Intuitive Answer Lists

Invite your intuition to help you find the answers that are best for you! Quickly scan the list below and watch for any items that grab your attention in some way.  If you are open and receptive, your intuition will flag items that deserve your attention. Mark the items that 'resonate' with you, then logically pick out the top 7 of them for further exploration.

Defense Mechanisms - A List of Choices

accusing
acting out - giving expression to forbidden desires without concern for negative consequences.
aggression
arguing
analysing - a belief that since we understand and can interpret defence strategies, we have cleared our repressed feelings and do not need to work through them.
arguing
assertion
avoidance
blaming
challenging
cockiness
compensation - hiding a weakness in one area by excelling or being rewarded in another.
compliance
complaining
compromise
confusion
control
criticism
deception
defiance
denial - refusing to acknowledge the thought or feeling
devaluation
discounting
displacement - channelling thoughts or feelings to a neutral or weaker person or object..
dissociation
distrust
emotional insulation - withdrawing into inaction so one doesn't get hurt.
explaining
externalisation - pinpointing outside forces as the cause of our behaviour so we don't have to accept personal responsibility for our actions.
fantasizing - not paying attention or using daydreams to escape an uncomfortable situation.
humour
identification - identifying oneself with a prestigious individual or institution to build one's sense of self-worth.
intellectualisation - coming up with highly intellectual reasons or convincing arguments to justify the situation and keep attention away from feelings.
introjection - adopting external values and standards as one's own to ensure those standards are not used against him/her.
isolation - separating feelings and thoughts that are connected
isolation of affect - 'thinking' feelings rather than actually experiencing them
judging
justifying
laughing it off
lying
manipulation
minimizing - writing off problematic events and behaviors as being too minor to worry about.
passive aggression - indirect and unassertive expression of aggression towards another.
projection - perceiving that another has our thoughts or feelings so we don't have to own them.
rationalization - thinking up reasons to justify what's happening while ignoring one's feelings.
reaction formation - unconsciously thinking, feeling and acting in ways that are opposite to how we really think and feel.
regression - slipping back into old, often immature, ways of behaving to release the feelings.
repression - burying thoughts and feelings in our unconscious so we no longer have memory of them.
ridicule
seeking approval
self-deception
shouting
silence
smiling
sublimation - channelling socially unacceptable feelings into a socially productive activity.
suppression - some awareness of a thought or feeling, but we try to hide it.
threatening
undoing - doing the opposite of how one feels to try to negate the feelings.
violence
withdrawing

Go back and check out our other 90 Intuitive Choice and Answer Lists