In this clinical communication, the author discusses the compulsion to repeat past trauma within the area of personal omnipotence provided in the transference, the fear of breakdown that may arise in the course of an analysis, and the defensive organisation deployed by the patient in the interest of survival. The development of and some connections between the compulsion to repeat, the fear of breakdown and the defensive organisation are illustrated and discussed in light of the writings of Freud, Winnicott and various Kleinian authors and some of the factors that may contribute to the emergence of the fear of breakdown—those inherent in both the analytic setting and in the early history and character of the patient—are exemplified by the case of one analysand which is offered to highlight further the dynamics of a particular variety of defensive organisation against breakdown.