flight from reality

a defensive reaction involving withdrawal into inactivity, detachment, or fantasy as an unconscious defense against anxiety-provoking situations. This may be expressed as a number of defensive behaviors, such as rationalization, daydreaming, or substance abuse. It may include a retreat into psychotic behavior as a means of avoiding real or imagined problems. Also called retreat from reality. See also escape from reality. Compare flight into fantasy; flight into reality.

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Psychology term of the day

February 16th 2025

compensatory mechanism

a cognitive process that is used to offset a cognitive weakness. For example, someone who is weaker in spatial abilities than in verbal abilities might use compensatory mechanisms to attempt to solve spatial problems, such as mentally rotating a geometric figure by using verbal processes. The underlying theory is that intelligence partly consists of finding ways to compensate for the skills that one has lost over time or in which one was not adept in the first place.