Introducing Melanie Klein

This book briliantly explains Klein's work, describing the startling discoveries that raised such opposition at the time. Now Klein's ideas are being recognized for their explanatory power, and her concepts of the depressive and paranoid-schizoid positions are in common usage.

A most lucid and comprehensive introduction to Kleinian theories from one of the leading contemporary Kleinian analysts, including new chapters on her early work and on technique. This is a reprint of a revised and enlarged edition, where the author has added important new chapters on Melanie Klein's early work and on technique, as well as a complete chronological list of her publications.

Melanie Klein: The Basics provides an accessible and concise introduction to the life and work of Melanie Klein, whose discoveries advanced those of Freud and other analysts, deepening our insight into the unconscious domain of psychology in human beings. Klein began her work by developing a method of psychoanalysis for children, who suffer from anxiety and other, often unrecognised, conflicts, which enabled understanding of those crucial early steps in the development of human mind and identity. Although she initiated one strand of clinical and theoretical developments, many of her discoveries are well-regarded by other schools of psychoanalysis. The book contains four parts, as well as further reading suggestions and a helpful glossary of key terms. Part I introduces Melanie Klein in the context of her life, her early interest in psychoanalysis and her first discoveries; Part II takes up the development of her technique of child analysis and discusses the ways in which her insights and conclusions in this area influenced the technique of adult analysis and the more general understanding of the human mind; Part III focuses on further scientific and clinical developments in psychoanalytic technique – especially those referring to the understanding and treatment of serious emotional disturbance, e.g. psychosis or affective disorders; Part IV focuses on contemporary developments in Kleinian and post-Kleinian psychoanalysis, considering clinical, cultural, and socio-political applications. Each chapter poses a basic question at the outset, provides an account of how Klein faced this question and worked with it to develop her ideas, and ends by posing a follow up question to be addressed in the subsequent chapter. This book will greatly appeal to readers from any field seeking a clear and concise introduction to Melanie Klein. It will also interest researchers and professionals working within the field of psychoanalysis seeking a succinct overview of Melanie Klein’s contribution.

Gathers writings by the Viennese psychoanalyst concerning infant analysis, Oedipal conflicts, anxiety situations, symbol formation, and envy.

Melanie Klein (1882-1960) was a pioneer of child analysis whose work with children enabled her to gain insight on the deepest states of the mind and thus to make a fundamental contribution to psychoanalytic theory. A pupil and follower of Freud, she investigated what he called "the dim and shadowy era" of early childhood, developing theories and techniques which, although they remain controversial, have had a profound influence not only on clinical psychoanalysis but also on fields outside it. Her understanding of the paranoid-schizoid mechanisms and of the role of envy extended the range of patients who can be psychoanalyzed, to include those suffering from borderline states between neurosis and psychosis. And her work shed light on the psychological basis of ethics, on theories of thinking, on group relations, and on aesthetics. The author worked with Melanie Klein and is now one of Britain's leading psychoanalysts. She traces the development of Klein's ideas within a biographical framework, describing the importance of her work and portraying her as a woman of great warmth and exceptional insight.

INTRODUCING guide to the pioneering child psychoanalyst. Born in Vienna in 1882, Melanie Klein became a pioneer in child psychoanalysis and developed several ground-breaking concepts about the nature and crucial importance of the early stages of infantile development. Although she was a devoted Freudian, many of her ideas were seen within the psychoanalytic movement as highly controversial, and this led to heated conflicts, particularly with Freud's daughter, Anna. Introducing Melanie Klein brilliantly explains Klein's ideas, and shows the importance of her startling discoveries which raised such opposition at the time and are only now being recognized for their explanatory power. Her concepts of the depressive position and the paranoid-schizoid position are now in common usage and her work has to be taken seriously by psychoanalysts the world over. She is also now important in many academic fields within the human sciences.

Lectures on Technique by Melanie Klein is based on a series of six lectures given by Melanie Klein to students at the British Psychoanalytical Society in 1936 and repeated several times in subsequent years. They were discovered in the Melanie Klein Archives housed in the Wellcome Medical Library and have been previously described by Elizabeth Spillius but never before published. In this book, John Steiner explores what characterises Kleinian Technique, how her technique changed over the years, what she saw as the correct psychoanalytical attitude and how psychoanalytic technique has changed since Klein’s death. Melanie Klein, who moved to England from Berlin in 1927, became one of the leading psychoanalysts, following Freud and making an important contribution in the theory and practice of psychoanalysis. A pioneer in child analysis, her work remains widely influential throughout the world. This book consists of the full text of the original six lectures, accompanied by a critical analysis from John Steiner who is known internationally as a leading Kleinian analyst and writer. Steiner demonstrates the importance of the lectures in understanding Klein’s work and their continued relevance for contemporary psychoanalysis. In addition, also published for the first time, this book includes annotated transcripts of a preserved recording of a seminar Klein held in 1958 with young analysts of the British Psychoanalytical Society. In this seminar, close to the end of her life, many of the points made in the earlier lectures were elaborated upon and brought further up to date in light of developments in Klein’s thinking during the intervening years. Featuring rare, previously unpublished material, Lectures on Technique by Melanie Klein provides a new and significant contribution to understanding of the Kleinian paradigm. It will be essential reading for all psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists interested in and influenced by Klein’s work and legacy.