Contemporary conceptualizations of defense: a relational perspective

Abstract

This study aimed at systematically studying defenses from a relational perspective. Recent advances in psychoanalytic theory emphasized the role of relationship in defining basic psychoanalytic concepts. The notion of defense has been conceptualized as an interpersonal process that is co-constructed in the relationship. Based on these theoretical suggestions, this study investigated the aspects of defense that could be re-defined as including the relationship, and the trigger and outcome of defensiveness within the relational context. The psychoanalyst-patient relationship was identified as the setting of observation in this study, since it is affectively intense, isolated and natural. Regarding the first aim of this study, which is to re-define defensiveness, it was expected that the defensive instances of the patient’s discourse and the processes by which the patient defended herself could be identified reliably. Further, it was proposed that these definitions would offer a wider conceptualization than the classical defense mechanisms. The second aim of the study that is the investigation of how defensiveness unfolds in the interaction, expected particular features of the analyst’s interventions and patient’s defensiveness to mutually influence each other. The data of the study was ten fully transcribed sessions from a psychoanalysis. The transcripts were evaluated by three raters on several aspects of defensiveness that were identified by two pilot studies: Here-and-Now Defensiveness, Affect/State that is defended against, Defensive Effort, Primary Aim, and Expected Relational Outcome for the patient; Type, Relational Quality and Linguistic features for the analyst’s interventions. Overall, the results indicated that for the patient in this study, the wider definition of the defense notion that emphasizes the defensive function and the Defensive Effort categorization offered a more reliable and extensive understanding, as compared to the classical mechanisms. The interactive regulatory purpose of the defensive effort was found to be a differentiating characteristic of defensive efforts. In addition, the examination of the interaction between the patient and the analyst in this data, revealed that the type, relational quality and word count of the interventions were associated with different aspects of defensiveness. The theoretical contributions of Relational/Intersubjective perspectives were supported.