Psychosocial Integrity Q 10
A 19-year-old client is paralyzed in a car accident. Which statement used by the client would indicate to the nurse that the client was using the mechanism of “suppression”?
A. “I don’t remember anything about what happened to me.”
B. “I’d rather not talk about it right now.”
C. “It’s the other entire guy’s fault! He was going too fast.”
D. “My mother is heartbroken about this.”
Correct Answer: A. “I don’t remember anything about what happened to me.”
Suppression is willfully putting an unacceptable thought or feeling out of one’s mind. A deliberate exclusion “voluntary forgetting” is generally used to protect one’s own self-esteem.
Option B: Denial is a defense mechanism proposed by Anna Freud which involves a refusal to accept reality, thus blocking external events from awareness. If a situation is just too much to handle, the person may respond by refusing to perceive it or by denying that it exists.
Option C: This statement refers to projection, which is when an individual attributes her negative self-concept onto others.
Option D: This statement refers to the identification, which is when the client identifies herself with an image that she sees is ideal to our ego.