Freud, Anna

(born Dec. 3, 1895, Vienna, Austria—died Oct. 9, 1982, London, Eng.) Austrian-born British psychiatrist, founder of the field of child psychiatry. Daughter of Sigmund Freud, she pioneered in developing psychoanalytic theory and practice. In The Ego and Defense Mechanisms (1936), Freud called repression the principal human defense mechanism. This gave a strong, new impetus to the role of ego in psychology. She and her terminally ill father escaped Nazi-dominated Austria for London in 1938. She co-wrote three books on the effects of war on children. A summation of her thoughts is found in Normality and Pathology in Childhood (1968).

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica