ABSTRACT
Resilience traits corresponding with sublimation are: viewing problems as opportunities; seeking out new, challenging experiences; not experiencing shame or depression when facing a failure; an ability to transform helplessness into power; and capacity to move from being a victim to a survivor. An example of sublimation employed as a higher-level coping skill would be a person who wants to spy on others, a voyeur, becoming a bill collector. Sublimation was the second most frequently used adaptive defense mechanism by volunteers in this research. Anyone who trains for years in an academic setting – graduate school, military, or professional training – learns to sublimate to survive. Several of the higher level coping skills use a form of replacement, or standing back, as a means of psychic conflict resolution. With sublimation there is the special, added benefit that the replacement may be exciting as well as effective.
