Anna Freud and Ego Psychology

Overview

• Anna Freud lived from 1895-1982.
• She attended lectures and underwent analysis with her father, Sigmund Freud.
• Anna Freud became a lay psychoanalyst and caretaker for her father after he developed cancer in 1923, symbolically succeeding him.

Ego Psychology

• Anna Freud remained committed to her father’s original ideas, unlike Jung and Adler.
• She was more interested in the dynamics of the psyche, particularly the ego.
• Freud focused on the id and the unconscious, but Anna Freud emphasized the ego as the "seat of observation".
• The ego observes the id, superego, and the unconscious.
• Anna Freud is known for her book The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense.
• In this book, she describes defense mechanisms, with special attention to adolescent use.
• Her work serves as a basis for the defenses section in the Freud chapter.
• Anna Freud's ego focus started a movement known as ego psychology.
• Ego psychology is now a major perspective among Freudians that builds upon Freud’s work.
• This extends into the practical world of the ego.
• Freudian theory can apply to psychopathology and social and developmental issues.
• Erik Erikson is the best-known ego psychologist.

Child Psychology

• Anna Freud was more interested in practical application rather than theory.
• She dedicated herself to analyzing children and adolescents, improving analysis.
• Her father focused on adult patients, so she addressed how to handle children facing family crises.
• Important to consider that traumas and fixations are present events for children.
• The child-therapist relationship differs, as parents are involved in the child's life.
• Therapists should be caring adults, not new playmates or substitute parents.
• Her approach might seem authoritarian but makes sense.
• Children's symbolic abilities are less developed than adults' abilities.
• Younger children struggle to verbally express emotions.
• Children are less likely to bury problems under symbols because their problems are immediate, meaning a reduced time to build up defenses.
• Issues surface more directly in behavioral and emotional ways.
• Anna Freud's contributions come from her work at the Hamstead Child Therapy Clinic in London.
• A major problem she addressed was communication between therapists because children do not communicate in traditional labels.
• She viewed children's issues on a developmental timeline.
• A child progressing normally in eating, hygiene, play, and relationships can be considered healthy.
• When development lags, clinicians can identify and describe the issue.

Research

• Anna Freud influenced Freudian psychology research.
• She standardized records for children with diagnostic profiles.
• She encouraged pooling observations from multiple analysts.
• She promoted long-term studies of development from childhood through adolescence.
• She pioneered natural experiments with children who had disabilities like blindness, or traumas like wartime loss of parents.
• Claims that Freudian psychology lacks empirical basis are true only if you restrict "empirical basis" to lab experiments.
• Her work is in The Writings of Anna Freud, including The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense.
• Anna Freud's writing is accessible.
• She uses case studies.