Anna Freud and psychoanalytic theories overview

Question 1

What factors made the psychoanalytic theoretical move possible?

Answer 1

1. Observation based psychoanalytic developmental theory
2. Growth of object relations theory which explores how differentiated representations emerge within context of mother-infant dyad
   - ->Psychoanalytic models attempted to explain why and how patients deviated from normal path of development and experience intrapsychic or interpersonal difficulties
   - ->Each model focuses on particular developmental phases

Question 2

Psychopathology and psychoanalytic theories:

Answer 2

1. Neurotic psychopathology (e.g. anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder) is presumed to originate in later childhood when structures have firmly established
2. Personality disorders (e.g. borderline personality disorder): variety of frameworks, most see pathology arising when psychic structures are still in formation

Question 3

Anna Freud`s developmental model:

Answer 3

1. A. Freud one of the first to adopt a coherent developmental perspective on psychopathology
2. Psychological disorder could be most effectively studied in its process of developmental evolution
3. Theory a ‚conflict theory‘ in classical Freudian sense – development happens as child accomplishes incompatibilities between e.g. two wishes – child must find compromise
4. A. Freud emphasized importance of analyzing the ego
   - ->Analyzing issues that arise from demands to adjust to the outside world, as well as those that derive from imperatives of id and superego

Question 4

Anna Freud’s developmental concepts:

Answer 4

1. Thinking about development was rooted in S. Freud’s view of instinctual drives which are characterized by pressure (force of drive) and aims (achievement of satisfaction); through objects instincts can achieve aim
2. Interest in the role of the real parents in structuring the child‘s minds
3. Developed theory further by identifying ways for the actual parent to contribute to the construction of ego and superego
4. Parents serve as models of ways of behaving, relating to others, modes of psychic defense, coping with problems
5. Process of internalization of the actual parent sets the course of ego development
6. Role of object remains subordinate to the drives.
7. The parent is needed to protect the child from helplessness in the face of overwhelming inner experiences
   - ->Position between ego psychology and object relations theories of development: relationships considered as formative but only as moderators of maturational developmental process determined by unfolding of drives

Question 5

(Anna Freud) What are developmental lines?

Answer 5

1. Metaphor developmental lines used to stress the continuity and cumulative character of childhood development
   –>Interactions between maturational and environmental influences determine development
2. Lines: Aspects of child‘s relationship to mother:
    move from ‚dependency to emotional self-reliance to adult object relationships‘
    ‚from sucking to rational eating‘
    ‚from wetting and soiling to bladder and bowel control‘
3. Line concerning mastery of environment: movement ‚from egocentrism to social partnership‘
4. Entire profile of lines is examined as part of assessment
5. Pathology: large discrepancies among the lines and notable lags with respect to normal progress along each line
6. Lines should help to explore in detail sequences of drive and structural development
7. Lines place emphasis on observable behavior and at the same time specify internal psychic development which is necessary to achieve each step on each line
8. Initially, 6 lines described
   –>Most basic ‚from dependency to emotional self-reliance and adult object relationship‘

Question 6

(Anna Freud) What are the 8 developmental lines (stages)?

Answer 6

not specific regarding chronology

1. Biological unity between mother-infant couple
2. Need-fulfilling relationship between child and object, based on the child‘s imperative body needs
3. Consistent representation of the mother, which can be maintained irrespective of the satisfaction of drives
4. ‚Terrible twos‘ – toddler‘s positive and negative feelings are focused on the same person
5. Possessiveness of parent of the opposite sex and jealousy and rivalry with same sex parent (phallic-oedipal phase)
6. Transfer of libido from parents to peers and others in social environment
7. Pre-adolescent revolt
8. Adolescence

Question 7

(Anna Freud) First line: Biological unity between mother-infant couple:

Answer 7

1. baby has not yet discovered that the mother is not part of himself and not under his control
2. mother experiences the baby as psychologically part of her

Question 8

(Anna Freud) Second line: Need-fulfilling relationship between child and object, based on the child‘s imperative body needs:

Answer 8

1. child constructs images of a good and a bad mother depending on extent to which the child‘s need were satisfied
2. development of clear representations of the mother‘s mind as separate from the child‘s

Question 9

(Anna Freud) Third line: Consistent representation of the mother, which can be maintained irrespective of the satisfaction of drives:

Answer 9

1. reciprocal relationships can be formed

2. internal representations now permit longer separations.

Question 10

(Anna Freud) Fourth line: ‚Terrible twos‘ – toddler‘s positive and negative feelings are focused on the same person:

Answer 10

ambivalence; aggression: child wishes to be independent and retain complete devotion of mother

Question 11

(Anna Freud) Fifth line: Possessiveness of parent of the opposite sex and jealousy and rivalry with same sex parent:

Answer 11

(phallic-oedipal phase)

1. critical in generation of neurotic problems
2. triangular relationship requires maturity of the child‘s ego as well as sufficient development of superego to generate anxiety and guilt about his incestuous wishes
   - ->conflicts appropriate to this phase as indication of healthy development, absence of conflict indicates developmental deficit

Question 12

(Anna Freud) Sixth line: Transfer of libido from parents to peers and others in social environment:

Answer 12

failure at this stage will lead to withdrawal from schoolwork and failure to integrate into peer group

Question 13

(Anna Freud) Seventh line: Pre-adolescent revolt:

Answer 13

1. regression from reasonableness of latency children to demanding, contrary, inconsiderate attitude of earlier stages
2. strengthens oral, anal and phallic drive components, intensifies intrapsychic conflict
   - -> pre-adolescent withdraws from parents in the hope of repudiating infantile and incestuous fantasies

Question 14

(Anna Freud) Eight line: Adolescence:

Answer 14

1. representing the ego‘s struggle to master the upsurge of sexuality and aggression
2. struggle to transfer emotional investment from parents to new objects
3. stage of developmental disturbance

Question 15

(Anna Freud) The use of developmental lines:

Answer 15

1. Essentially descriptive, dominated by theoretical concerns with bodily functions
2. Notion of developmental lines offers a way to evaluate the child‘s emotional maturity or immaturity alongside psychiatric symptoms
3. 1. phase-appropriate developmental issues
4. 2. meaning of behavior in the context of the phase
5. 3. profile of adaptation across aspects of development
6. Unevenness of development may be regarded as risk factor for psychiatric disturbances
7. Clinical implications: psychoanalytic clinician should offer‚ developmental help to the child and restoring him or her to the path or normal development.

Question 16

What was Anna Freud’s view of developmental psychopathology?

Answer 16

1. A. Freud noted apparently reversible effect of even severe childhood trauma – the child seen as enormously resilient
2. She suggested seven categories of psychological disorders quite similar to empirically derived clusters
3. However, she excluded depression as a significant problem in childhood

Question 17

What was Anna Freud’s developmental perspective to emergence of anxiety problems in childhood:

Answer 17

1. archaic fears of infancy: decrease if infant receives enough reassurance
2. separation anxiety: associated with excessive separation or maternal unreliability
3. with internalization of object: fear of loss of love which also manifests as fear of punishment, fear of desertion; may become excessive if conflicts with parents are difficult to resolve
4. phallic phase: castration anxiety comes to dominate with fears of operations, robbers, ghosts …
5. early school age: social anxieties
   - -> nature of the child‘s anxiety seen as good indicator of the child‘s development
   - ->anxiety dependent on types of defenses the child was able to use

Question 18

Anna Freud’s notion of developmental disharmonies:

Answer 18

1. Delays or failures in development could appear in relation to drives, ego and superego functioning
2. Could be result of poor endowment or organic damage, inadequate care or lack of stimulation, internal conflicts or traumatic experiences
3. Development was not expected to proceed evenly across dev. lines
4. As forces that determine the child‘s development are external as well as internal, an inner equilibrium is hard to establish
5. Minor degrees of disharmony are ubiquitous, gross disharmony is seen as fertile breeding ground‘ for later neurosis and more severe psychopathology

Question 19

(Anna Freud) Evaluation: Strengths:

Answer 19

1. Useful concept of developmental lines – allowed to retain structural view of the mind and yet study the impact of interactions on child‘s psychic functioning
2. Developmental perspective: individual can move back along line if necessary to deal with overwhelming challenge, then move forward again
3. Commitment to observational method
   - ->Observational work during the war yielded many findings consistent with those of contemporary research

Question 20

(Anna Freud) Evaluation: Limitations:

Answer 20

1. Her view that children did not have the ego- and cognitive developmental capacities to feel sustained guilt, misery and dispair (i.e. depressive experience) has been disapproved