Abstract
Since the presentation of the concept of defense by Sigmund Freud in 1894, the idea that the human mind may delude or deceive itself has gained widespread acceptance. We are familiar with the point of view that people defend themselves by failing to recognize painful events or feelings, and that people may be defensive about acknowledging interpersonal inadequacies. Despite this general understanding of defense, a number of issues frequently need clarification. It is to these issues that this chapter is devoted.
We take it as a given that the functioning of the defense mechanisms ... is triggered as a response to painful affects arising from drive-induced conflicts and from the vicissitudes of object relations.
Lichtenberg and Slap (1972), p. 781
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© 1991 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
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Cramer, P. (1991). The Concept of Defense. In: The Development of Defense Mechanisms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9025-1_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9025-1_1
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-9027-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-9025-1
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