Difference between revisions of "Ego-psychology"

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[[Ego-psychology]] is a [[school]] of [[Sigmund Freud|post-Freudian]] [[psychoanalysis]], derived from [[psychology|child psychology]], [[Freud]]'s [[topology|second topography]] and [[Anna Freud]]'s work on the [[ego]] and its [[defence]]s.
 
[[Ego-psychology]] is a [[school]] of [[Sigmund Freud|post-Freudian]] [[psychoanalysis]], derived from [[psychology|child psychology]], [[Freud]]'s [[topology|second topography]] and [[Anna Freud]]'s work on the [[ego]] and its [[defence]]s.
  
It accepts [[Freud]]'s [[structure|structural model]] of the [[mind]], but is specifically concerned with the role of the [[ego]] in mediating between the conflicting [[demand]]s of the [[instinctual]] [[id]], the [[moralistic]] [[superego]] and [[external]] [[reality]].  
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The work of [[ego-psychology]] expands on [[Freud]]'s [[structure|structural model]] of the [[mind]], focusing almost entirely on the function of [[ego]] in mediating between the conflicting [[demand]]s of the [[instinctual]] [[id]], the [[moralistic]] [[superego]] and [[external]] [[reality]].
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The principal theorists of [[ego-psychology]] are Heinz Hartmann, Rudolf Loewenstein
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After Freud, a number of prominent psychoanalytic theorists began to elaborate on
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It accepts , but is specifically concerned with the role of the [[ego]] in mediating between the conflicting [[demand]]s of the [[instinctual]] [[id]], the [[moralistic]] [[superego]] and [[external]] [[reality]].  
  
 
[[Anna Freud]]'s book ''[[The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence]]'' (1936) was one of the first works to focus almost entirely on the [[ego]].
 
[[Anna Freud]]'s book ''[[The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence]]'' (1936) was one of the first works to focus almost entirely on the [[ego]].
  
[[Heinz Hartmann]] argued that the  
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[[Heinz Hartmann]] argued that the healthy ego includes a sphere of autonomous ego functions that are independent of mental conflict.
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According to [[Hartmann]], psychoanalytic treatment aims to expand the conflict-free sphere of ego functioning.
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By doing so, [[Hartmann]] believed, [[psychoanalysis]] facilitates [[adaptation]], that is, more effective mutual regulation of [[ego]] and [[environment]].
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[[Treatment]] tends to be based on the establishment of a therapeutic alliance in which the [[patient]] [[identifies]] with the strong [[ego]] of the [[analyst]].
  
 
[[Ego-psychology]] holds that the [[ego]] has [[autonomous ego|autonomous energy and functions independently]].
 
[[Ego-psychology]] holds that the [[ego]] has [[autonomous ego|autonomous energy and functions independently]].

Revision as of 08:15, 15 September 2006

French: psychologie du moi

Ego-psychology is a school of post-Freudian psychoanalysis, derived from child psychology, Freud's second topography and Anna Freud's work on the ego and its defences.

The work of ego-psychology expands on Freud's structural model of the mind, focusing almost entirely on the function of ego in mediating between the conflicting demands of the instinctual id, the moralistic superego and external reality.


The principal theorists of ego-psychology are Heinz Hartmann, Rudolf Loewenstein


After Freud, a number of prominent psychoanalytic theorists began to elaborate on


It accepts , but is specifically concerned with the role of the ego in mediating between the conflicting demands of the instinctual id, the moralistic superego and external reality.

Anna Freud's book The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence (1936) was one of the first works to focus almost entirely on the ego.

Heinz Hartmann argued that the healthy ego includes a sphere of autonomous ego functions that are independent of mental conflict.

According to Hartmann, psychoanalytic treatment aims to expand the conflict-free sphere of ego functioning.

By doing so, Hartmann believed, psychoanalysis facilitates adaptation, that is, more effective mutual regulation of ego and environment.

Treatment tends to be based on the establishment of a therapeutic alliance in which the patient identifies with the strong ego of the analyst.

Ego-psychology holds that the ego has autonomous energy and functions independently.


The principal theorists of ego-psychology are Heinz Hartmann, Rudolf Loewenstein and Ernst Kris; its main journal is the American-based Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, published since 1945.

Lacan's analyst, Rudolph Loewenstein, was one of ego-psychology's founding fathers. 


History of Ego-Psychology

and the trend became firmly established in Heinz Hartmann's Ego Psychology and the Problem of Adaptation (1939), which is now regarded as the foundational text of ego-psychology.

Ego-psychology was taken to the United States by the Austrian analysts who emigrated there in the late 1930s, and since the early 1950s it has been the dominant school of psychoanalysis not only in the United States but also in the whole of the IPA.

This position of dominance has enabled ego-psychology to present itself as the inheritor of Freudian psychoanalysis in its purist form, when in fact there are radical differences between some of its tenets and Freud's work.

The dominance


Jacques Lacan's Criticism

Lacan's




For much of his professional life, Lacan disputed ego-psychology's claim to be the true heir to the Freudian legacy


After Lacan was expelled from the IPA in 1953, he was free to voice his criticisms of ego-psychology openly, and during the rest of his life he developed a sustained and powerful critique.

Much of Lacanian theory cannot be properly understood without reference to the ideas of ego-psychology with which Lacan contrasts it.

Lacan challenged all the central concepts of ego-psychology, such as the concepts of adaptation and the autonomous ego.

His criticisms of ego-psychology are often intertwined with his criticisms of the IPA which was dominated by this particular school of thought.

Lacan presents both ego-psychology and the IPA as the "antithesis" of true psychoanalysis.[1]

Lacan argues that both were irremediably corrupted by the culture of the United States (see factor c).

Lacan's powerful critique has meant that few people now accept uncritically the claims of ego-psychology to identify itself as "classical psychoanalysis."

See Also

References

  1. Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p.l16


Index