Mature and immature defenses. A study of repressors and trait anxiety groups
(2008) p.127-142- Abstract
- To investigate defense mechanisms, repressors (n= 14), highly anxious (n = 37) and low anxious (n = 7) groups were tested with the Meta Contrast Technique (Smith, Johnson, Almgren & Johanson, 2001). The division into repressors and anxiety groups was made on a larger group (N = 140), which was also investigated with respect to experienced access to preconscious processes, here operationalized as memory for dreams.
Results: The repressors got higher scores on immature defense mechanisms than the highly or low anxious groups (p = .04 versus p < .05). The repressors as well as the highly anxious group were higher on a measure of overall defense than the low anxious group (p < .05 in both comparisons). Regarding the... (More) - To investigate defense mechanisms, repressors (n= 14), highly anxious (n = 37) and low anxious (n = 7) groups were tested with the Meta Contrast Technique (Smith, Johnson, Almgren & Johanson, 2001). The division into repressors and anxiety groups was made on a larger group (N = 140), which was also investigated with respect to experienced access to preconscious processes, here operationalized as memory for dreams.
Results: The repressors got higher scores on immature defense mechanisms than the highly or low anxious groups (p = .04 versus p < .05). The repressors as well as the highly anxious group were higher on a measure of overall defense than the low anxious group (p < .05 in both comparisons). Regarding the separate defense categories, a significant difference was found for repression, which was more frequent in the highly anxious than in the low anxious group (p = .003). Memory for dreams differed only in the men. The male repressors scored significantly lower on dream memory than the highly anxious men (p < .02).
The immature defensive structure in the repressors was discussed in terms of regressive reactions, speculatively due to a lack of symbolic functioning concerning anxiety-arousing areas, i.e. alexithymia. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/976163
- author
- Carlsson, Ingegerd LU and Neuman, Fredrik
- organization
- publishing date
- 2008
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- host publication
- Process and Personality. Actualization of the personal world with process-oriented methods
- editor
- Smith, Gudmund and Carlsson, Ingegerd
- pages
- 127 - 142
- publisher
- Ontos Verlag
- ISBN
- 978-3-938793-89-3
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- f8f21f44-67a6-4b68-a308-033d847aab0c (old id 976163)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 10:35:57
- date last changed
- 2018-11-21 20:59:41
@inbook{f8f21f44-67a6-4b68-a308-033d847aab0c, abstract = {{To investigate defense mechanisms, repressors (n= 14), highly anxious (n = 37) and low anxious (n = 7) groups were tested with the Meta Contrast Technique (Smith, Johnson, Almgren & Johanson, 2001). The division into repressors and anxiety groups was made on a larger group (N = 140), which was also investigated with respect to experienced access to preconscious processes, here operationalized as memory for dreams. <br/><br> Results: The repressors got higher scores on immature defense mechanisms than the highly or low anxious groups (p = .04 versus p < .05). The repressors as well as the highly anxious group were higher on a measure of overall defense than the low anxious group (p < .05 in both comparisons). Regarding the separate defense categories, a significant difference was found for repression, which was more frequent in the highly anxious than in the low anxious group (p = .003). Memory for dreams differed only in the men. The male repressors scored significantly lower on dream memory than the highly anxious men (p < .02).<br/><br> The immature defensive structure in the repressors was discussed in terms of regressive reactions, speculatively due to a lack of symbolic functioning concerning anxiety-arousing areas, i.e. alexithymia.}}, author = {{Carlsson, Ingegerd and Neuman, Fredrik}}, booktitle = {{Process and Personality. Actualization of the personal world with process-oriented methods}}, editor = {{Smith, Gudmund and Carlsson, Ingegerd}}, isbn = {{978-3-938793-89-3}}, language = {{eng}}, pages = {{127--142}}, publisher = {{Ontos Verlag}}, title = {{Mature and immature defenses. A study of repressors and trait anxiety groups}}, url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/5576948/1270604.pdf}}, year = {{2008}}, }