Adaptive Defense Styles as Character Strengths: Exploring the Links

Abstract

Defense mechanisms are coping techniques that people use to overcome stressors and conflicts in their lives. They may be adaptive or maladaptive. Adaptive defenses serve the function of channelizing the unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable forms in mature ways. The purpose of this research is to explore whether adaptive defense mechanisms and character strengths correlate with each other. For this purpose, two groups were studied. One group consisted of those who have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety and second group was healthy controls. Standardised measures of defense mechanisms and character strengths were used to evaluate the participants in both groups. This research has the potential to provide light on how character strengths and defence mechanisms might be related in different groups. Therapeutic strategies and treatment techniques may benefit from a better understanding of the interplay between defence mechanisms and character qualities in people with mental illnesses. This research has the potential to guide intervention plans that boost the mental health and coping of psychiatric populations by enabling them to bring forth their preexisting positive traits in better ways and encouraging greater use of adaptive defense mechanisms. This study intends to further enhance our understanding of the relationship between character strengths and defence mechanisms in psychiatric and control groups and add to the body of knowledge in the fields of positive psychology and psychopathology.