Abstract
In this brief introductory chapter I shall describe the psychoanalytic notion of defense and show that as it has been elaborated and developed in psychology, it has undergone various changes such that what is now described as defenses or coping bears little resemblance to the original psychoanalytic propositions. These developments, it will be argued, are of considerably less psychological interest than the originals, since they have largely abandoned the unconscious aspects of defenses. However, it will be shown that it is possible to support a concept of defense that is in accord with the essence of psychoanalysis and with recent information theoretic accounts in psychology. The implications of this for the scientific study and measurement of defenses are also discussed.
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Kline, P. (1993). A Critical Perspective on Defense Mechanisms. In: Hentschel, U., Smith, G.J.W., Ehlers, W., Draguns, J.G. (eds) The Concept of Defense Mechanisms in Contemporary Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-8303-1_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-8303-1_1
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