Defense mechanisms, negative emotions, and psychopathology in adolescent inpatients

Ego defense mechanisms were compared in adolescent psychiatric inpatients a nd healthy adolescents to determine their relationship to specific diagnose s and to negative emotions. Seventy-one patients with schizophrenia, 28 wit h major depressive disorder, and 24 with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD ) and 87 normal adolescents were assessed for defense mechanisms by the Lif e Style Index (LSI) and Ego Defense Scale (EDS). The Beck Depression Invent ory (BDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Multidimensional Anger Inventory (MAI) were used to assess depression, anxiety, and anger. Severa l defenses distinguished all psychiatric patients from controls, and a few defenses characterized different patient groups, especially those with OCD. Projection (on the LSI), displacement, and regression correlated significa ntly with anger; displacement, reaction formation, and undoing on the EDS c orrelated with anxiety, and denial was negatively correlated with depressio n. These findings have some relevance for the evaluation of Plutchik's psyc hoevolutionary theory of emotions and for the further empirical study of de fenses in psychopathology. Copyright (C) 2000 by W.S. Saunders Company.