Abstract:
The aim of this study was to investigate the defence styles of individuals with type D personality. The study involved 62 individuals: 31 were respondents diagnosed with the coronary heart disease and 31 healthy subjects (without any cardiovascular system conditions). The average age in both groups was 61 years. Three research techniques were used in the study: a survey including demographic and medical parameters, a questionnaire for the evaluation of the type D personality - DS14 designed by Denollet; Defense Style Questionnaire DSQ-40 designed by Bond and Wesley (1996). The subjects with the distressed personality made use of all defence styles, but they chose the least adaptive the most often. The non-adaptive style, imaginatively-distorting style and self-sacrificing style were presented more frequently by individuals with the distressed personality, while the adaptive style was chosen more often by respondents not demonstrating any traits of the type D personality. Meanwhile, the non-adaptive style prevailed in both study groups. The type D personality is associated most strongly with such defence mechanisms, as: somatization, consumption activities, projection, sublimation, acting out, regression, reaction formation, social withdrawal, fantasy and isolation. The defence mechanisms of suppression and inhibition are not specific for the distressed personality.
