Freud, Anna

Anna Freud (1895–1982) was the youngest of Sigmund Freud's six children and the only one among them who made her father's ideas into her own life work and mission. In 1918, Anna entered psychoanalysis with her father, published her first paper on psychoanalysis in 1922, and finally started practicing as a psychoanalyst in 1923. Being psychoanalyzed by one's own father would not be done today, but in those early days of psychoanalysis it was possible, while causing quite a few murmurs of disbelief. Becoming a psychoanalyst while having no formal education beyond high school would be unbelievable today, but it is to the credit of the public school system in Vienna in the early 20th century that Anna Freud was clearly a well-educated woman, displaying vast knowledge in various fields. Her own intellect, talent, and creativity are beyond dispute.

Sigmund Freud was diagnosed with cancer of the jaw in 1923, and during his 16 years of illness Anna tended her father, and took over many of his functions as he became less able to take care of things. She became General Secretary of the International Psychoanalytical Association and director of the Vienna Psychoanalytical Training Institute. The Freud family fled Austria for England in the summer of 1938, following the Nazi takeover of Austria. Anna lived for the rest of her life in London, where she became more and more involved in the psychological treatment of children. She was more of a practitioner than a theorist, and most of her contributions to the study of personality come out of her work with young children.

Anna Freud followed her father in regarding humans' long dependency in infancy and childhood as the setting that creates both the normal personality and pathology. The dependent child is exposed to the fear of object loss, love loss, and punishment. This creates the conscience and the capacity for compliance, but also neurosis. This long period of dependency, which characterizes humans, is responsible for the capacity for love and attachment to others. It makes the child human and social, and it also creates the capacity for religious and magical practices and beliefs. What the child experiences, together with dependence and helplessness, is love and care from adults, which can lead to the creation of religious ideas (e.g., heaven, salvation).

Anna Freud was among the pioneers of what has become known as psychoanalytic ego psychology. According to classical psychoanalytic theory, the structure known as ego is the executive center of the personality. It keeps in touch with reality and has to balance and control internal drives and reality constraints.

The ego-psychology theoretical orientation emphasizes not only sexual and aggressive drives but also [Page 172]adaptation and defense, i.e., personal adaptation to the environment and the defense of the ego from internal anxiety and external dangers. Successful adaptation to reality is achieved through both unconscious defense mechanisms and realistic actions. Defense mechanisms act by distorting the nature of a real threat or by avoiding it, thus reducing anxiety. Some ways of using defenses are successful, while others are maladaptive.

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