ArticleFrontiers in psychology2024
Defense mechanisms in individuals with depressive and anxiety symptoms: a network analysis.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Preliminary findings from a brief psychodynamic counseling program for university staff: users' psychological characteristics and implications for the program's utility.Research in psychotherapy (Milano) · 2026Article
- Personality, Emotion Regulation, and Psychological Distress in Italian Women with Feeding and Eating Disorders: A Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- "Prideful Apathy": A Phenomenological-Psychopathological Study of Emotion Engagement and Regulation Tasks.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- The relationship between defense mechanisms and attachment: a narrative review.Research in psychotherapy (Milano) · 2025Article
- Revisiting defense mechanisms in contemporary clinical practice: evidence and perspectives.Research in psychotherapy (Milano) · 2025Article
- Clinical applications of the Defense Mechanisms Rating Scale-Self-Report-30: a systematic review of the first five years.Research in psychotherapy (Milano) · 2025Article
- Effect of defense mechanisms on the longitudinal development of interpersonal problems during outpatient therapy.Research in psychotherapy (Milano) · 2025Article
- Change and sustained recovery in defense mechanisms and depression in a pilot study of antidepressant medications plus up to 18 months of psychotherapy for recurrent major depression.Research in psychotherapy (Milano) · 2025Article
- The Impact of Depression on Defense Mechanisms in Adults: The Moderating Role of Attachment Style.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- How Emotion Regulation and Illness Identity Shape Mental Health in Adults with Congenital Heart Disease.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms, Defense Mechanisms, and Mentalized Affectivity in Individuals with Myocardial Infarction: An Empirical Investigation.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Defense mechanisms in immune-mediated diseases: a cross-sectional study focusing on Severe Allergic Asthma and Hymenoptera Venom Anaphylaxis patients.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
Background: Defense mechanisms play a crucial role in depression and anxiety. The current study aimed at estimating the network structure of defense mechanisms in individuals with symptoms of depression and anxiety to understand the most central defenses and relevant connections. Moreover, we aimed at examining the associations between defense mechanisms and symptoms. Methods: We employed the Symptom Checklist-90 to recruit 655 individuals with depressive and anxiety symptoms during the first wave of the COVID-2019 Pandemic in Italy. Defense mechanisms were assessed with the DMRS-SR-30. Results: Results showed a main component in the network graph featuring 16 defense mechanisms. Self-assertion was the most central node in the network, displaying positive and negative connections with an array of mature and immature defenses, respectively. Among immature defenses, passive aggression was the most interconnected node. Some mature defenses (i.e., humor, affiliation, and sublimation) were not connected to other nodes. A range of defense mechanisms were associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms. Conclusions: This is the first research effort supporting the conceptualization of defense mechanisms as a complex system. Results suggest that defense mechanisms of the same cluster (e.g., mature defenses) play different roles in the network. Central defenses (i.e., self-assertion and passive aggression) detected in this study may be promising intervention targets.
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