Joaquín Díaz Atienza
Anna Freud was Sigmund Freud's daughter and dedicated her entire professional and scientific life to child psychoanalysis. In this post, we will address her two most significant contributions: the ego's defense mechanisms against superego and/or instinctual anxiety, and the lines of development.
Self-defense mechanisms
His theorization of the anxiety that the child must face led him to distinguish three subtypes: anxiety before the id's impulses, anxiety in the face of real dangers y anxiety in the face of the demands of the superegoTo defend themselves against anxiety, children resort to a series of defense mechanisms, which are generally normal. Psycho-emotional and/or neurotic problems arise when these mechanisms are not sufficiently effective in dealing with anxiety.
Anna Freud initially attempted to present an ontogenetic view of defense mechanisms, arguing that specific mechanisms would appear at each stage of development. Ultimately, faced with clinical evidence, she abandoned this idea. However, there are some psychodevelopmental limitations that influence the manifestation of these defense mechanisms.
Stages in defense mechanisms
- The first stage This occurs when the child acquires the ability to distinguish between their own self and external elements. This differentiation is often the source of fears that the infant usually resolves with varying degrees of success through... denial by phantasization (denies certain experiences through fanciful interpretation), denial through actions and words, for which it needs the help of its environment. Finally, through the withdrawal of the self. This mechanism is easily observable in many children through the presence of withdrawal behaviors in the face of strange situations.
- Following this initial stageOther defense mechanisms then appear, such as:
- Identifying with the aggressorThis defense mechanism is easily observed in play situations, where the child assumes the role of the aggressor, shifting from a passive to an active position. For example, the child might take on the role of the doctor (fear of injections, etc.), or one of their parents (disciplinary messages, scolding, etc.), thus reproducing the messages of the "aggressor." As is easily understood, this defense mechanism plays a very important role in the construction of the superego through the internalization of the norm.
- The acquisition of the noThis is a defense mechanism closely related to the previous one and serves to reaffirm independence. We will return to it when we discuss R. Spitz's contributions to child psychoanalysis.
- Finally, Ana Freud describes us puberty and adolescence. In puberty appears asceticism as a defensive mechanism against the anxiety produced by the transient reactivation of the Oedipus complex. It is characterized by a global rejection of all types of drives with sexualized content or that bring pleasure. It is interpreted as the result of the feelings of guilt produced by the transient reactivation of the Oedipus complex. This asceticism can lead to manifestations such as food restriction, and although the current focus is more on the body, history is replete with cases of anorexia based on religiously grounded asceticism as expiation of guilt.
En adolescence The most common defense mechanism against anxiety is intellectualizationThe adolescent does not flee from their impulses (asceticism), but rather shows interest in them, although they intellectualize them and experience them in the abstract. Therefore, the adolescent does not fully accept them, but rather displaces them.
Both intellectualization and asceticism tend to disappear in situations of normal evolution.
As we have discussed, Anna Freud attempted to develop a ontogenetic view of defense mechanisms This is because it presupposes the maturation of certain psychosexual aspects before they can emerge. Thus, she posited that the first defense mechanisms a child exhibits in response to anxiety are regression, turning against themselves, and transformation into their opposite. Repression arises once a proper differentiation between the ego and the id has been achieved. Finally, sublimation is only possible when the superego has achieved a well-defined structure.
