Defense Mechanisms and Implicit Emotion Regulation

Abstract

A growing interest in the neuroscience of emotion regulation, particularly the subfield of implicit emotion regulation, brings new opportunity for the psychodynamic treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders of childhood. At the same time, psychodynamic theorists have become more aware of the centrality of affects in mental life. This paper introduces a manualized psychodynamic approach called Regulation-Focused Dynamic Psychotherapy (RFP-C). Theoretically based on the domain construct of implicit emotion regulation (ER), this approach posits that contemporary affect-oriented conceptualizations of defense mechanisms are theoretically similar to the neuroscience construct of implicit emotion regulation. To illustrate this theoretical similarity, the literature connected with both concepts is reviewed. The implications of this idea, which could promote an interface between psychodynamics and contemporary academic psychiatry and psychology, are discussed.