ABSTRACT
This chapter gives a brief overview of the main terms to do with the child's development and purpose of defence mechanisms. These are measures that people unconsciously put in place in an attempt to protect themselves from psychic pain. The chapter also discusses the types of defence mechanisms. They are repression, reaction formation, regression, sublimation, denial and displacement as defence mechanisms. The chapter also considers emotional pain and anxiety in the context of each type of defence mechanism. Denial and displacement become established aspects of the personalities and people can be identified by the ways in which they try to protect themselves from psychic pain. People are talked about in respect of their defence mechanisms, the person who is scared of enclosed spaces, or who cannot sustain relationships, or runs away from spiders, all these are everyday examples of fears and anxieties that come to form a part of the picture of that person's character.
