2. • Born December 3, 1895
in Vienna, Austria
• Youngest of Sigmund &
Martha Freud’s 6
children
• Known as a lively child
with a reputation for
mischief
3. 1910—Anna began
reading her father’s work
1918—Her father started
psychoanalyzing her,
sparking Anna’s interest
in psychoanalysis
1920—The two attended
the International
Psychoanalytical
Congress together
4. 1922—Anna presented her paper “Beating
Fantasies and Daydreams” to the Vienna
Psychoanalytical Society, and became a
member of the society.
1923—She began her own psychoanalytical
practice with children
1925—Anna taught a seminar on the technique
of child analysis at the Vienna Psychoanalytic
Training Institute, which resulted in her book
Introduction to the Technique of Child Analysis
5. Anna was the general
secretary of the
International
Psychoanalytical
Association from 1927
to 1934
She continued child
analysis practice, ran
seminars, and
organized conferences
1935—Anna became
the director of the
Vienna
psychoanalytical
training institute
While continuing her
own work, she was also
her father’s main
caretaker and public
representative as he
suffered from cancer
6. Published in 1936
The book established
her reputation as a
pioneering
theoretician
It encompassed a
description of how the
defenses work
The book described
principle defense
mechanisms including
repression, regression,
projection, and
displacement,
particularly in children
7. 1930’s—Freud and Burlingham
got involved with charitable
initiatives as the economic and
political situation worsened
with oncoming war
1937—The two ran a nursery
school for poor children where
they were able to observe
infant behavior
8. After war outbreak, Freud set up the
Hampstead War Nursery
Provided foster care for 80+ children of single-parent
families
Aimed to help children form attachment
Published studies of the children under stress in
Young Children in War-time and Infants Without
Families with Burlingham
9. 1947—Freud helped establish the Hampstead
Child Therapy Courses, which eventually
included a children’s clinic as well
Trained English and American child therapists
Staff held highly acclaimed weekly case study
sessions, which provided practical and theoretical
insights into their work
Summarized her work from the clinic in her book
Normality and Pathology in Childhood
10. Until the end of her life, Freud continued travelling to
teach, lecture, and visit friends
1970’s—She was particularly concerned with problems
of working with socially disadvantaged children and
studied deviations and delays in development.
Freud evolved a technique using developmental lines charting
normal growth and diagnostic profiles that enabled the analyst
to separate and identify the case specific factors that deviated
from or conformed to normal development
11. Freud began receiving a long
series of honorary doctorates
starting in 1950 with Clark
University and ending with
Harvard in 1980
Died October 9, 1982
Publication of her collected
works began in 1968, with the 8th
and final volume published in
1983
The Hampstead Clinic was
renamed the Anna Freud Center
Her home of 40 years was
transformed into the Freud
Museum
12. Anna Freud’s life,
similar to her father’s,
was dedicated to the
constant search for
useful social
applications of
psychoanalysis,
above all in treating
and learning from
children. She is now
considered one of the
cofounders of
psychoanalytic child
psychology.
13. Anna Freud Biography. (2013), July 1). Good therapy. Retrieved October 10, 2014, from
http://www.goodtherapy.org/famous-psychologists/anna-freud.html
Life and Work of Anna Freud. (n.d.). The Freud museum. Retrieved October 12, 2014, from
http://www.freud.org.uk/education/topic/40053/anna-freud/
Owen.A. (n.d.). Anna Freud. Psychology history. Retrieved October 12, 2014, from
http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/afreud.htm
Young-Bruehl, E. (2008). Anna freud: A biography. London; New Haven, CT: Yale University
Press.
Editor's Notes
Anna Freud was born December 3, 1895 in Vienna, Austria. She was the youngest of Sigmund and Martha Freud’s 6 children and was known as a lively child with a reputation for mischief. Pictured at left are Anna Freud, her 5 siblings, and parents.
In 1910, at the age of 15, Anna began reading her father’s work, but her serious involvement in psychoanalysis began in 1918, when he started psychoanalyzing her
In 1920 Sigmund and Anna Freud attended the International Psychoanalytical Congress, where literary interests began paving the way for Anna’s future career. Anna quoted, “ the more I became interested in psychoanalysis, the more I saw it as a road to the same kind of broad and deep understanding of human nature that writers possess”. Pictured on the right are Anna and her father, Sigmund Freud.
In 1922, Anna presented her paper “Beating Fantasies and Daydreams” to the Vienna Psychoanalytical Society, and became a member of the society. A short time later, she began her own psychoanalytical practice with children. In 1925, Anna taught a seminar on the technique of child analysis at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Training Institute, resulting in her first book “Introduction to the Technique of Child Analysis. The book was a series of lectures for teachers and parents.
Anna was the general secretary of the International Psychoanalytical Association from 1927 to 1934. She continued child analysis practice, ran seminars, and organized conferences. In 1935 she became the director of the Vienna psychoanalytical training institute. She did these things and continued her work all while being the main caretaker and public representative as he suffered from cancer and until his death in 1939.
In 1936, Freud’s book “The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense” was published. This book became the founding work of ego psychology and established Freud’s reputation as a pioneering theoretician. It encompassed a description of how the defenses work, including special attention to children and adolescent’s use of defenses. The book described principle defense mechanisms including repression, regression, projection, and displacement, particularly in children.
In the 1930’s Freud and her lifelong friend, Dorothy Burlingham, who are pictured at the right, got involved with charitable inititives as the economic and political situation in Austria worsened due to the oncoming war. In 1937, they ran a nursery school for children where they were able to observe infant behavior and experiment with feeding patterns. They allowed the children to choose their own food and respected their freedom to organize their own play. Parents of the children valued the nursery not only because it was a safe place for the kids where they were fed and sheltered, but also because of how much they learned at the nursery. Unfortunately, it had to be closed after a few short months when Austria was taken over by Nazis.
After the war outbreak, Freud set up the Hampstead War Nursery, which provided foster care to over 80 children of single-parent families. She aimed to help the children from attachments by proviing continuity of relationships with nursery helpers and encouraging the mothers to visit as often as possible. She published studies of the children under stress in her book “Young Children in War time and Infants without Families” written along with Dorothy Burlingham.
In 1947, Freud helped to establish the Hampstead Child therapy Courses, which eventually included a children’s clinic as well. Here she trained English and American child therapists and her staff held highly acclaimed weekly case study sessions which provided practical and theoretical insights into their work. Freud summarized her work from the clinic as well as from other nurseries, schools and clinics in her book Normality and Pathology in Childhood
From the 1950’s up until the end of her life, Freud continued travelling, particularly to the U.S., to teach, lecture, and visit friends. In the 1970’s, she was particularly concerned with problems of working with socially disadvantaged children and studied deviations and delays in development. She evolved a technique using developmental lines charting normal growth and diagnostic profiles that enabled the analyst to separate and identify the case specific factors that deviated from or conformed to normal development
Freud began receiving a long series of honorary doctorates starting in 1950 with Clark University and ending with Harvard in 1980. She died on October 9, 1982 at the age of 87. Publication of her collected works began in 1968 with the 8th and final volume published in 1983, a year after her death. The Hampstead Clinic was renamed the Anna Freud Center in tribute to her passion and inspiration. In 1986, her home of 40 years was transformed into the Freud Museum, as Anna had wished.
Anna Freud’s life, similar to her father’s, was dedicated to the constant search for useful social applications of psycho analysis, above all in treating and learning from children. She is now considered one of the cofounders of psychoanalytic child psychology.