Neurotic Defenses

Neurotic defenses are procedures developed by the ego which can be considered damaging to mental life. Their function is avoiding the anxiety and guilt caused by inhibitions connected with sexual desires and aggressive tendencies. They reveal the complexity and vicissitudes of the links between affect and representation. In 1896, Freud demonstrated that defense is the "core" of the neurotic psychic mechanism. This conclusion followed his analysis of the neuro-psychoses of defense (1894a). In this text he linked repression to hysteria, and...