ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the necessity of defence mechanisms against anxiety that enable the person or group to generate sufficient feelings of safety or security in order to take the risks involved in any evolution. With the growing secularization of Western society over the past decades, the role of religious worship and activity in the community as a traditional defence against anxiety has undergone a significant decline. The use of family as a positive way of defending against anxiety has become more difficult in recent years. The working hypothesis put forward in this chapter in regard to the decline of traditional defences against anxiety is perhaps most dramatically confirmed in relation to one of the most classical defences against anxiety: the use of sexuality. Alcohol, when not systematically used to excess, can be said to have traditionally provided a socially acceptable and relatively safe method of dealing with anxiety through temporary and controlled regression.
