The ego psychological approach to understanding mental life has evolved considerably since Freud created the discipline of psychoanalysis in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Contemporary ego psychologists have a different theoretical and clinical perspective than did Freud or early psychoanalytic theorists. As in all areas of scholarship and clinical practice, ego psychologists have evolved in their understanding of motivation and behavior and have integrated new findings from psychoanalytic practice and research, and from the cognate disciplines. This article relates the early theory of psychoanalysis and ego psychology and then presents its more contemporary edition, referred to as modem conflict theory or modem structural theory.
Richard Lettieri – Crime Psychologist
Orange County Forensic Psychologist
