Anxiety is a very common thing felt by every human being. Anxiety can be
caused by external factors or internal factors. Regardless of age, anxiety is not only
felt by adults, but children also feel anxiety, as felt by the main character in the
children's storybook Turning Red (2022). This study uses the children's storybook
Turning Red (2022) by Cynthea Liu as the object of the study. This study aims to
determine Meilin's anxieties, as well as the defense mechanisms used to reduce her
anxieties using Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis theory.
This study used a descriptive qualitative method. Two types of data were
used in this study: primary data and secondary data. Primary data were obtained
from the storybook Turning Red (2022), and secondary data were obtained from
books, e-journals, and articles related to anxiety and defense mechanisms. Several
steps were taken to obtain data, such as reading storybooks, identifying data,
classifying data, and reducing data.
The results obtained from this study found two types of anxiety experienced
by Meilin. The types of anxiety found were neurotic anxiety and moral anxiety.
Then, there were four types of defense mechanisms used by Meilin. The defense
mechanisms found were displacement, denial, rationalization, and regression.
Keywords: Anxiety, Defense Mechanisms, Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud,
Turning Red children's storybook.