NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Melanie Klein

Melanie Klein (March 30, 1882 – September 22, 1960) was an Austrian-born British psychoanalyst, who devised therapeutic techniques for children with great impact on contemporary methods of child care and rearing. March 30 is the 89th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (90th in leap years). ... Year 1882 (MDCCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... September 22 is the 265th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (266th in leap years). ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... Psychoanalysis is a family of psychological theories and methods based on the work of Sigmund Freud. ...

Born in Vienna of Jewish parentage^[1], Melanie Klein first sought psychoanalysis for herself with Sandor Ferenczi when he was living in Budapest during World War I. There she became a psychoanalyst and began analysing children in 1919. In 1921 she moved to Berlin where she studied with and was analysed by Karl Abraham. Although Abraham supported her pioneering work with children, neither Klein nor her ideas received much support in Berlin. However, impressed by her innovative work, British psychoanalyst Ernest Jones invited Klein to come to London in 1926, where she worked until her death in 1960. Vienna (German: , see also other names) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... Psychoanalysis is a family of psychological theories and methods based on the work of Sigmund Freud. ... Sándor Ferenczi 1873-1933 was a Hungarian psychoanalyst who came to believe that his patients accounts of sexual abuse as children were truthful, having verified those accounts through other patients in the same family. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... â€œThe Great War â€ redirects here. ... Psychoanalysis is the revelation of unconscious relations, in a systematic way through an associative process. ... Berlin is the capital city and one of the sixteen states of the Federal Republic of Germany. ... Karl Abraham (3 May 1877 - 25 December 1925) was an early German psychoanalyst, and a correspondent of Sigmund Freud. ... Berlin is the capital city and one of the sixteen states of the Federal Republic of Germany. ... Ernest Jones (1879-1958) was arguably the best-known follower of Sigmund Freud. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

As a divorced woman whose academic qualifications consisted of a teaching degree, Klein was a visible iconoclast within a profession dominated by male physicians. Although she questioned some of the fundamental assumptions of Sigmund Freud, Klein always considered herself a faithful adherent to Freud's ideas. Klein was the first person to use traditional psychoanalysis with young children. She was innovative in both her techniques (such as working with children using toys) and her theories in infant development. Stongly opinionated, and demanding loyalty from her followers, Klein established a highly influential training progam in psychoanalysis. Considered one of the cofounders of object relations theory, Klein and her followers have had a lasting influence upon child psychology and psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud (born Sigismund Schlomo Freud) May 6, 1856 â€“ September 23, 1939; (IPA: ) was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who co-founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... In psychodynamics, Object relations theory is the idea that the ego-self exists only in relation to other objects, which may be external or internal. ...

Apart from her successful introduction of triumphant psychoanalytic concepts, Melanie Klein’s life was full of tragic events. She was the product of an unwanted birth - her parents showed her little affection. Her much loved elder sister died when Klein was four, and she was made to feel responsible for her brother’s death. Her academic studies were interrupted by marriage and children. Her marriage failed and her son died, while her daughter, the well-known psychoanalyst Melitta Schmideberg, fought her openly in the British Psycho-analytic Society and emigrated to America. Mother and daughter were not reconciled before Klein's death, and Schmideberg did not attend Klein's funeral. Melanie Klein was also clinically depressed.

Klein's theoretical work gradually centered on a highly speculative hypothesis propounded by Freud, which stated that life may be an anomaly, that it is drawn toward an inorganic state, and therefore, in an unspecified sense, contains an instinct to die. In psychological terms Eros, the sustaining and uniting principle of life, is thereby postulated to have a companion force, Thanatos, which seeks to terminate and disintegrate life. An anomaly is something which deviates from the standard or expected. ... Inorganic chemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the properties and reactions of inorganic compounds. ... In Freudian psychology, Eros is the life instinct innate in all humans. ... Look up Thanatos in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Freud’s ideas concerning children mostly came from working with adult patients but Klein tried to allow children to express their own emotion. Klein took notice of children’s play as a mode of communication and took it into consideration as a possible site of therapeutic intervention. After observing troubled children play with toys such as dolls, animals, plasticine, pencil and paper, Klein attempted to interpret the specific meaning of play. She discovered that parental figures played a significant role to the child’s fantasy life and that the chronology of Freud’s Oedipus complex was imprecise. Contradicting Freud, she concluded that the superego was present long before the Oedipal phase.

Examining ultra-aggressive fantasies of hate, envy, and greed in very young, very ill children, Melanie Klein put forth the interpretation that the human psyche is in a constant oscillation depending on whether Eros or Thanatos is in the fore. She calls the state of the psyche, when the sustaining principle of life is in domination, the depressive position. The psychological state corresponding to the disintegrating tendency of life she gives the name the paranoid-schizoid position. Aggression is sometimes used to intimidate and coerce during extremely rigorous physical training. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... This article needs to be wikified. ...

Melanie Klein's insistence on regarding aggression as an important force in its own right when analysing children brought her into conflict with Anna Freud, the other major child psychotherapist working in England at the time. Many controversies arose from this conflict. Anna Freud (December 3, 1895 - October 9, 1982) was the sixth and last child of Sigmund and Martha Freud. ...

Literature

Ronald Britton, (2003), "Sex, Death and the Superego", Karnac Books Jason Aronson is a publisher of books of jewish interest, including titles covering Jewish life, history, theology, genealogy, folklore, holidays, and Hasidic thought. ...

External links

Notes

Attachment theory

Attachment in children | Attachment in adults | Attachment measures | Attachment disorder | Reactive attachment disorder | Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy | Theraplay | Object relations theory | Affectional bond | Human bonding The Dictionary of National Biography (or DNB) is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history. ... Attachment theory is a psychological theory about the evolved adaptive tendency to maintain proximity to an attachment figure. ... Attachment in children deals with the theory of attachment between children and their caregivers. ... Attachment in adults deals with the theory of attachment in adult romantic relationships. ... Attachment measures refer to the various procedures used to assess attachment in children and adults. ... // Introduction Attachment disorder is based on the psychological theories that 1) normal mother-child attachment forms in the first two years of life and 2) if a normal attachment is not formed during the first two to three years, attachment can be induced later. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Attachment disorder. ... Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy is an evidence-based treatment(1) approach for the treatment of attachment disorder, reactive attachment disorder, and complex trauma. ... Theraplay is an play therapy which has intention of helping parents and children build better attachment relationships through attachment-based play. ... In psychodynamics, Object relations theory is the idea that the ego-self exists only in relation to other objects, which may be external or internal. ... In psychology, the term affectional bond is a type of attachment behavior one individual has for another individual, typically a mother for her child, in which the two partners tend to remain in proximity to one another. ... The term human bond, or more generally human bonding, refers to the process or formation of a close personal relationship, as between a parent and child, especially through frequent or constant association. ...

Notable Theorists: Mary Ainsworth | John Bowlby | Erik Erikson | Sigmund Freud | Jerome Kagan | Melanie Klein Mary Ainsworth (December 1913 - 1999) was an American developmental psychologist known for her work in early emotional attachment with The Strange Situation as well as her work in the development of Attachment Theory. ... John Bowlby (1907 - 1990) was a British developmental psychologist in the psychoanalytic tradition, notable for his pioneering work in attachment theory. ... Erik Erikson June 15, 1902 - May 12, 1994 Erik Homburger Erikson (June 15, 1902 â€“ May 12, 1994) was a German developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on social development of human beings, and for coining the phrase identity crisis. ... Sigmund Freud (born Sigismund Schlomo Freud) May 6, 1856 â€“ September 23, 1939; (IPA: ) was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who co-founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. ... Jerome Kagan (born 1929) was one of the key pioneers of developmental psychology. ...