Is Defense a Way of Coping?

Abstract

Over the years, the concept of psychological adaptability has stirred the field of psychology. Researchers from personality psychology, clinical psychology, and other interrelated areas of psychology have taken a special interest in understanding the adaptive functioning within the individual that may help in healthy adjustment. One of such adaptive mechanisms was first described by Sigmund Freud under the label of defense, which had been through a lot of revisions over the years. Another concept, though stemming from a different conceptual framework, could be equally important to understand the adjustment process, which was labeled as coping. The present article aims to shed light on the various similarities and differences between both concepts despite their conceptual distancing.