Evidence that defence mechanisms are more related to personality than to symptoms

Abstract

The Defense Mechanisms Inventory is one of the more popular instruments for examining hypothetical dynamic mechanisms. It is known to correlate with some measures of personality and mood. We proposed that, as measures of personality and measures of defence mechanisms are considered to have a common origin in early experience, they should be more strongly correlated than measures of mood, given equal power in the measures of the dependent variables. In this connection we report the relationships which were found between scores on the subscales of the Inventory and the Hysteroid/Obsessoid Questionnaire and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. There was only a weak relationship between anxiety or depression on the one hand and the Defense Mechanisms Inventory on the other. The highest correlation noted in this regard was Pearson's r = .18, p = .065 between anxiety and the scale Turning Against Self (TAS). The Hysteroid/Obsessoid Questionnaire showed a positive relationship between high scores (hysteroid, i.e. extraverted) and the scale TAO (Turning Against the Object) and a negative relationship for the TAS scale ( r = −.290, p = .003). Thus the Defense Mechanisms Inventory showed a stronger relationship with personality than with mood.

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