Question

Mahmoud was just told that his father has cancer. Mahmoud's first response is that there must be a mistake and he demands that the doctor repeat his tests. Which defense mechanism is at work here?a. reaction formation
b. denial
c. repression
d. undoing

Answer 1

Answer:

Denial defense mechanism  

Explanation:

The denial defense mechanism is used by a patient when the patient gets information about their death stage. This is the first stage of a death bed. At this stage, the patient denied that the patient is suffering from any such type of disease due to which the patient will die soon. The patient does not believe in his death.  

Thus here in the above statement when Mahmood gets to know that he is suffering from cancer, he does not believe the statement and goes in the denial stage. Mahmood told the doctor maybe this is not his report, the doctor should go and check the report again.