ABSTRACT
The defences employed to cope with maladaptive development also rely often on repression, keeping ideas out of consciousness. The methods of coping with maladaptive development are as follows: devices to minimize the functional impairment; defences against impulse dyscontrol, aggression, anxiety, and other emotional difficulties resulting from the developmental deviation; and means for coping with the narcissistic injury and negative self-representation. For a child with developmental difficulty, however, being chronically angry does not relieve the problem; it only compounds it. Most such children tend to initially direct their anger at their parents, like an infant directing his rage at the caregiver. The excessive anger of the child with deviant development and the difficulty in coping with this anger in an adaptive way persist into adulthood. Many risky behaviours of adults, such as “extreme” sports, are frequently narcissistically motivated, and some such behaviours may also serve as compensation for narcissistic frustrations caused by developmental handicap.
