Anna Freud

Anna Freud (1895–1982) was a British psychoanalyst who pioneered child psychoanalysis and systematically described the ego’s defense mechanisms.

Psychoanalysis: A method and theory of mind developed by Sigmund Freud, centered on unconscious processes and their influence on behavior. Anna Freud extended this framework to children and developed its account of the ego.
The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence: Anna Freud’s 1936 book describing defense mechanisms as operations of the ego. It presents her systematic account of how the ego manages conflict and anxiety.
Sigmund Freud: An Austrian neurologist who founded psychoanalysis and developed influential theories of the unconscious and personality. Her father’s theories provided the framework she adapted for children.
Hampstead War Nurseries: Nurseries Anna Freud and Dorothy Burlingham established in wartime London for children separated from their families. Their observations supplied evidence about how separation affected children’s development.
Controversial discussions: A series of debates among British psychoanalysts during the 1940s over theory, training, and child analysis. The discussions formalized differences between Anna Freud’s group and Melanie Klein’s followers.
Ego psychology: A psychoanalytic tradition that studies the ego’s functions, including adaptation, perception, and defense. It became the framework for her account of defenses and child development.
Repression: An unconscious process that keeps distressing thoughts or impulses from conscious awareness. Anna Freud treated it as one of the ego’s principal defenses.
Melanie Klein: An Austrian-British psychoanalyst who developed a theory of early childhood based on play and unconscious fantasy. Her competing account of child analysis became the focus of a major institutional dispute.
Child psychoanalysis: The psychoanalytic assessment and treatment of children, adapted to their developmental capacities and relationships. Anna Freud helped establish its clinical methods and professional standing.
British Psychoanalytical Society: A professional organization for psychoanalysts in Britain, founded in 1919. Its training and theoretical divisions were shaped by disputes involving Anna Freud.

Linked from 16 pages