Ego defense mechanisms in Pakistani medical students: a cross sectional analysis

Abstract

BackgroundEgo defense mechanisms (or factors), defined by Freud as unconscious resources used by the ego to reduce conflict between the id and superego, are a reflection of how an individual deals with conflict and stress. This study assesses the prevalence of various ego defense mechanisms employed by medical students of Karachi, which is a group with higher stress levels than the general population.MethodsA questionnaire based cross-sectional study was conducted on 682 students from five major medical colleges of Karachi over 4 weeks in November 2006. Ego defense mechanisms were assessed using the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ-40) individually and as grouped under Mature, Immature, and Neurotic factors.ResultsLower mean scores of Immature defense mechanisms (4.78) were identified than those for Neurotic (5.62) and Mature (5.60) mechanisms among medical students of Karachi. Immature mechanisms were more commonly employed by males whereas females employed more Neurotic mechanisms than males. Neurotic and Immature defenses were significantly more prevalent in first and second year students. Mature mechanisms were significantly higher in students enrolled in Government colleges than Private institutions (p < 0.05).ConclusionsImmature defense mechanisms were less commonly employed than Neurotic and Mature mechanisms among medical students of Karachi. The greater employment of Neurotic defenses may reflect greater stress levels than the general population. Employment of these mechanisms was associated with female gender, enrollment in a private medical college, and students enrolled in the first 2 years of medical school.

Association of Ego Defense Mechanisms with Academic Performance, Anxiety and Depression in Medical Students: A Mixed Methods Study

“…It has demonstrated good construct and content validity by discriminating between different psychiatric populations in various studies and adequate reliability statistics with test-retest reliability (.66) and high inter-item correlations (.78) [ 13 , 34 - 35 ]. It is one of the most extensively used self-report measures to assess ego defense mechanisms in various countries, such as Pakistan, Iran, Finland, Canada, Brazil, Japan, and Denmark, both in psychiatric patients, medical students, and the general public of varying ages [ 27 - 28 , 36 - 40 ].…”

“…To our knowledge, only one study has investigated the defense mechanisms of medical students in Pakistan according to which the most commonly employed ego defenses by medical students were rationalization, anticipation, and undoing while the defenses of devaluation, denial, and displacement were least common [ 27 ]. However, the study by Parekh, et al was limited to the prevalence of defense mechanisms and did not assess associations of ego defenses with anxiety, depression, or psychosocial functioning in medical students [ 27 ]. In a similar study using the Defense Style Questionnaire-40 (DSQ-40), La Cour reported a higher use of pseudo-altruism, dissociation, denial, sublimation, and suppression in medical students than high school students.…”

The Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy and Students’ Defense Mechanisms

“…Moreover, defense mechanisms have been investigated in relation to different behaviors such as depression, anxiety, normal people, educational advance, etc. by different researchers during recent years (6,17,19,20,34,35). In relation to the research variables, the results of covariance analysis of experimental and control groups determined that all variables ex-4…”

The physician’s quality of life: Relationship with ego defense mechanisms and object relations

“…projection) have been found to be associated with negative health indices such as personality disorders, depression, and drug use [13]. A greater use of neurotic and immature defenses is reported in mental disorders, such as panic disorder, obsessivecompulsive disorder, social phobia and major depression [14] while immature defense mechanisms were less commonly employed than neurotic and mature mechanisms, among medical students [15].…”