Books / Psychodynamic & attachment
The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence
By Anna Freud. Her 1936 foundational monograph of ego psychology, systematising psychological defence mechanisms and introducing identification with the aggressor.
Book details
Author of listed edition: Anna Freud
Edition: First German edition (1936), Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag (Vienna); 1937 English translation by Cecil Baines (The Hogarth Press) checked via Internet Archive
Publisher: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis (originally Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag)
Edition year: 1936
Original title: Das Ich und die Abwehrmechanismen
Language and origin: German (Austria)
Form and genre: Clinical & Theoretical Monograph
Level: Intermediate
Historical era: 1920–1939 · Ego Psychology & Early Child Analysis
Covers: Ten classic defence mechanisms, clinical observation of the ego alongside the id, identification with the aggressor, altruistic surrender and adolescent intellectualisation
APA 7th reference: Freud, A. (1936). Das Ich und die Mechanismen der Abwehr [The ego and the mechanisms of defence]. Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag.
What it is & historical context
The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence (German original: Das Ich und die Abwehrmechanismen) is a 1936 monograph by Anna Freud, presented to Sigmund Freud for his eightieth birthday in Vienna and published in English translation by Cecil Baines in 1937 by The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis.
Few books in psychotherapy have had a wider cross-theoretical reach: Anna Freud’s clear taxonomy of defence mechanisms and her clinical rule of maintaining "equidistance" between id, ego and superego became standard training across psychodynamic, developmental and integrative therapies.
Core clinical themes & arguments
Anna Freud argues that psychoanalysis should not treat the ego’s defences merely as annoying obstacles to uncovering the unconscious id, but as the primary object of clinical observation. She organises ten classic defences (repression, regression, reaction formation, isolation, undoing, projection, introjection, turning against the self, reversal and sublimation), maps their developmental motives (fear of the superego, objective danger and instinctual intensity), and introduces two enduring clinical concepts: "identification with the aggressor" and "a form of altruism" (altruistic surrender), followed by chapters on adolescent asceticism and intellectualisation. This entry was verified against the 1937 digital scan.
Questions for critical reading
Why does Anna Freud argue that interpreting an unconscious impulse before analysing the ego’s defence against it is clinically ineffective? How does "identification with the aggressor" operate both in normal child play and in responses to interpersonal trauma?
Who it may suit
Trainee counsellors and psychotherapists across all modalities, psychology students and general readers wanting the primary source on psychological defence mechanisms.
Scope & clinical limits
Written in 1936 within classical drive-and-ego theory, the book frames defences primarily around managing instinctual drives and anxiety; later relational and attachment thinkers re-situated defences as interpersonal strategies for maintaining attachment bonds.
Paired academic and clinical scholarship
Paired work: Ego Mechanisms of Defense: A Guide for Clinicians and Researchers (George E. Vaillant, 1992)
Reference: Vaillant, G. E. (1992). Ego mechanisms of defense: A guide for clinicians and researchers. American Psychiatric Press.
Longitudinal empirical operationalisation of Anna Freud’s 1936 hierarchy of psychotic, immature, neurotic, and mature ego defence mechanisms.
Source-mapped claims and evidence notes
Claim 1: Published in German in Vienna in 1936 as Das Ich und die Abwehrmechanismen and translated into English by Cecil Baines in 1937 for The Hogarth Press. (Internet Archive scan egomechanismsofd00freu and Anna Freud Centre institutional history) [Source 1: Freud, A. (1937). The ego and the mechanisms of defence (C. Baines, Trans.). The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis. (Original German work published 1936). Internet Archive.]
Claim 2: Defines psychoanalysis as paying equidistant attention to id, ego and superego, catalogues ten classic defence mechanisms and introduces "identification with the aggressor" and "altruistic surrender". (1937 English edition Chapters I, IV, IX and X (Internet Archive scan)) [Source 1: Freud, A. (1937). The ego and the mechanisms of defence (C. Baines, Trans.). The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis. (Original German work published 1936). Internet Archive.]
Sources and inspection notes
Supports: Pending verification: 1936 German origin, 1937 Baines translation, twelve-chapter structure, ten defence mechanisms, identification with the aggressor and adolescent defences.
Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families. (2024). Our story and Anna Freud’s legacy.
Supports: Pending verification: Biographical and institutional context of Anna Freud’s work in Vienna and London.