It is believed by many psychoanalytic theorists that ego defense develops sequentially from infancy onward(Hibbard, Porcerelli, Kamoo, Schwartz, & Abell, 2010). There are three defenses denial, projection, and identification, all three arise during childhood. Each defense is scored as many times as it is in a story. Denial which is the most primitive of the three is the process that diverts attention from external unwanted events(Cramer,1991). Some subparts of denial are omission, misperception, reversal and denial of reality. Projection is putting unwanted feeling or motives onto someone or something externally. Some subparts of projection is apprehensiveness of death, injury, or assault, themes of pursuit, entrapment, and escape, and bizarre or very unusual story of theme. Identification is the most complex of the three, it requires differentiation of self from others. Some subparts of identification are emulation of skills, emulation of characteristics, and regulation of motives or behavior. Defense and object relations of low levels of personality organization are less adaptive and more typical of less mature …show more content…
Although the TAT has been proven to be effective for both adults and children. Story making can provide information about developmental progress such as thought organization and imagination (Graves, 2008). When children create stories with enthusiasm this means that it’s easy for them to create and is a comfortable task for them. If children make up stories utilizing reality knowledge it is considered a significant advance in mental functioning. Children and adult have some similarities in defenses. For example, immature defenses in an adult are the same as developmentally immature defenses in