Defense and Synthesis in the Function of the Ego—Some Observations Stimulated by Anna Freud's 'The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense1

Psychoanalysis began with the discovery of the existence of unconscious memories and wishes and devoted itself first to the study of their content. Later Freud began to inquire into the nature of the repressing forces. Guilt feelings, the unconscious need for punishment, the manifestations of the conscience, became the central theme of psychoanalytic interest. Only recently are the ego and its integrating function becoming increasingly central in psychoanalytic thought. Anna Freud's The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense1 is an important contribution to this increasing interest in the study of the ego.

How can one investigate the function of the ego? Anna Freud devotes a considerable part of the first section of her book to the discussion of this question. She points out that it is the ego upon which we have to rely in order to gain information concerning the other two parts of the personality. The ego 'is, so to speak, the medium through which we try to get a picture of the other two institutions'. It is possible to observe the id only when unsatisfied instinctual impulses attempt to invade the ego. Similarly the superego is discernible as a separate institution only when its claims become disturbing to the ego in the form of feelings of guilt or need for punishment.