PSY/310
November 15, 2012
Anna Freud was born on December 3, 1985 to Sigmund and Martha Freud. She was said to have been very close to her father but did not have a great relationship with her mother or her siblings. Anna appeared to have an unhappy childhood, and was nurtured by the family’s nurse Josephine. At a young age Anna developed a rivalry with her sister Sophie and began competing for their father’s attention. Sophie was the more attractive child and Anna was the smart one. Sophie was said to be the “beauty” and Anna was the “brains”. Anna was known to be a troubled child. Her father often wrote about her, referring to her as being naughty. Anna wrote letters to her father as a child. She would let him know how bad thoughts had been going through her head. She was a bit overweight and may have suffered from depression at an early age.
Anna began attending school in 1901. Although she was very intelligent, she did not enjoy school. She complained about being bored and restless all the time. She claims to not have learned much in school. She credits her learning from her father and his company at home. She learned to speak several languages such as Italian, Hebrew, French, German, and English from them. In 1908 Anna had her appendix removed. This operation caused her a great deal of stress because she had no knowledge of the procedure until she was left at the hospital by her family. It took her a while to recover and after the surgery her family split up. During this split Sophie had announced her marriage to Max Halberstadt. Anna had been sent to recover and contemplate on what she would do with her future. She was sent to live with her grandmother. Her father wrote to her and advised her not to attend her sister’s wedding. Anna took this to heart and was very upset about this. After her father visited her for Easter he noticed that she was not happy with his decision. He later wrote to her explaining that she might have
References: Anna Freud. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www2.webster.edu/~woolflm/annafreud.html Anna Freud. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Freud