Knowra Ego psychology Ego psychology Ego psychology is a branch of psychoanalysis that studies the ego’s functions, development, and role in managing inner conflict while adapting to external reality.
Defense mechanism : An automatic psychological operation that reduces anxiety by altering awareness of conflict or distress. Defense mechanisms are central ways the ego manages conflict and protects functioning.
Sigmund Freud : The founder of psychoanalysis, who developed theories of the unconscious, psychosexual development, and psychic structure. His structural model gave later analysts the id, ego, and superego framework.
Psychoanalysis : A theory and clinical method that investigates unconscious mental processes and their influence on behavior. Ego psychology is a psychoanalytic tradition, retaining its focus on unconscious processes.
Psychoanalytic diagnosis : The assessment of personality organization and psychological difficulties using psychoanalytic concepts. Ego capacities help clinicians describe how a person manages conflict and reality.
Object relations theory : A psychoanalytic tradition that explains personality through internalized relationships with significant others. It foregrounds internal relationships, whereas ego psychology emphasizes functions and adaptation.
Reality testing : The capacity to distinguish internal thoughts and perceptions from events in the external world. Ego psychologists treat reality testing as a key ego function for adapting to the world.
Structural model of the psyche : Freud’s model dividing psychic life into the id, ego, and superego. Ego psychology developed by extending the structural model’s account of the ego.
Ego : In Freudian theory, the part of the psyche that mediates among instinctual demands, moral pressures, and reality. The ego is the central subject whose functions and development the branch examines.
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy : A form of therapy that uses psychoanalytic ideas to explore unconscious patterns and emotional conflict. Treatment may examine defenses and strengthen capacities for reflection and adaptation.
Self psychology : A psychoanalytic theory that centers the development and regulation of the self through relationships with others. It shifts explanatory focus from ego functions toward cohesion and regulation of the self.
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