Defense mechanism responses to COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a wide range of negative physical and mental impacts. This review begins with a theoretical explanation of the psychological defense mechanisms used to deal with the pandemic. It then discusses different categories of defense mechanisms and their roles in managing the impacts of psychological distress. The aim of this review is to highlight the various psychological defense mechanisms individuals use to deal with the pandemic and to discuss how adjustment mechanisms can protect individuals from internal and external threats by shielding the integrity of the ego (the mind) and helping individuals maintain their self-schema.

The Relationship of Mental Health and Resilience with Posttraumatic Growth through the Mediating of Defensive Styles in the COVID-19 Survivors

“…The findings revealed that individuals suffering from low levels of mental health use more immature mechanisms than individuals with high levels of mental health. In general, the COVID-19 survivors tend less to use developed defense mechanisms, which can aggravate their physical state since the defense mechanisms lead to physical and psychological outcomes [15]. Therefore, when individuals use developed defensive mechanisms against bad situations, they experience less anxiety than individuals who use immature defensive mechanisms.…”

“…Consequently, it can aggravate their disease. In other words, when the patients use more immature and neurotic defensive mechanisms, their resilience decreases, and as a result, they experience more negative emotions and have fewer options to reduce their psychological distresses [15]. In general, there is a positive significant relationship between the developed defensive mechanisms and resilience.…”

“…Defensive styles are among the important variables in dealing with stressful unknown situations. Defensive styles are the automatic regulating processes that reduce cognitive dissonance and minimize the sudden changes in the internal and external reality by causing an influence on the way an individual perceives threatening accidents [14,15]. Andrews et al [16] divided the defense mechanisms into three groups, i.e., developed, neurotic, and immature.…”

The Values and Cultural Characteristics of Defense Mechanisms in the COVID-19 Epidemic

“…Examples of mature defenses include altruism, sublimation, suppression, and humor. They serve an important role in safeguarding individuals from mental stress caused by traumatic events in their lives, like the COVID-19 epidemic (Altwaijri et al, 2022). Utilizing defensive mechanisms fosters mental resilience and has been critical in reducing psychological discomfort during the COVID-19 epidemic (Di Giuseppe et al, 2020;Walker and McCabe, 2021).…”

Does pandemic denial help or harm? Belief in and experience of COVID-19 as factors affecting psychological consequences of using neurotic defence mechanisms

“…The psychological consequences and adaptability of the neurotic style may be more dependent on circumstances compared to mature and immature styles, and for this reason we focused on them in the current study. There is also evidence that neurotic defences play a critical role in mediating the psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., repression allows to avoid exposure to information about the dangers of COVID-19; dissociation allows to disconnect from negative experiences, memories, thoughts, sensations, and even their identities during the pandemic; reaction formation leads to the expression of the opposite of their real feelings and emotions and displacement allows to express anger and blame family members or others for COVID-19 infection (Altwaijri et al, 2022). Neurotic defence style contributes positively to individual's psychological and social functioning (e.g.…”