ABSTRACT
The ideas I have been investigating so far have profound implications for our understanding of unconscious defences. The nature and function of defences are described very differently in psychoanalysis, analytical psychology and attachment theory. I shall explore these respective models and develop an attachment theory perspective in which defences can be seen to evolve out of the earliest patterns of relationship in a child’s life. Conscious imagination and unconscious fantasy are constructed as defensive narratives that protect the self from traumatic experiences of abandonment, rejection or cruelty in relationships. Defensive fantasies demonstrate the fact that fantasy does not precede reality but protects the psyche from unbearable reality. First, I will describe the main psychodynamic models of defences in order to clarify what purpose they are thought to serve.
