The Identification and Modification of Defense Mechanisms in Counseling

Abstract

This article suggests considerations and strategies for identifying and modifying a client's defense mechanisms in counseling. A systematic approach to a client's mechanisms of defense contributes to therapeutic gain. Inappropriate counselor responses intensify an individual's defenses and undermine the counseling relationship. Definitions of individual defenses and indicators for identifying the mechanisms are provided. A literature review focuses on the counseling implications of the defenses. The process of defense mechanism modification is illustrated through a case example.

Defense Mechanisms in Group Counseling

“…Defenses that impair an individual's ability to function effectively in interpersonal relationships become apparent during the social interactions that occur in group counseling. Through constructive feedback from the counselor and group members, clients become aware of the manifestation of their defenses, and they begin to clarify their conflicted behavior (Bach, 1954;Corey, 1990). Groups also have potential for the mismanagement of client defenses, where vulnerable individuals may be "stripped" of their defenses and endure painful, debilitating attacks by group members (Slavson, 19W, Yalom, 1985).…”

“…As participants feel more secure in a group, they tend to reduce their guardedness, and they become more aware of their defensive reactions (Corey & Corey, 1992). In the second, or integration stage, individuals continue to receive feedback from the group and begin to examine distorted cognitions that are central to their defenses (Clark, 1991). The third, or accomplishment stage, concludes the counseling experience when members are encouraged to take further responsibility for their behavior through constructive actions, as they consolidate positive changes in their defenses (Patterson & Eisenberg, 1983 …”

“…Another example is a woman with long-term alcohol-abuse issues who demonstrates the defense of denial by insisting that she has never had a drinking problem. Projective techniques are also useful in assessing a client's defenses (Clark, 1991;Patterson & Eisenberg, 1983). An elderly man, for instance, states that he has "no problems," yet in response to the incomplete sentence stem, "I suffer..…”

“…Psychoanalytic and psychodynamic practitioners recognized early the implications of the defenses f o r treatment, and the mechanisms have been a source of continuing investigation in individual and group psychotherapy (Bloch & Crouch, 1985;Freud, 193611965;Rutan & Stone, 1984). Today, many counselors with diverse theoretical orientations view defense mechanisms as essential constructs in working with clients (Cavanagh, 1990;Corey, 1990;Kottler & Brown, 1992).…”

“…The mechanisms of defense, however, have been examined primarily from an individual counseling perspective (Clark, 1991;Patterson & Eisenberg, 1983). and there has been a paucity of consideration of the defenses in the group counseling literature, as indicated by the limited emphasis on defense mechanisms in group texts (Gazda, 1989;Jacobs, Harvill, & Masson, 1988;Vander Kolk, 1985).…”