terms das Es, Ich, and Über-Ich, which literally translate as "the it", "I", and "over-I". The Latin terms id, ego and superego were chosen by his original translators and have remained in use.

The structural model was introduced in Freud's essay Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920) and further refined and formalised in later essays such as The Ego and the Id (1923). Freud developed the model in response