Ego-Oriented Therapies: Overview

Ego-oriented therapies originally derived from the work of Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), the founder of psychoanalysis. In some cases, ego-oriented therapies are extensions of Freud’s theories, whereas in other cases, ego-oriented theorists rejected or [Page 329]reinterpreted Freud’s ideas within their own frameworks. Indeed, many of the founders of ego-oriented therapeutic approaches, such as Carl Gustav Jung and Fritz Perls, were colleagues of Freud or were originally trained in psychoanalysis. Freud suggested that there was a structure of personality that included the id, ego, and superego, and he emphasized the importance of the id in determining personality. He noted how the libido, or inherent life and death forces (e.g., sex and aggression), are housed in the id and affect the personality in unconscious ways. The ego, through ...