The contributions of pioneering girls have formed the sphere of kid and adolescent psychological well being. Their ground-breaking analysis and revolutionary scientific practices have modified the best way we view and deal with baby and adolescent psychological well being issues, paving the best way for future generations of psychological well being professionals. For this 12 months’s Worldwide Ladies’s Day, this weblog celebrates the achievements of outstanding girls within the subject: Anna Freud CBE, Professor Mary Ainsworth, and Professor Virginia Axline.
Anna Freud CBE: Pioneer of Little one Psychoanalysis
Anna Freud CBE, the youngest daughter of Sigmund Freud, was one of many founders of kid psychoanalysis (Triarhou, 2022). Her work laid the inspiration for our understanding of kid improvement and psychological well being. Her double method emphasised the significance of observing kids of their pure environments to achieve an correct perception into their psychological states (Cirasola & Pretorius, 2024; Freud, 1951; Pretorius, 2011).
In 1941, she opened the Hampstead Warfare nurseries, the place she cared for kids separated from their households by the Second World Warfare (Pretorius, 2011). On the Hampstead nurseries, Anna made key observations on the influence of separation on kids, the significance of routine, the distinctive social dynamics and assist methods that kids kind with one another in addition to the resilience and flexibility that kids can show regardless of the traumatic circumstances of the twond World Warfare (Midgley, 2007). These findings highlighted the significance of understanding kids’s distinctive psychological wants and paved the best way for direct remark as a brand new therapeutic method (Cirasola & Pretorius, 2024). Anna Freud’s findings additionally influenced the general public’s understanding of the significance of parenting and provision for kids, resulting in public insurance policies such because the Certain Begin and Head Begin packages within the UK and USA respectively (Pretorius, 2011).
In 1967, Anna Freud was awarded the Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for her contributions to the sphere of psychoanalysis, notably in baby psychology (Younger-Bruehl, 2008). Her work and emphasis on the significance of early childhood experiences and the position of the household in a baby’s improvement have influenced numerous researchers and practitioners (Sandler, 1980). Her contributions have paved the best way for future psychological well being professionals to make sure that the wants of younger minds are met. Anna Freud, the psychological well being charity named in her honour continues her work and dedication to making a world the place all kids and younger individuals can obtain their full potential (Anna Freud, 2025).
(Picture from Institute of Psychoanalysis)
Professor Mary Ainsworth: Revolutionising Attachment Idea
Professor Mary Ainsworth‘s work on attachment principle modified our understanding of child-parent relationships (Mesman & Emmen, 2013). Her analysis offered the Unusual State of affairs Process, an attachment measurement software nonetheless in use as we speak (Nivison et al., 2025) and a framework for understanding how early relationships affect kids’s social and emotional improvement by introducing the concept of how kids use their moms as a ‘safe base’ from which to discover (van Rosmalen et al., 2016).
Ainsworth developed the Unusual State of affairs Process to watch and classify attachment kinds in kids and recognized three main attachment kinds which might be commonplace in psychiatric observe as we speak: safe, anxious-ambivalent, and anxious-avoidant attachment (Ainsworth & Bell, 1970). The safe attachment type refers to kids who’re assured that their caregiver will meet their wants (Ainsworth & Bell, 1970; Forslund & Duschinsky, 2021). These kids can discover their surroundings and really feel protected. In distinction, kids with the anxious-ambivalent attachment type are very depending on their caregiver, turn out to be distressed after they go away and are troublesome to consolation upon their caregiver’s return (Ainsworth & Bell, 1970; Forslund & Duschinsky, 2021). These kids could alternately resist and search consolation. Lastly, the avoidant attachment type pertains to kids who are inclined to ignore or keep away from their caregiver (Ainsworth & Bell, 1970; Forslund & Duschinsky, 2021). Little emotion is expressed when their caregiver leaves or returns, and so they often don’t search a lot consolation or contact (Forslund & Duschinsky, 2021). Kids with the anxious-avoidant attachment type appear unbiased however could also be suppressing deep emotional wants (Forslund & Duschinsky, 2021).
The findings of the unique Unusual State of affairs Process confirmed the significance of safe attachment between a baby and their caregiver for wholesome emotional improvement. The process has since been used as a gold-standard manner of measuring attachment in younger kids (Granqvist & Duschinsky, 2021). Professor Mary Ainsworth‘s work has formed how we method baby psychological well being by highlighting the vital position of early relationships and emphasising the necessity for supportive and nurturing caregiving environments.
(Picture from The Faculty of New Jersey, Psychology)
Professor Virginia Axline: Innovator of Play Remedy
Professor Virginia Axline innovated inside the observe of play remedy, a therapeutic method that makes use of play to assist kids categorical their emotions and resolve psychological points (Cattanach, 2003b). Her work and introduction of child-centred play remedy as a remedy impacted the best way we ship therapeutic remedy to kids and has had a profound influence on the sphere of kid and adolescent psychological well being.
Little one-centred play remedy, also called non-directive play remedy, is an method developed by Axline that permits kids to steer the remedy session, utilizing play as a medium to specific their feelings and narrate their experiences (Cattanach, 2003a; Garralda, 1990). The effectiveness of this method was illustrated in her well-known case examine “Dibs in Search of Self” (Axline, 1966). The e-book tells the story of Dibs, a younger boy who, by child-centred play remedy, overcomes behavioural and emotional challenges (Axline, 1966). Axline confirmed the transformative energy of play remedy in treating kids’s psychological well being points by the story of Dibs and different case research, and her method remains to be in use nearly sixty years after she first launched it.
Little one-centred play remedy is an efficient intervention for kids with a variety of psychological well being and neurodevelopmental situations reminiscent of anxiousness problems (Hateli, 2022), Consideration-deficit Hyperactivity Dysfunction (ADHD) (Abdollahian et al., 2013) and Autism Spectrum Dysfunction (ASD) (Francis et al., 2022). The method has additionally been efficient in kids dealing with a wide range of adversarial circumstances, reminiscent of homelessness (Baggerly, 2004; Baggerly & Jenkins, 2009) and abuse (Gil, 2012). Professor Axline’s work opened a brand new path of efficient remedy for kids, altering numerous lives of youngsters over the previous six a long time.
(Picture from
Reflections
The pioneering work of Anna Freud CBE, Professor Mary Ainsworth, and Professor Virginia Axline has not solely modified our understanding of kid improvement and psychological well being however has additionally paved the best way for future generations of psychological well being college students and professionals. Their groundbreaking analysis and revolutionary therapeutic approaches have offered immense perception into the distinctive psychological wants of youngsters and adolescents and has proven us the significance of early childhood experiences, safe attachments, and child-centred therapeutic interventions in fostering wholesome emotional improvement.
Worldwide Ladies’s Day gives an opportune second to recognise the outstanding contributions of girls within the subject of kid and adolescent psychological well being. As we mirror on the achievements of the inspiring girls talked about on this weblog, it is very important recognise the numerous girls who dedicate their careers to advancing the sphere of kid and adolescent psychological well being in analysis, remedy and scientific observe. In celebrating the legacies of those trailblazing girls and all girls inside the subject, we reaffirm our dedication to a future the place all kids and younger individuals can obtain their full potential.
NB this weblog has been peer-reviewed
References
- Ainsworth, M. D. S., & Bell, S. M. (1970). Attachment, Exploration, and Separation: Illustrated by the Conduct of One-Yr-Olds in a Unusual State of affairs. Little one Growth, 41(1), 49–67. https://doi.org/10.2307/1127388
- Anna Freud Charity. (2025). Who we’re. https://www.annafreud.org/about/who-we-are
- Axline, V. M. (1966). Dibs seeking self: Character improvement in play remedy. Gollancz.
- Freud, A., & The Institute of Psychoanalysis, T. I. (1992). The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defence. Taylor & Francis Group. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/kcl/element.motion?docID=709572
- Garralda, E. (1990). Play Remedy. By Axline, Virginia M. London: Churchill Livingstone. 1989. 360 pp. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 156(2), 296–296. https://doi.org/10.1192/S0007125000005493
- Mesman, J., & Emmen, R. A. G. (2013). Mary Ainsworth’s legacy: A scientific evaluate of observational devices measuring parental sensitivity. Attachment & Human Growth, 15(5–6), 485–506. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2013.820900
- Sandler, J. (with Kennedy, H., Tyson, R. L., & Freud, A.). (1980). The method of kid psychoanalysis: Discussions with Anna Freud. Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psychoanalysis.
- Sonuga-Barke, E. J. S., Kennedy, M., Kumsta, R., Knights, N., Golm, D., Rutter, M., Maughan, B., Schlotz, W., & Kreppner, J. (2017). Little one-to-adult neurodevelopmental and psychological well being trajectories after adolescence deprivation: The younger grownup follow-up of the longitudinal English and Romanian Adoptees examine. The Lancet, 389(10078), 1539–1548. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30045-4
- Takizawa, R., Maughan, B., & Arseneault, L. (2014). Grownup Well being Outcomes of Childhood Bullying Victimization: Proof From a 5-Decade Longitudinal British Beginning
- Cohort. American Journal of Psychiatry, 171(7), 777–784. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2014.13101401
- Triarhou, L. C. (2022). Anna Freud (1895–1982). In L. C. Triarhou (Ed.), The Mind Masters of Vienna: Psychology and Neuroscience Pioneers across the Secession as much as the Anschluss (pp. 125–129). Springer Worldwide Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13052-6_25
In regards to the creator
Malaika is a Analysis Assistant engaged on the Landscaping Worldwide Longitudinal Datasets (LILD) undertaking, the Exploring the Transmission of experiences of Racism, Nervousness, DEpression in households (TRADE) undertaking and the Catalogue of Psychological Well being Measures. Malaika joined the Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Centre as a analysis assistant in 2022 after finishing a Bachelor of Science in World Well being and Social Drugs – Neuroscience at King’s Faculty London.
