ABSTRACT
Defensive measures against the experience of pain may have to be adopted from the earliest age, ones that are drawn on to protect the vulnerable self from experiencing the fear of disintegration which is felt to be potentially overwhelming. The infant's immediate impulse is to get rid of the painful experience by pushing it elsewhere, by projecting it. Feeling uncontained in the mother's mind, the baby anxiously seeks some means of holding himself together. A range of defences against the fear of disintegration can be observed from earliest days. In terms of their impact on a person's character, it is those defences which affect the relative shallowness or depth of the personality which are of particular interest. The chapter presents an example that illustrates the survival mechanism provided by holding on to a visual sensory stimulus: On arrival the observer noticed that the mother looked tired and depressed.
