Discussions in the Hampstead Index on ‘The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence’: XIII. Instinctual Anxiety During Puberty

In Chapter 12 Anna Freud deals with the topics of asceticism, intellectualization, object love and identification in puberty. She begins the chapter by commenting that there are phases during which increased libidinal cathexis occurs which are of interest in the study of the ego because then its mechanisms stand out more clearly. Two of these ego attitudes deserve special attention because they are increased at puberty—asceticism and intellectuality.

In adolescence there is at times ‘an antagonism towards the instincts which far surpasses in intensity anything in the way of repression which we are accustomed to see’ (167, 153)1. It is an asceticism comparable to that of religious fanatics. Unlike many neurotic conditions, in which only one aspect of instinctual life is defended against, a different picture is met when instinct as a whole is repudiated. The starting point of this process is the turning against the incestuous fantasies of prepuberty and the masturbation associated with them. It then extends to instincts in general, and it seems that the quantity of instinct rather than its quality is feared. ‘They mistrust enjoyment in general and so their safest policy appears to be simply to counter more urgent desires with more stringent prohibitions’ (168, 154). It can extend from the drives to ordinary physical needs. The renunciation extends ‘to things which are harmless and necessary’ (169, 155). We see young people depriving themselves