Defense and resistance in the psychoanalytic process

"Defense" and "resistance" are usually regarded as two separate and distinct concepts, the first belonging to psychic functioning in general and the second to therapy, yet this distinction is far from constant. Clinical observations indicate a frequent overlapping of these two mental functions or positions. A patient's behavior may convey the meaning of either or both concepts, and a position or response that one assumes to bespeak resistance may reveal defense instead. This state of affairs may be seen in the analysis of patients with a relatively well-integrated neurotic identity, but its main import is in the analysis of psychosomatic patients and those with severe personality disorders. Insufficient holding experiences during the infancy of these patients do not enable them to develop functional structuralization. Deficient mothering in the first stages of life also prevents the stable differentiation between defense against threats from within and resistance against influence from outside.