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and forging compromise. In his last writings on the subject, Freud (1940) postulated autonomous ego development. The Structural model did not appear overnight, neither did it completely replace the Topographic model. The elements of the Structural Theory were being gradually formulated and anticipated, long before 1923. However, Freud often returned to the Topographic understanding of phenomena, and the development of a consistent theory proposing specific connections between two theories of anxiety, e.g., ‘unitary theory of anxiety’ (Rangell 1969 a, b), or applying Ego Psychological principles consistently in psychoanalytic technique, e. g. ‘analyzing defenses’ rather than confronting or ‘overcoming’ them, remained for others to develop (Grey 1982, 1994; Busch, 1992, 1993, 1999; Paniagua 2008, 2014). III. Aa. Multiple Directions of Early Ego Psychological Studies Freud’s final conceptualization of ego as an active executive agency in the mind led to the further multifaceted study of the role of ego in psychic functioning, development, psychopathology and treatment, charting the various directions of early ‘Ego Psychology’ : Paul Federn (1926), in Vienna, conceptualized the ego boundary between the ego and the representation of the object, retaining the subjectivity of Freudian ego/’Ich’ in his term ‘ ego feeling ’. Terminological and conceptual differences with the ‘Classical Ego Psychology’ in New York, where he immigrated, notwithstanding, Federn’s contributions is his emphasis on the fact that in psychosis , with derealization and depersonalization, ego feelings are gradually lost, i.e., that certain narcissistic investment in the ego is reduced. This is the case not only when the alienation concerns the subject’s own feelings, but also when it concerns the object world (Jacobson 1954). Herman Nunberg (1931), in Vienna, described synthetic function of the ego , following up in New York with exploration of the concepts of ego strength and ego weakness (1941). In collaboration with Ernst Federn, the youngest son of Paul Federn, he compiled the “Minutes of the Vienna psychoanalytic society” from 1906-1918 (Nunberg and Federn 1962-1975). His lectures to Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute were published with Freud’s preface (Nunberg 1932/1955). Wilhelm Reich (1925; 1933/1945), studied the contribution of chronic alterations of the ego to the development of character. Anna Freud (1936/1946), of Vienna, systematized the defensive activities of the ego in “The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense”. Later, in London, she spent much of her career to exploration of normal and pathological ego development (1965), keeping in close contact with the psychoanalytic developments in North America. Robert Waelder (1936a), elaborated on the role of the ego in conflict, bringing Freud’s early principle of over-determination under the purview of the Structural Theory/Ego Psychology as the principle of multiple function . Here, every psychic act is a compromise
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