You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
There is probably no concept more central to psychoanalytic theory, therapy, or research than that of defense. Freud (1916)
referred to repression (originally used interchangeably with defense1) as "the corner-stone on which the whole structure of psycho-analysis rests."2 For over seventy years, defense mechanisms have been described, studied, classified, and reclassified to the point where meaningful discussion is almost impossible, except when referring to the more classic defenses originally described by Freud and Anna Freud. Ihilevich and Gleser have developed their own classification system as well as a corresponding test to measure and objectify various defenses, with the specific purpose of furthering research and an apparent secondary purpose of clinical application. Their book, therefore, must be judged against their goals.
The early part of the volume provides a summary about defense mechanisms and the variety of attempts at their measurement, along with an account of research and methodological problems others have encountered. The next section of the book is a presentation of the authors' own classification system, which groups defensive responses into five "styles of response, each characterized by a unique set of mental operations, emotional responses, and behavioral reactions" (p. 7). Their categories of defense are: aggressive, projective, intellectualizing, intra-punitive, and repressive. Ihilevich and Gleser arrived at these defenses by analyzing responses to story vignettes that they believe "encompass most of the classical defense mechanisms mentioned in the psychoanalytic literature" (p. 7). Included also in their model are problem-solving responses and coping strategies as other ways of respond