ABSTRACT
Anna Ornstein was born on 27 January 1927 in Szendro. She lived in her hometown until 1944 when she and her family were deported to Auschwitz after Nazi Germany occupied her country. Together with her mother, Anna survived several concentration camps while her older brothers as well as her father died in Auschwitz. A. Ornstein is a member of numerous psychoanalytic organizations, she is the founding member of the International Council for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. A. Ornstein brings out very clearly Freud’s concepts of the latency phase – i.e., the overcoming of the Oedipus Complex – what consolidates in this concept a well functioning superego and defense mechanisms. A. Ornstein emphasizes the importance of play within every psychotherapeutic concept. A. Ornstein emphasizes the importance of the child’s play so that the therapist can receive insight in the inner world of a child regardless of whether the perceived feelings are conscious or unconscious.
