Final answer:
The most frequently encountered defense mechanism in adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse is regression, where individuals revert to immature behaviors when confronted with anxiety. This defense mechanism, along with others like repression and displacement, helps individuals manage distressing emotions related to their traumatic experiences.
Step-by-step explanation:
In adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, the most frequently encountered defense mechanism is regression. Regression is an ego defense mechanism in which an individual confronted with anxiety returns to a more immature behavioral stage. This could manifest in various forms, such as a previously independent individual displaying clingy and dependent behavior, or reverting to behaviors from an earlier stage of development when faced with stress.
Research indicates that repressing memories of trauma, such as childhood sexual abuse, can result in them emerging later as psychological distress. Adults may deal with this distress through various defense mechanisms, including repression, where anxiety-causing memories are blocked from consciousness. However, in the context of regression, it relates to how individuals may revert to earlier developmental stages as a way to unconsciously escape current emotional difficulties and traumatic pasts. Other defense mechanisms include reaction formation, displacement, and sublimation, each serving as a way for the psyche to manage overwhelming emotions or memories.