Defense mechanisms in clients and non-clients as mediated by gender and sex-role.

This study examined defense mechanism utilization patterns of psychotherapy clients vs. individuals without mental health history, by administering the Defense Mechanism Inventory to 104 subjects. Concurrently, the mediating influence of gender and sex-role on defense mechanism utilization was assessed. Results indicated that gender and sex-role were significant in mediating the use of Turning against Self defenses and Turning against Other defenses, respectively. More importantly, however, psychotherapy clients differed from non-clients in their increased use of Projection and their decreased use of Principalization. Use of Projection was mediated further by a gender by sex-role interaction, which complicates the interpretation of the presence of Projection in an individual for the clinician.