Although the ego tends to get a bad rap (We call someone overbearing 'egotistical'), most emotional problems are characterized by a weak ego that is unable to balance rationality and emotions.

The ego functions as the personality's traffic cop, garbage collector, and courts. These are the 'secondary drives.' The ego is the referee that mediates the id and the superego and tries to satisfy their needs in the real world. This often involves creating a plan to reach those goals and more refined (creative) sources of pleasure. The ego is willing to delay gratification. The ego operates on 'the reality principle.' One of the main functions of the ego is 'reality testing.' The ego asks 'Is this true? Is this possible? Is this what I want or at least taking me in the right direction?' The ego takes the primary drives of the id and creates steps to satisfy those emotional or physical needs. The ego is at the center of the mature personality. The id can make its desires known to the ego and the conscious mind through emotions, dreams, fantasies. The id relies on the ego to interpret and fulfill the id's needs. It can be irrational and nonverbal, and it can be self destructive and self contradictory. The 'primary processes' are the id's attempts to have its way whenever it wants, without a moral sense or logic to guide it. The libido is the biological need for warmth, sex, food and other basic needs. The id operates on 'the pleasure principle,' which seeks to avoid anxiety and pain. It is present from birth and has little sense of external reality. In someone with neurosis or personality disorders, rapid mood changes are often seen as the different parts of the personality fight for control. When someone's personality is not fully developed, we often see the id, ego, and superego in a tug of war, and the personality seems to be fragmented in a very real sense. The personality is most likely to reach a balanced state of mental well-being if the individual has had a decent childhood, education, and opportunities for personal growth. Studying these mental structures and behaviors in personality disorders help us understand the same behaviors as they occur in healthier people.

While some of Freud's work is obsolete, the concept of id, ego, and superego are key to our understanding of the Cluster B personality disorders, which affect about 10% of the population and account for much of the crime, abuse, and drug addiction in America. These are different aspects of the personality, and mental health largely consists of the integrated and harmonious functioning of these parts of the personality. One of Freud's many contributions to the study of human psychology is the concept of the id, ego, and superego.

Ego superego and id