The defense mechanism that may severely limit affect is termed what?

• A. Isolation
• B. Repression
• C. Projection
• D. Denial

Answer: (A)

Isolating affect means separating emotional significance from thoughts or memories, so the emotional charge is not integrated with what is being described. This creates a noticeably flat or blunted emotional response because the feeling is kept apart from the content. That direct decoupling of emotion from cognition is what leads to a severe limitation of affect, which is exactly what this defense is designed to achieve. Repression, denial, and projection involve other patterns—hiding thoughts, refusing reality, or attributing one’s own feelings to others—without the same consistent dampening of emotional experience. So, isolation is the defense most closely associated with markedly reduced affect.