This paper attempts to show the importance of interpreting the survival function of the primitive omnipotent defences which are used by the baby to hold himself together when there is no available containing object. These primitive defences were described by Esther Bick. She became aware of them through observing infants, and from analysing children and adults. They include focusing of the attention on a sensory stimulus, continuous movement, and muscular tightening. Because they are developed by the infant in the service of survival, these mechanisms tend to be clung to, and interpretation only of their destructiveness results in further misunderstanding between analyst and analysand. It is suggested that many later defence mechanisms are based on these primitive ones.