What is Anticipation as a Defence?

View of Dresden at Sunset, Painting by Carl Gustav Carus, 1822

Anticipation is a mature psychological defence mechanism that allows individuals to manage anxiety by consciously preparing for potential future distress, discomforts, losses, or challenges. Instead of denying or avoiding the reality of a future threat, anticipation involves thinking ahead, imagining possible outcomes, planning, and forming mature responses. It is a forward-looking form of emotional regulation that helps individuals maintain control and reduce distress through planning, and bridges the conscious and unconscious mind, allowing fears to be contained and shifted into realistic action.

In psychodynamic terms, anticipation represents an evolved way of dealing with anxiety because it accepts uncertainty without turning to distortion or repression. It stands in contrast to less adaptive defences such as denial or projection, which protect feelings by avoiding painful awareness. Through anticipation, the individual acknowledges that difficulties may come up and engages with them in a constructive and measured way.

George Vaillant, in his research on defence mechanisms, classified anticipation among the mature defences that contribute to psychological health and effective coping. Vaillant observed that individuals who predominantly use mature defences such as anticipation, sublimation, humour, and altruism tend to experience better mental health outcomes and more fulfilling relationships. Anticipation, in particular, supports resilience by enabling people to prepare for grief, disappointment, hurt, or stress without becoming overwhelmed.

Hirte im Taunus, Painting by Johann Georg Mohr, 19th-Early 20th Century

In therapy, anticipation usually shows up as the patient’s ability to reflect on future emotional demands, anticipate therapeutic challenges, look ahead, or prepare for loss and change. It can be encouraged by helping individuals identify upcoming stressors and explore their feelings about them in advance, therefore integrating emotion with foresight. The psychodynamic therapist’s role involves strengthening this adaptive capacity by encouraging reflection rather than impulsive reaction. Over time, this process supports the patient’s ability to anticipate and manage anxiety without resorting to avoidance or self-sabotage.

As a result, anticipation shows how mature defences promote psychological balance where individuals enhance their sense of agency and reduce the intensity of unconscious fear. It shifts anxiety from a deeply hurtful experience into motivation for preparation and emotional resilience. Within a psychodynamic framework, the development of anticipation is not only a coping skill but a sign of an integration of the self that reflects growth, wisdom, maturity and the capacity to live meaningfully, even when things are uncertain.