Defense mechanisms in reactive and process schizophrenics

Abstract

Divided schizophrenics into reactive and process groups (20 males and 20 females in each group) on the basis of three criteria: Premorbid adjustment, role orientation, and paranoid‐nonparanoid status. All were administered the Defense Mechanism Inventory, which measures five clusters of defenses. Reactives had significantly higher scores than process patients on Turning against Self and Projection. Process patients had significantly higher scores on Reversal. No significant differences between groups were found on Turning against Object and Principalization, nor were there significant sex differences. The results support the probability of different defensive preferences for the reactive and process syndromes.

The Development of Defense Mechanisms

“…Schueler, Herron, Poland, and Schultz (1982) rated 80 schizophrenic inpatients for their manifestation of avoidance of others, turning against the object, projection, and turning against the self, and compared these ratings with DMI scores.…”

“…For males only, T AS and REV were higher than in a nonpatient sample while TAO and PRO were lower. Within a sample of schizophrenics, Schueler et al (1982) found that patients diagnosed as reactive schizophrenic scored 126 6. Approaches to Measuring Defenses higher on PRO and T AS than did those diagnosed as process schizophrenic, who in turn scored extremely high on REV (mean = 50+).…”

Defence mechanisms in schizophrenia

“…Using this measure, Rubino et al (1991) found that psychotic subjects and subjects with schizophrenia used qualitatively different defences when compared with normal controls and other diagnostic groups. Other projective measures employed include the Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire (Bulnes, Valdés, Aragón, & López Fernández, 1997), the Utrecht Coping List (Van den Bosch & Rombouts, 1997), the Defense Mechanism Inventory (DMI; D' Angelo & Wolowitz, 1986;Schueler, Herron, Poland, & Schultz, 1982), the Picture Interpretation Task (Kaufman, 1973) and interpretation of artwork of subjects with schizophrenia (Anstadt & Krause, 1989). However, there has been little consensus based on the results of these studies.…”