Anna Freud's adult psychoanalytic technique: a defence of classical analysis

The four parts of this paper try to give a picture of Anna Freud's views about adult psychoanalytic technique. In the first part, an historical review is given of the main points that Anna Freud made about the development of classical technique. In the second part, a clinical sketch is presented of the author's own personal training analysis with Anna Freud, as an illustration of her actual analytic approach in practice. The third part presents a very brief summary of the historical development of 'modern' psychoanalytic contributions and the controversies that resulted. Finally, the fourth part summarises several major areas of differences that Anna Freud believed had developed in recent decades between classical analysis and the more 'modern' varieties that focus predominantly on the transference and the 'here-and-now' interaction between patient and analyst. By outlining the many differences, the presentation attempts to convince some of the new generation of psychoanalysts in our pluralistic world of the continued value of the underlying principles behind classical technique.