Defense mechanisms

Background and Purpose: Epilepsy is one of the most prevalent neurological disorders, the contracting of which causes numerous physical, psychological and social consequences. However, there are a number of defense mechanisms humans possess, which are responsible for protecting an individual against the stress, anxieties and pressures of everyday life. Accordingly, the present study was undertaken with the aim of comparatively investigating the defense mechanisms in a group of woman with temporal lobe epilepsy against a non-clinical group of females. Materials & Methods: The research design of the present study was based on a causal-comparative case study. The statistical population of the study consisted of all epileptic women and their normal counterparts who had referred to Imam Hossein Hospital in Tehran during the first half of 2019. The sample population included 40 female patients already diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy by neurologists through electro-encephalography who were randomly selected and compared to their 40 normal counterparts. The two studied groups were similar in terms of age, education and marital status. Research data were gathered using the Andrews Defense Mechanism Questionnaire (DSQ40) and analyzed by the SPSS24 software program employing multivariate statistical analysis of variance. Results: There was a significant difference (p <0.05) between the defense mechanism used in epileptic women and that of healthy women. Conclusion: It can be concluded that women with epilepsy have different defense mechanisms and are more likely to use immature mechanisms and neurotic defense mechanisms (only in terms of False Altruism ) when compared to normal women

This paper reports the study undertaken on types of defense mechanisms used by Iranian EFL teachers. Furthermore, the significant differences between male and female EFL teachers at different age groups in the use of defense mechanisms are also considered. In the first phase of the study, the focus was on identification of defense mechanisms teachers generally adopt in their daily activities, while the second phase was exclusive to the deployment of defense mechanisms inside EFL classes. Accordingly, Defense Style Questionnaire was distributed among 100 EFL teachers. Next, to capture in-class atmosphere, the researchers carried out 30 semi-structured interviews with Iranian EFL teachers. All the participants (15 males and 15 females) were teaching in public schools as well as private institutes at the time of the interview. The results of the questionnaire indicated that teachers used two mature defense mechanisms, namely, anticipation (M=13.8) and rationalization (M=13), in their daily lives more than the others. Nonetheless, the results of the interview denoted the dominance of pseudo- altruistic behaviors (N=30), as a neurotic mechanism, in EFL classes. Sublimation and humor (N=29), as two mature defense mechanisms, were also frequently used. On the other hand, splitting (N=2), passive aggression (N=2), and projection (N=3), all of which are considered to be immature mechanisms, were the least-frequently used mechanisms. Moreover, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests signified no significant differences in terms of gender and age in the use of defense mechanisms among Iranian EFL teachers.

Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses in the world, so it is important to know it as well as possible to design interventions to reduce it in society. The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the relationship between depression with cognitive fusion and defense mechanisms. This research is descriptive-correlation type. The research population was the students of Kashan University in the academic year of 2023-2024, and 350 of them were selected by convenience sampling method. Research tools included Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (CFQ) and Defense Mechanisms Questionnaire-40 (DSQ-40). Data analysis was done using SPSS-26 software and Pearson correlation coefficient. The obtained findings showed that depression is positively correlated with cognitive fusion and immature and neurotic defense mechanisms (P < 0.01). But the relationship between depression and mature defense mechanisms such as humor and sublimation was negative and significant (P < 0.01). These findings show that depression is related to unhealthy thought processes such as cognitive fusion and immature and neurotic defense mechanisms, and therefore attention should be paid to this issue in the field of treatment.