Anna FreudBorn 3 Dec 1895; died 9 Oct 1982 at age 86.Austrian psychoanalyst, who was Sigmund Freud's daughter. As a founder of child psychoanalysis, she was one of its foremost practitioners. She also made fundamental contributions to understanding how the ego, or consciousness, functions in averting painful ideas, impulses, and feelings. Important in her own right, but diverging from her father in emphasizing the role of the ego (as opposed to id forces) in psychological functioning. Her book The Ego and Mechanisms of Defense (1936) laid the groundwork for ego psychology. She was one of the first psychoanalysts to work primarily with children. |
