Defense mechanisms are:

Defense mechanisms are:

• A. Behaviors or thoughts that help us cope with unwanted feelings like fear, anxiety, guilt, and anger.
• B. Deliberate actions to deceive clients.
• C. Techniques to measure muscle tension.
• D. Legal safeguards to protect records.

Answer: (A)

Defense mechanisms are unconscious psychological strategies that protect a person from anxiety and uncomfortable feelings by distorting or denying reality. They function as automatic coping processes to help manage emotions such as fear, anxiety, guilt, and anger, often without the person realizing it. Common examples include repression, denial, projection, rationalization, displacement, and sublimation. They’re not deliberate actions to deceive others, nor are they techniques for measuring muscle tension or legal safeguards for records. In art therapy, noticing when a client uses defenses helps you understand how they cope with distress and guides interventions that gently increase awareness and promote healthier ways of processing emotions through creative expression.

Defense mechanisms are unconscious psychological strategies that protect a person from anxiety and uncomfortable feelings by distorting or denying reality. They function as automatic coping processes to help manage emotions such as fear, anxiety, guilt, and anger, often without the person realizing it. Common examples include repression, denial, projection, rationalization, displacement, and sublimation. They’re not deliberate actions to deceive others, nor are they techniques for measuring muscle tension or legal safeguards for records. In art therapy, noticing when a client uses defenses helps you understand how they cope with distress and guides interventions that gently increase awareness and promote healthier ways of processing emotions through creative expression.