SynthesisJournal of clinical psychology2026
The Role of Defense Mechanisms in Self-Injurious Behaviors: A Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Journal of clinical psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe identification of psychological risk factors for suicide and self-harm behaviors is necessary for preventive and therapeutic strategies. The aim of this article is to systematically review research articles concerning the relationship between defense mechanisms and self-injurious behaviors according to PRISMA criteria.
methodsPubMed, Web of Science, PsycInfo, and Scopus electronic databases were searched from inception to 01/27/2025 by combining the keywords "defense mechanism*" AND "suicid*" OR "non suicidal" OR "self harm" OR "self injury." Risk of bias was examined with the Study Quality Assessment Tools of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
resultsA total of 428 records was yielded by electronic search and after removal of duplicates and application of inclusion criteria 24 articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Six additional articles were added by means of references search, leading to a total of 30 included articles. About half of the studies were performed in adult samples and the remaining in children and adolescents. Most of the articles included patients recruited in psychiatric settings. Both in adults and adolescents, a significant association between immature defenses, especially displacement, splitting, acting out, and projection, and increased risk for self-injurious behavior was found. Conversely, mature defenses were inversely associated with self-harm ideation and behaviors.
conclusionsDefenses represent an area where early intervention could be implemented as part of a preventive strategy to reduce self-injurious behaviors. A routine evaluation of defensive functioning should be methodically included in the psychological assessment of patients with self-harming ideation or behaviors.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.