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Ego Psychology is a variety of psychoanalytical theory developed from Freud\'s book Ego and the Id (1923) by his daughter Anna Freud. Her book, The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence (1936), contrasts with the instinct theory which preceded it and with the Kleinian object relations theory which was developed at the same time. It aims to pay attention to the nature of reality through the structure and strong building of the ego. The ego was seen as having four distinct parts. One was autonomous and was responsible for actions like speech, breathing, and walking. Another area was seen as topographically separate from the others, and able to remain free from neurotic conflict. The other two were concerned with two different forms of sublimation. One desexualises, first the infantile libido, and then the pre-genital sexual impulses. The second deals with aggressive aspects of the libido. Ego psychology works to complete these last two processes if they have been resolved in the growing child or adult. Its intention is to merge the development construct with the self, as in, for example, the Self Theory of H. Kohut. MJ |
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