Freud << froyd >>, Anna (1895-1982), was an Austrian-born leader in the field of child psychoanalysis, the treatment of mental illness in children. Her work was influenced by the psychoanalytic theories of her father, the Austrian physician Sigmund Freud.
Anna Freud believed that children go through various normal stages of psychological development. She maintained that psychoanalysts must have knowledge of these stages to diagnose and treat mental illness in children. Such knowledge, she believed, can best be obtained through research involving direct observation. Freud also believed that psychoanalytic principles should be applied to all child rearing and child care.
Freud was born in Vienna. She did most of her research at the Hampstead Child Therapy Course and Clinic (now called the Anna Freud Centre), which she founded in London in 1947. The clinic’s work includes treating mentally ill children and training workers in child therapy.
