Neo Freudians

Neo-Freudians were a group of thinkers who agreed with many of the fundamental tenets of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, but changed and adapted the approach to incorporate their own beliefs, ideas, and opinions.

Carl Jung (1875-1961)

Carl Jung (pronounced “Yoong”) was a Swiss psychiatrist and originally a close friend and protégé of Freud.

Jung’s collaboration with Freud (between 1907–1912) was intense but short-lived – they split due to personal tensions and major theoretical disagreements (especially Jung’s rejection of Freud’s heavy emphasis on sexuality)​

After this break in 1913, Jung founded Analytical Psychology, developing his own theories on the human mind.

In the context of revising Freud’s ideas, Jung’s most significant contributions were introducing the collective unconscious and universal archetypes, and placing less emphasis on basic drives like sex and more on spiritual and cultural aspects of the psyche​.

Collective Unconscious

Jung (1921, 1933) agreed that a personal unconscious exists, but he believed it plays a less significant role in shaping personality than Freud suggested.

Jung believed the personal unconscious is closer to the surface than Freud suggested and is less focused on repressed childhood events.

Jung proposed that another layer of the unconscious exists: the collective unconscious.

This level of the unconscious is not unique to the individual but is shared by all humans.

The collective unconscious is like a shared memory bank of humanity – a reservoir of experiences inherited from our ancestors that all people have, regardless of their individual experiences​.

You can think of it as a sort of universal library of knowledge and imagery that we’re all born with.

Archetypes

Within this collective unconscious are archetypes, which are primitive mental images or themes that appear across cultures and time​ (Jung, 1947).

For example, many stories and myths around the world feature a hero who goes on a quest, a wise old man who offers guidance, a nurturing mother figure, or a trickster who causes mischief.

Archetypes are universal symbols and themes that express common aspects of human experience.

They are expressed in dreams, myths, fairy tales, legends, artwork, religion, and symbolic experiences.

Jung pointed out that these common characters and themes show up in different cultures’ myths, fairy tales, and even dreams, even when the cultures have no contact with each other​.

• The Hero archetype appears in stories from Jesus to Luke Skywalker.
• The Great Mother archetype manifests as Mother Nature, Gaia, the Virgin Mary.
• The Wise Old Man shows up as Merlin, Gandalf, Dumbledore.
• The Trickster appears as Loki, Coyote, Prometheus.

Human Motivation

Jung disagreed with Freud’s emphasis on sexuality.

He believed that libido is a more generalized life force that encompasses all psychic energy, not just sexual energy.

He argued that humans are motivated by a variety of desires, including creativity, spirituality, and a need for meaning and purpose.

Jung acknowledged that sexuality plays a role in the unconscious, but he felt that Freud overemphasized its importance.

For example, Jung would see an artist’s drive to create as its own legitimate form of psychic energy, not necessarily a transformation of repressed sexual desires.

He believed humans were naturally drawn toward meaning, growth, and self-actualization through various channels, with sexuality being just one aspect of a broader life force.

Personality

Jung’s theory of personality, known as analytical psychology, is more complex and mystical than Freud’s.

He believed that personality develops throughout the lifespan and that the goal of life is individuation, a process of integrating the conscious and unconscious aspects of the self to achieve wholeness.

Jung also created a comprehensive framework of personality types, distinguishing between introverted and extroverted orientations, along with four key psychological functions: thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuition.

These dimensions work together to shape how individuals perceive and interact with the world around them.

Alfred Adler (1870-1937)

Alfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor-turned-psychotherapist who was originally a member of Freud’s Vienna circle.

Adler’s early life experiences greatly shaped his ideas: as a child he suffered from rickets and pneumonia and felt overshadowed by an older brother, leading to strong feelings of inferiority​

These challenges motivated him to become a physician and to understand human resilience.

Adler joined Freud’s discussion group in 1902 and was even the president of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society for a time, but by 1911 he clashed with Freud’s theories and left the group​

He went on to establish Individual Psychology in 1912 as a new school of thought.

Adler’s key contributions were the concepts of striving for superiority to overcome an inferiority complex, the importance of social interest and conscious goals, and the notion that family dynamics like birth order can shape our personality development​.

All of these were ways to broaden Freud’s theories beyond instinctual urges.

Inferiority Complex

In simple terms, Adler believed that deep down, people often feel that they’re not as good as others in some way – not as smart, not as strong, not as important.

He coined the term “inferiority complex” to describe this feeling of lacking worth or not measuring up to others’ standards​

For example, a child who feels weaker or less capable than siblings might grow up always trying to prove themselves.

This was a big shift from Freud’s idea that hidden sexual and aggressive urges drive us.

Adler argued that much of our behavior is driven by trying to overcome childhood inferiority feelings and strive for superiority or success​

Unlike Freud, Adler de-emphasized the role of sex and unconscious instincts. Instead, he highlighted the importance of social connections and conscious goals.

He believed that healthy personalities are marked by social interest – caring for others and contributing to society – and that psychological growth comes from mastering social challenges in work, friendship, and love​.

Personality

Adler also introduced the idea that birth order (one’s position as oldest, middle, youngest child, etc.) can influence personality.

For instance, he suggested that oldest children who initially had their parents’ full attention but then must share it with younger siblings may become overachievers to compensate.

The youngest child might be more likely to be pampered or spoiled, whereas the middle child may develop a balanced personality, avoiding the extremes of the oldest and youngest​

While later research has mixed findings on birth order effects, Adler’s focus on sibling and peer relations was an important move toward seeing personality in a social context rather than just by inner drives.

Learn More: Freud vs Adler

Melanie Klein (1882-1960)

Melanie Klein took Freud’s basic idea of the unconscious and gave it a relational, child-centered twist, leaving a legacy that informs how we understand attachment, relationships, and child therapy today.

Klein is best known as a pioneer of object relations theory and play therapy, and she believed that our early infancy experiences largely shape our adult relationships​

Klein’s work diverged from Freud’s in that she put much less emphasis on biological drives like sexuality, and much more emphasis on the child’s early emotional relationships​.

Klein stayed within the broad Freudian idea that our childhood unconscious experiences matter, but she reimagined what those experiences are (relationships rather than just instincts) and when they begin (virtually at birth)​.

Emphasis on Early Relationships

While she agreed with Freud that the unconscious mind and childhood are crucial, Klein challenged Freud’s developmental timeline and motives.

Instead of seeing the Oedipus complex (around ages 3-5 in Freud’s theory) as the central drama of early childhood, Klein believed that even earlier relationships (in the first 1-2 years of life) were formative.

Klein essentially shifted the focus from psychosexual stages to what we can call psychosocial and emotional stages in infancy – things like developing trust, handling anger, and integrating good and bad perceptions of others.

She also placed equal (or greater) emphasis on aggressive impulses alongside libidinal (love) impulses from the very beginning of life.

This means a baby not only loves their caregiver but can also feel primitive rage, and managing this love-hate is a key psychological task.

In other words, babies are born with a fundamental drive to form relationships and to connect with others (not just to seek physical pleasure or avoid pain).

This was the seed of what came to be called object relations theory.

Object Relations Theory

Object relations theory is a variation of psychoanalytic theory that emphasizes the fundamental human drive to form relationships rather than focusing primarily on sexual pleasure as the main motivator of human behavior.

In the context of object relations theory, the term “objects” refers not to inanimate entities but to significant others with whom an individual relates, usually one’s mother, father, or primary caregiver.

In some cases, the term object may also be used to refer to a part of a person, such as a mother’s breast, or to the mental representations of significant others.

Object relations theory emphasizes internalized mental representations of self and others, which guide interpersonal relations and influence one’s sense of self-worth and attachment styles.

Play Therapy and Analyzing Children

Melanie Klein not only theorized about infants; she also broke new ground in how to psychoanalyze young children.

Freud and his daughter Anna believed that very young children (toddlers and preschoolers) could not be analyzed in the same way as adults. Anna Freud thought you should wait until about age 6 for formal analysis​.

Klein boldly disagreed.

By using play as a window into the child’s mind, she built upon Freud’s idea of symbolic expression (Freud analyzed dreams for symbolism; Klein analyzed play for symbolism) and made it a therapeutic tool for children.

With encouragement from another analyst (Sándor Ferenczi), Klein began analyzing children as young as two or three years old by observing and interacting with them through play.​

She introduced the play technique as a method for child analysis: instead of expecting a child to free-associate verbally, Klein provided toys (dolls, animals, etc.) and let the child play freely. She paid close attention to the themes and emotions in the play.

For example, if a child repeatedly acted out a scenario of a big monster doll attacking a smaller doll, Klein might interpret that as the child expressing feelings of fear or aggression possibly related to their own family dynamics or internal conflicts.

Play, in Klein’s view, was the child’s language of the unconscious. Just as adults tell their analyst their thoughts, children show their feelings and conflicts through play.

Klein’s technique revealed that even very young children can show insight into their feelings through play, often even more straightforwardly than adults do in words.

As Klein herself noted, beginners in child analysis are often surprised to find that “even very young children (have) a capacity for insight which is often far greater than that of adults”​

Through this method, Klein claimed she could identify complex emotional issues in children, like anxiety, jealousy (such as a child’s jealousy of a new sibling), love, and hatred, all playing out with toy figures in the playroom.

Freud-Klein controversies

However, Klein’s approaches were controversial in her time. Freud and Anna Freud did not agree with Klein’s methods or some of her theories, leading to a deep professional rift.

Anna Freud believed Klein was over-interpreting child’s play and that very young children could not truly engage in psychoanalysis because they lacked the cognitive and verbal capacity.

Indeed, Klein’s play therapy technique ran counter to Anna Freud’s belief that young children could not be psychoanalyzed, and this dispute led to considerable controversy in the psychoanalytic community​

Many analysts took sides in what became known as the Freud-Klein controversies.

Even Sigmund Freud himself openly criticized Klein’s ideas, partly because Klein was proposing substantial changes to psychoanalytic theory and she did not have a formal medical degree​.

Despite the opposition, Klein continued her work in England (having moved there in the 1920s), and a group of analysts supported her innovative ideas.

Karen Horney (1885-1952)

Karen Horney (pronounced “HORN-eye”) was one of the first women trained in Freudian psychoanalysis, and she became one of Freud’s sharpest critics – especially regarding his views on women.

In contrast to Freud’s emphasis on internal conflicts and sexual impulses, Horney’s contributions put the spotlight on relationships and cultural influences.

She brought a more humanistic outlook, believing that each person has the potential for self-realization (becoming their genuine self) if provided a supportive environment​.

Feminine Psychology

Horney moved from Europe to the United States in the 1930s and developed ideas that challenged Freud’s male-centered theories​

For example, Freud famously suggested that girls feel deprived and envious because they don’t have a male anatomy (a concept known as “penis envy”).

Horney (1932) flatly rejected this notion. She argued that if women feel inferior in society, it’s not due to anatomy but because of how culture and upbringing treat women as lesser.

In fact, Horney turned Freud’s idea around and proposed that men might experience “womb envy” – jealousy of women’s ability to bear children and create life​

From Horney’s perspective, any envy between sexes comes from social roles and advantages, not from physical differences. This was a groundbreaking early feminist viewpoint in psychology​

Theories of neurotic needs

Another major part of Horney’s theory centered on anxiety and interpersonal relationships.

Horney, also in contrast to Freud, believed that culture, rather than instinctual drives, largely led to behavior and psychological characteristics, especially in neurosis.

Horney believed that basic anxiety arises in children when they feel isolated, helpless, or unloved in a hostile world​

For instance, a child who experiences a lot of conflict at home or a lack of warmth might develop deep-seated anxiety about whether they will be safe or cared for.

According to Horney, such anxiety can block normal growth and lead to what she called neurotic needs – exaggerated needs for things like approval, power, or independence as a way to cope​.

Horney suggested that everyone uses these strategies to some extent, but problems arise if one relies on only one strategy rigidly, no matter the situation​.

Therapy

The goal of therapy, in her view, should be to help people move toward a healthy, authentic self, rather than just digging into early childhood conflicts.

Karen Horney is often celebrated for making psychoanalytic theory more attuned to gender and culture and for introducing the idea that how we cope with anxiety in our relationships is key to understanding personality.

Anna Freud (1895-1982)

Anna Freud was the youngest daughter of Sigmund Freud and a devoted follower of her father’s work.

She is best known for two major contributions: advancing the study of defense mechanisms and pioneering child psychoanalysis.

Anna Freud remained largely faithful to her father’s theory, but she shifted the focus from Freud’s emphasis on the id (instinctual drives) to a greater emphasis on the ego – the rational part of the mind that deals with reality​

In other words, she was interested in how the ego copes with both internal drives and the outside world.

For example, through her wartime observations of children, she concluded that the ego has to cope not only with inner instincts but also with real-life challenges (like trauma and separation)​.

This perspective helped found the field of ego psychology in psychoanalysis.

Her approach stayed within Freud’s theoretical framework (she didn’t try to overthrow his ideas) – instead, she expanded them in practical ways.

Defense Mechanisms

One of Anna Freud’s most enduring contributions was her detailed description of defense mechanisms – the unconscious strategies people use to protect themselves from anxiety or unpleasant emotions.

Sigmund Freud had introduced some defense mechanisms (like repression, where distressing thoughts are pushed out of awareness), but he left it to his daughter to literally “write the book” on them​.

In her 1936 book The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense, Anna Freud catalogued and explained many defenses the ego uses. Examples of these defenses include:

• Repression – involuntarily forgetting or blocking out painful memories.
• Projection – attributing one’s own unacceptable feelings to someone else (e.g., a person who is angry may accuse others of being hostile).
• Displacement – redirecting emotions to a safer outlet.

By systematically describing such defenses, Anna Freud showed how the ego defends itself against stress.

This helped therapists recognize these unconscious tactics in their patients.

For example, if a college student calmly insists they “don’t care” after failing an exam, a therapist might see this as denial, a defense mechanism, at work.

Recognizing defenses is important because it’s a step toward helping individuals face their true feelings more directly.

Child Psychoanalysis

Another groundbreaking contribution of Anna Freud was applying psychoanalysis to children. Sigmund Freud had mostly worked with adults, who would talk about their childhood memories.

In contrast, Anna Freud believed you could directly study and treat children’s emotional problems – but you had to adapt the methods for a child’s mind.

She was essentially the first to study children’s lives and development through a psychoanalytic lens​.

Freud himself had only analyzed one child (the case of “Little Hans,” and even that was through the child’s father’s reports), so working directly with children was new territory​.

Anna Freud recognized that children communicate and think differently from adults.

For example, young children might struggle with the traditional Freudian method of free association (saying whatever comes to mind) and lying on a couch, as they have shorter attention spans and different ways of expressing themselves​.

To address this, Anna Freud tailored the therapeutic approach for children. She emphasized building a strong therapeutic alliance (a trusting relationship) with the child and often engaged in the child’s activities to observe and connect with them​.

​She even allowed kids to play freely during sessions – joining them on the floor if needed – because play and drawings could reveal the child’s feelings and conflicts in symbolic ways​

However, Anna Freud was somewhat cautious in analyzing very young children.

She argued that children under about 6 years old (the latency period) were not ready for formal psychoanalysis; instead, the focus should be on supporting the child’s environment and development until they are mature enough​.

In practice, this meant helping parents create supportive conditions to prevent neuroses, and analyzing the child’s mind directly when the child was a bit older and more cognitively developed​.

Erich Fromm (1900–1980)

Erich Fromm was a Neo-Freudian who expanded psychoanalytic thinking beyond the individual’s family and inner fantasies, out into the wider realm of society and culture.

Fromm was trained in Freudian psychoanalysis but was also deeply influenced by Karl Marx’s social and economic theories​.

The result was a unique approach often called social psychoanalysis or humanistic psychoanalysis.

Fromm believed that to truly understand personality, we must consider the human being’s relationship to society, not just inner drives.

He was particularly interested in how modern societal forces (like freedom, capitalism, and isolation) affect the human psyche.

Key Theories and How Fromm Built on Freud

Fromm agreed with Freud that unconscious forces and childhood experiences shape us, but he sharply disagreed with several of Freud’s key ideas. For instance, he rejected Freud’s emphasis on the Oedipus complex and libido as the central motivators of behavior​.

Fromm felt that Freud placed too much weight on biological drives (like sexual and aggressive instincts) and not enough on the impact of social conditions and culture​.

In contrast, Fromm argued that human personality is largely a product of our social context – our family structure, our economic system, our cultural values, and so on​.

He also had a more optimistic, or at least humanistic, view of human nature.

Freud often described human nature in a pessimistic way (driven by endless unconscious conflicts and antisocial impulses), whereas Fromm believed humans have fundamental needs for things like connection and meaning, and that under the right conditions we can flourish.

In fact, Fromm was a key figure in humanistic psychology, which focuses on positive growth and the search for meaning​.

One of Fromm’s most famous ideas comes from his 1941 book Escape from Freedom (also published as The Fear of Freedom).

In this work, Fromm observed a kind of paradox of modern life: On one hand, modern society (with its democracy, individual rights, and wealth) has given people more freedom than ever before in history. We are less constrained by nature and survival needs, and more free to choose our own paths​.

On the other hand, this very freedom can make people feel isolated, alone, and anxious.​

Separated from the security of traditional authorities and close-knit communities, individuals often experience uncertainty and fear.

To alleviate this anxiety, people may try to “escape” from their freedom. In other words, freedom can be psychologically challenging, so individuals might unconsciously give up some of their freedom to feel more secure​.

Fromm described a set of personality orientations or common strategies that people use to escape the burdens of freedom and avoid feeling alone.

These were essentially socially shaped character types that he saw in modern society. He identified four “unproductive” orientations (ways people try to escape freedom that ultimately aren’t healthy)​.

Erik Erikson (1902-1994)

Erik Erikson took Freud’s developmental ideas in a new direction.

Erikson actually studied under Freud’s daughter Anna Freud, and he was influenced by psychoanalysis, but he noticed that important growth happens after childhood, too.

Psychosocial Stages

Freud had proposed that our personality’s core is largely formed by the age of five or so, but Erikson believed development is a lifelong process – we continue to grow and evolve through social challenges at every age​

He created a theory called psychosocial development, which, as the name suggests, emphasizes both the psychological and social aspects of growth.

Erikson outlined eight stages of psychosocial development, stretching from infancy to old age.​

At each stage, a person faces a central conflict or developmental task, and how they handle that challenge shapes their personality going forward​.

Unlike Freud’s stages (which were mostly about overcoming biological urges and were largely completed by adolescence), Erikson’s stages focus on social relationships and identity, and they span the entire lifespan​​.

Every stage has a similar structure: a pair of opposing tendencies that need to be balanced.

Successfully resolving each stage’s conflict (for instance, developing trust, or finding one’s identity) leads to the development of a strength or virtue (like hope, confidence, or fidelity).

Importantly, if you struggle at one stage, you can still progress, but the issues might reappear as problems later.

Erikson also placed much more emphasis on culture and society than Freud did.

Each stage is influenced by social interactions and expectations (for example, the pressures on a teenager to “find themselves,” or the support an elderly person gets in reflecting on their life).

He believed social relationships – such as with parents, peers, partners, and communities – are the driving force in development, rather than just inner sexual tensions​.

Additionally, not all conflicts for Erikson were unconscious; many are experienced consciously as we grow (a teen knows they are trying to discover their identity, an adult feels the conflict between intimacy vs. isolation when deciding whether to settle down).

This was a notable shift from Freud’s focus on hidden unconscious battles.

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