Ego, Hunger and Aggression: A Revision of Freud's Theory and Method
Also known as Ego, Hunger and Aggression, Ego, Hunger, and Aggression, Ego, Hunger, and Aggression: The Beginning of Gestalt Therapy
Fritz Perls' first book, written in South Africa: the seeds of gestalt therapy
At a glance
What it argues
Oral aggression, Assimilation, not introjection
See all 2Key ideas
The hunger instinct, Discover, don't be interpreted, Holism
See all 3Criticism and limits
Uncredited co-author
Read next
Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality, Gestalt Therapy Verbatim
See all 2Connections
Fritz Perls, Laura Perls and 2 others
See all 4
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Perls' first book, written in South Africa and first published in 1942.
- It revises Freud by putting assimilation, not introjection, at the center of growth.
- It uses eating as its model: a child with teeth can bite, chew, taste and accept or reject.
- Experience should be chewed and assimilated, not swallowed whole.
- It contains the seeds of gestalt therapy's theory.
Why it matters
- For anyone learning gestalt therapy who wants to see how it grew out of psychoanalysis, and where its idea of the client discovering rather than being interpreted comes from.
Key facts
- Authors
- Fritz Perls; Laura Perls wrote two chapters but was not credited when it was republished in the United States1
- Published
- 1942 in South Africa; republished 19471
- Editions
- Knox Publishing, Durban; G. Allen and Unwin, London (1947); Random House, New York (1969, subtitled The Beginning of Gestalt Therapy); Gestalt Journal Press (1992)3
- Pages
- 273 (1947 London edition)3
- Origin
- Based in part on Perls' 1936 paper on oral resistances, which met with "deep disapproval" at a psychoanalytic congress2
What it argues
Key ideas
-
The hunger instinct3
Introduces the "hunger instinct", "oral aggression" and "oral resistance".
-
Discover, don't be interpreted2
The client should taste their own experience and accept or reject it, instead of taking in the analyst's interpretations.
-
Holism1
Written while Perls was influenced by the holism of Jan Smuts in South Africa.
Criticism and limits
-
Uncredited co-author1
Laura Perls contributed two chapters but was not credited when the book was republished in the United States.
Read next
-
Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality
The 1951 book where these ideas became gestalt therapy.
-
Perls at work twenty-five years later, in transcripts.
Connections
Written by
- Fritz PerlsPerson
- Laura PerlsWrote two chapters, uncredited in the US edition
Links
Sources
Last checked against its sources today
Is something on this page wrong or out of date? Tell us
The line under a date fills as time passes: empty when new, then one equal share each for a day, a week, a month and a year. For episodes and other items it is full at 2 years; for "last checked", at a year. A striped line means the date is known only to the month or year.