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Anna Freud's recent publication of a Diagnostic Profile (1962) represents a landmark in psychoanalysis and psychiatry. Psychoanalysts in particular have long been dissatisfied with diagnostic labels based on the Kraepelinian system, and there has been a growing demand for a more meaningful classification of the various personality disorders and defects. A recent Panel (1963) devoted to the nosology of childhood psychic disorders relied heavily on the propositions concerning the assessment of normality and pathology elaborated by A. Freud (1963).
In addition to offering a more dynamic approach to diagnosis, the developmental scheme which provides the framework for the Diagnostic Profile makes possible the application of an integrative conception of personality organization. By recognizing dynamic, economic, genetic, structural, and adaptive factors in personality development as well as the importance of their interaction, we can formulate a more organized and meaningful description and understanding of a particular personality disturbance.
While the concept of integration has frequently been employed in the writings of psychiatrists and psychologists, it has seldom been found as a prominent consideration in the body of these writings. In a sense, the concept of character structure adopted by the psychoanalyst involves an integrated view of the total personality in that defensive styles, developmental considerations, ego functions, and the energy principle are all implied, but a systematic and unifying framework of organization has been lacking. Adolf Meyer stressed