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I will begin this paper, written in honour of the centenary of Anna Freud's birth, with a quotation from her1:
In the earlier literature, ego factors were included under the German term Krankheitseinsicht (insight into the illness). This was not insight into the factors causing the illness, but insight into the fact of being ill. This term was used with adult patients, referring to the degree that the patient had insight into or awareness of the fact that he was ill. If he had this insight he would ally himself with somebody in order to do something about it. This was obviously an ego attitude, the ego being conscious of the fact that it was under pressure from various sides and needed help.
This paper will address the issue of neurosis in childhood as it is possible to differentiate it from other developmental disturbances. Anna Freud spoke clearly and cogently about the importance of diagnosis in childhood treatment while advocating therapeutic interventions which took cognizance of the nature of the problem with which a particular child struggled. I shall consider the issue of neurotic process as this emerges in child analysis, commenting on its impact upon the analyst's technique and flexibility and upon its relationship to the child's play-mode predilections and limitations.
The process of analysis of both children and adults requires the consent of the analys and for an intimate encounter to occur in which the individual's developmental line of personal meaning is examined in the