This paper examines the life and contributions of Anna Freud (1895–1982), youngest daughter of Sigmund Freud and one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century psychoanalysis. Beginning with her childhood in Vienna and early education, the paper traces the pivotal moment of her analysis by her father in 1918, her development as a theorist and clinician, and her landmark publication The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense (1936). It also discusses her pioneering work in child and adolescent psychoanalysis, her role in establishing the Hampstead Child Therapy Clinic in London, and her complicated personal life lived largely in her father's shadow. The paper concludes with an assessment of her enduring legacy.
The life of Anna Freud (1895–1982), daughter of the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, is a fascinating real-life illustration of the validity of her father's theory about "family romance" and the importance of the subconscious attraction that children have for the parent of the opposite sex. This paper examines the life and works of a remarkable woman of the twentieth century and how she spent much of her life in the shadow of her famous father, yet carved out her own individual identity through her pioneering work in child psychoanalysis, ego psychology, and the use of defense mechanisms in psychiatry. She eventually won acknowledgment as a leader in both the Vienna and British psychoanalytic societies.
Anna, the youngest of six children, was born to Sigmund and Martha Bernays Freud in Vienna, Austria, on December 3, 1895. She appears to have been a lively and spirited child, as reflected in a letter that Freud wrote to his friend Fliess in 1899 remarking: "Anna has become downright beautiful through naughtiness" (quoted in "Life and Work of Anna Freud," 2005). The letter also reflects the special fondness Sigmund Freud had for his youngest daughter. Even as a very young girl, Anna was pampered and indulged by her father, who adored her because she was cheeky and adventurous. From the beginning, Anna was not particularly close to her mother, but formed a special bond with her father.
As a young girl, she lived in the shadow of her elder sister Sophie, who was considered more beautiful. Unable to compete with her elder sister in looks, Anna chose to excel in intellect, and the family aptly called the two sisters "the beauty and the brain" ("Anna Freud," n.d.).
Anna received her early education at the Cottage Lyceum in Vienna. She did not distinguish herself academically, largely because she was bored and restless in school, earning the nickname "Black Devil." Anna admitted later that she learned little from her formal schooling. She gained far more from her extensive reading — she had become an avid reader — and from the intellectual visitors who regularly came to her father's house ("Anna Freud," n.d.).
Inspired by the contributions of Maria Montessori to the education of young children, Anna trained to become an elementary school teacher and traveled to England in 1914 to improve her English. At the outbreak of World War I, she returned to Vienna and joined her old school as a teacher.
Anna familiarized herself with her father's psychoanalytic work at an early age, having begun reading his books while still in school. The turning point in her life came in 1918, when she was psychoanalyzed by her father. It is believed that just as Sigmund Freud's self-analysis had been the turning point in his own career, being analyzed by him became the turning point for his daughter. By that time, her other siblings — including Sophie — had married and gone their own ways, leaving Anna as the only child still living at home with her parents. After her analysis, she became her father's full-time associate, secretary, and later his nursemaid. From then on, her personal and professional life was inescapably intertwined with his (Fine, 1990).
Her companionship with her father remained especially close, as she never married despite having a number of suitors. Many fellow psychoanalysts — mostly men several years her senior — courted her. The most notable was Ernest Jones, the British analyst best remembered as Sigmund Freud's biographer. The budding romance between the nineteen-year-old Anna and Jones was, however, cut short by Freud's suspicions and hostility toward Jones' interest in his daughter (Gardner and Stevens, 1992).
"Ego psychology, defense mechanisms, child therapy"
Anna Freud is undoubtedly one of the most distinguished scientific leaders of our time. Though her "father's daughter" in the truest sense, she proved through her innovative work in child psychology that "family romance" is not necessarily a neurotic condition but part of normal human development. The influence of Sigmund Freud on psychoanalysis would, perhaps, not have been as enduring had Anna not followed him as his intellectual successor.
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