ABSTRACT
The organization of manic defences in the depressive position includes mechanisms which were already in evidence in the paranoid-schizoid position: splitting, idealization, projective identification and denial. Technically, the manic defences are of overwhelming importance, since they are primarily directed against the experience of psychic reality, that is, against the whole aim of the analytical process, in so far as this aim is to bring insight and the full experience of psychic reality. This chapter illustrates the operation of manic defences against the experience of dependence and threatened loss by some material presented by a patient preceding an analytical holiday. Triumph as the main feature of a system of manic defences is shown in the following material presented by another patient who was also a typical manic personality. The foregoing material shows how the constant need to renew the attack on the original object of love and dependence sets in motion the vicious circle so characteristic of manic defences.
