These categories can help you develop and dimensionalize characters – and to help shape storylines – in any kind of fiction. Of course, it made me proud that my favorite personal defense mechanism is Humor, which is considered a ‘Mature’ defense.
28 Defense Mechanisms
Adapted from Adaptation to Life by George Vaillant
Based on The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense by Anna Freud
Mature Defenses
- Altruism
- Anticipation
- Asceticism
- Humor
- Sublimation
- Suppression
Narcissistic Defenses
- Denial
- Distortion
- Projection
Immature Defenses
- Acting out
- Blocking
- Hypochondriasis
- Introjection
- Passive-aggressive
- Regression
- Schizoid fantasy
- Somatization
Neurotic Defenses
- Controlling
- Displacement
- Externalization
- Inhibition
- Intellectualization
- Isolation
- Rationalization
- Dissociation
- Reaction Formation
- Repression
- Sexualization
This is just one of hundreds of articles and thousands of links in “Miller’s Compendium of Timeless Tools for the Modern Writer” – a comprehensive catalog of writing resources.