THE FUSE

The observations of Sigmund and Anna Freud about the mind fortifying itself with psychological “defenses” were spot-on. While his language (for it was initially his) may evoke images of insiders battling against outsiders, Freud’s main concern was conflict within the mind. Aware that the mind presented different features (conflict requires more than one party), Freud theorized a semi-personified, three-part model of mind. One part, the ego (“I” in English) used defense mechanisms to manage conflicts between the other two parts, the primitive, desirous, selfish id (“it”) and the judging, socially inhibiting superego (“above it”).