Health psychology/Defence mechanisms · Neurotic

Isolation of affect

What it means

Separating an idea or memory from the emotion originally attached to it, so it is recalled without feeling.

Worked example

Describing a horrific accident in a flat, matter-of-fact tone.

In the exam

A man recounts the gruesome details of the crash that killed his friend in a calm, detached, emotionless manner.

What settles it

Isolation of affect detaches emotion from a specific memory. Intellectualisation is broader — retreating into abstraction and theory to avoid feeling generally.

Classically confused with

Intellectualisation

Source: AMBOSS