Final answer:
The belief that awareness of ultimate concern leads to anxiety and defensiveness is aligned with the principles of existential therapy, which holds that anxiety can arise from existential concerns, with defense mechanisms being employed to manage this anxiety.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that awareness of ultimate concern produces anxiety which leads to defensiveness is in line with existential therapy beliefs. Existential therapists argue that the realization of existential concerns—such as freedom, isolation, meaninglessness, and death—can indeed produce anxiety.
As a consequence of this anxiety, individuals may employ various defense mechanisms in an effort to manage these profound existential anxieties. This is congruent with the broader psychoanalytic idea, as established by Freud, that anxiety arising from internal conflict leads to defensive behavior.
Freud notably focused on the ego's role in mediating between the id and the superego, using ego defense mechanisms to protect against anxiety. However, existential therapists emphasize the existential dimensions of this anxiety more than the psychoanalytic focus on id, ego, and superego conflicts.
Overall, these therapists believe that deep-seated existential concerns are prime sources of anxiety, which in turn prompt our defense mechanisms to spring into action, albeit sometimes in ways that distort reality or hinder personal growth.
The emphasis placed by existentialists on personal freedom and responsibility, as well as the acceptance of the inherent angst of human existence, is seen as instrumental in overcoming the avoidance and defensiveness that may stem from existential anxiety.