271
Views
26
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Article

Empirical Studies of Defense Style: Relationships with Psychopathology and Change

, MD
Pages 263-278 | Published online: 03 Jul 2009
 

Abstract

The Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ) is a widely used self-report measure of empirically derived groupings of defense mechanisms ranked on an adaptive hierarchy. A review of published studies indicates strong evidence that adaptiveness of defense style correlates with mental health and that some diagnoses are correlated with specific defense patterns—for example, borderline personality disorder with greater use of both maladaptive and image-distorting defenses and less use of adaptive defenses. For other diagnoses, the pattern of defenses is less clear but often reinforces theoretical formulations.

Defense styles become more adaptive with improvement in symptoms, but intermediate defenses tend to be stable (traitlike) over time. Defenses are sometimes predictive of the quality of the therapeutic alliance. Although one might speculate that assessment of defenses can be useful in planning treatment, there are no studies supporting this hypothesis.(HARV REV PSYCHIATRY 2004;12:263–278.)

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.