Stealth War: Defences, Individuation, and the Analytic Process

This article examines the dynamic relationship between defences and individuation in the analytic process. The concept of defence was introduced by Sigmund Freud in his 1894 paper, “The Neuro-Psychoses of Defence”, to describe the use of defences by some patients to resist the progress of the analytic process. Defence mechanisms are unconscious processes utilized to protect the ego and the Self against perceived threats. Obviously, the term “defence” is itself borrowed from military operations. As Jung proposes, the psyche has an instinctive urge towards wholeness and integration which he refers to as the process of individuation. Because the function of defence mechanisms is to avoid change, i.e., maintain homeostasis, defence mechanisms constitute an anti-individuation force within the psychic system. In analysis, there is an ever present “stealth war” between individuation and anti-individuation processes within the psyche. However, there is often little attention given to the influence of defences in much of the Jungian literature and in many Jungian training programmes. As a result, many Jungian therapists, candidates, and analysts are poorly equipped to recognize and engage in the “stealth war” occurring between defence mechanisms that stand in opposition to the progress of analysis and the ultimate aim of Jungian psychoanalysis, i.e., individuation. This article concludes with an appeal to maintain adequate focus on requisite fundamental analytic processes amidst an expanding interest in broad collective concerns.