were established as a result of the analysis: (1) homicide and responsibility; (2) homicide and self; and (3) control over threats to self and self-evaluation. (1) Homicide was often reported to have been committed in a non-conscious, delusional state that may have led to the loss of self-determination. (2) Our interviewees struggled to integrate their acts into their identities. They distanced themselves from the crime or held multiple, parallel interpretations of the act. (3) Recovering patients experienced the constant threat of entering into a delusional reality and losing control. The importance of control was central to their self-evaluation. The patients appeared to distance themselves from the homicidal act and to regard their delusional selves as a threat to their lives.ConclusionTherapy aimed at bolstering self-control, supporting the integration of the fragmented self, and raising awareness of the connections between delusional reality and standard, intersubjective reality may be helpful in reducing the instability of the self. Therapy aimed at processing complex grief and loss of family is also needed.

show abstract