TERMENI KLEINIENI CU BIBLIOGRAFIE

Unconscious phantasy
Definition
In Kleinian theory unconscious phantasies underlie every mental process and accompany all mental activity.
They are the mental representation of those somatic events in the body that comprise the instincts, and are
physical sensations interpreted as relationships with objects that cause those sensations. Phantasy is the
mental expression of both libidinal and aggressive impulses and also of defence mechanisms against those
impulses. Much of the therapeutic activity of psychoanalysis can be described as an attempt to convert
unconscious phantasy into conscious thought.

Freud introduced the concept of unconscious phantasy and phantasising, which he thought of as a
phylogenetically inherited capacity of the human mind. Klein adopted his idea of unconscious phantasy but
broadened it considerably because her work with children gave her extensive experience of the wide-ranging
content of children's phantasies. She and her successors have emphasised that phantasies interact reciprocally
with experience to form the developing intellectual and emotional characteristics of the individual;
phantasies are considered to be a basic capacity underlying and shaping thought, dream, symptoms and
patterns of defence.

Key papers
For full references for Melanie Klein's works visit the 'Melanie Klein's publications' section.

Freud, S. (1911, 1916)

1911 'Formulations on the two principles of mental functioning'. The Standard Edition of the Complete
Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. 12. Hogarth Press (1958). Phantasy functions according to the
pleasure principle, equating 'reality of thought with external actuality, and wishes with their fulfilment'
(p.225). Phantasies are likely to arise when instinctual wishes are frustrated.
1916-17 'The paths to the formation of symptoms', Lecture 23 of Introductory Lectures on
Psychoanalysis in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. 16.
Hogarth Press (1963). Sources of 'primal phantasies' (primal scene, seduction by adults, castration) lie in
instincts and are part of innate, phylogenetic endowment. Phantasy as physical reality.

Klein, M. (1921, 1932a, 1936, 1952 and indeed most of her papers)
Klein does not define phantasy, but stress on it is evident throughout her work with both children and adults.

1921 'The development of a child'. Vivid description of a child's unconscious phantasies accompanying his
reality-based activities.
1936 'Weaning'. Klein's belief that analysis shows phantasies are in the mind of an infant 'almost from
birth'.
1952 'Observations on the behaviour of young infants'. Unconscious knowledge of the breast exists at
birth and in phylogenetic inheritance (p. 117).

Other
1948 Isaacs, S. 'On the nature and function of phantasy', International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 29: 73-
97; republished in M. Klein, P. Heimann, S. Isaacs and J. Riviere (eds.) Developments in Psychoanalysis.
Hogarth Press (1952). Unconscious phantasy defined as the 'mental corollary, the unconscious mental
processes' and described as defence against anxiety.
1962 Bion, W. Learning from Experience. Heinemann. Assumes that individuals are born capable of
'preconceptions' that, if 'realised' in experience, may give rise to 'conceptions'.
1991 Hinshelwood, R. D. A Dictionary of Kleinian Thought, 2nd edition. Free Association Books.
Emphasis on Klein's findings that phantasies may accompany 'realistic' activities. Unconscious phantasies
tacitly express the believe that bodily sensations are caused by internal mental objects. Detailed discussion of
unconscious phantasy in Controversial Discussions, 1941-1945.

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Internal objects
Definition
In essence, the term 'internal object' means a mental and emotional image of an external object that has been
taken inside the self. The character of the internal object is coloured by aspects of the self that have been
projected into it. A complex interaction continues throughout life between the world of internalised figures
and objects and in the real world (which are obviously also in the mind) via repeated cycles of projection and
introjection. The most important internal objects are those derived from the parents, in particular from the
mother or breast into which the infant projects its loving (life instinct) or hating (death instinct) aspects.
These objects, when taken into the self, are thought to be experienced by the infant concretely as physically
present within the body, causing pleasure (good internal part-object breast) or pain (bad internal part-object
breast). The infant's view of the motivation of these objects is based partly on accurate perception by the
infant of the external object and partly on the desires and feelings that the infant has projected into the
external objects: a malevolent desire to cause pain in the bad object and a benevolent desire to give pleasure
in the good object.

Internal objects are experienced as relating to each other within the self. They may be identified with and
assimilated, they may be felt as separate from but at the same time as existing within the self. Within
Kleinian theory the state of the internal object is considered to be of prime importance to the development
and mental health of the individual. The introjection of and identification with a stable good object is crucial
to the ego's capacity to cohere and integrate experience. Damaged or dead internal objects cause enormous
anxiety and can lead to personality disintegration, whereas objects felt to be in a good state promote
confidence and well-being.

Internal objects can exist on several levels. They can be more or less unconscious and more or less primitive.
Infantile internal objects are experienced initially concretely within the body and mind and constitute a
primitive level of the adult psyche, adding emotional influence and force to later perceptions, feelings and
thoughts. Internal objects may be represented to the self in dreams, fantasies and in language.

Internal objects are conceptually confusing in that they are described both from metaphsychological and
phenomenological perspectives. Metapsychologically, the first internal objects are in part a creation of the
life and death instincts, can affect the structure of the ego and are the basis of the superego.
Phenomenologically they are the content of phantasy but of phantasy that has real effects.

The conceptualisation of internal objects is inextricably linked to Klein's theory of the life and death
instincts, her ideas about unconscious phantasy and her theories of the development from the paranoid-
schizoid position to the depressive position within which there is a move from part-object to whole-object
functioning. This means that no single definition can capture this concept.

Key papers
For full references for Melanie Klein's works visit the 'Melanie Klein's publications' section.

1910 Freud, S. 'Leonardo da Vinci and a memory of his childhood'. The Standard Edition of the
Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. 11. Hogarth Press (1958). Freud writes about
Leonardo's identification with his mother.
1914 Freud, S. 'On narcissism: an introduction'. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological
Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. 14. Hogarth Press (1957). The self takes the ego as its love object.
1917 Freud, S. 'Mourning and melancholia'. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of
Sigmund Freud, Vol. 14. Hogarth Press (1957). Ego identified with reproached lost object.

1926 Klein, M. 'The psychological principles of early analsysis'. The introjected mother is distorted by the
child's sadistic impulses.
1927 Klein, M. 'Symposium on child analysis'. 'Imago' differentiated from the original object.
1929 Klein, M. 'Personification in the play of children'. Psychosexual stage influences character of imago.
Extreme characteristics of imagos described.
1932 Klein, M. The Psychoanalysis of Children. Life and death instincts influence the character of the
introjected (part) object.

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1935 Klein, M. 'A contribution to the psychogenesis of manic-depressive states'. Move from part- to
whole-object relating provokes fear of loss of good objects and concern for its preservation. Increasing
understanding of the complexity of the relationship between the external and internal object.
1940 Klein, M. 'Mourning and its relation to manic-depressive states'. Mobilisation of defences against
the loss of the good object. Mourning involves loss of internal as well as internal object.
1942 Heimann, P. 'A contribution to the problem of sublimation and its relation to the process of
internalization', International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 23: 8-17. A clear exposition of the concept with
vivid clinical illustration. Process of assimilation discussed.
1946 Klein, M. 'Notes on some schizoid mechanisms'. Binary splitting of objects necessary for successful
establishment of the good object and essential for healthy development. Binary splitting differentiated from
fragmentation.
1949 Heinmann, P. 'Some notes on the psycho-analytic concept of introjected objects', International
Journal of Psychoanalysis. 22: 8-17. Good exposition of the concept; links to bodily sensation emphasised.
1957 Klein, M. 'Envy and gratitude'. Envy leads to the internalisation of a destructive internal object.
1958 Klein, M. 'On the development of mental functioning'. Restatement of theory with modification in
which extreme primitive internal objects are located in 'deep unconscious' where they remain undisturbed.
1952 Rosenfeld, H. 'Notes on the psycho-analysis of the super-ego conflict of an acute schizophrenic
patient', International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 33: 111-131. Dead or destroyed internal objects function
as 'ego-splitting super-ego'.
1959 Bion, W. 'Attacks on linking', International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 40: 308-315; republished
in Second Thoughts. Heinemann (1967); and in E. Spillius (ed.) Melanie Klein Today, Vol. 1. Routledge.
(1988). Internal object as 'ego-destructive superego'.
1964 Rosenfeld, H. 'On the psychopathology of narcissism: A clinical approach', International Journal
of Psychoanalysis. 45: 332-337. Exploration of omnipotent introjection and identification.
1971 Rosenfeld, H. 'A clinical approach to the psychoanalytic theory of life and death instincts: An
investigation into the aggressive aspects of narcissism', International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 52: 169-
178. Exploration of omnipotent introjection and identification.
2004 Sodré, I. 'Who's who? Notes on pathological identifications'. E. Hargreaves and A. Varchevker
(eds.). In pursuit of Psychic Change. Routledge. Continues the theme of omnipotent introjection of object.

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Paranoid-schizoid position
Definition
The term 'paranoid-schizoid position' refers to a constellation of anxieties, defences and internal and external
object relations that Klein considers to be characteristic of the earliest months of an infant's life and to
continue to a greater or lesser extent into childhood and adulthood. Contemporary understanding is that
paranoid-schizoid mental states play an important part throughout life. The chief characteristic of the
paranoid-schizoid position is the splitting of both self and object into good and bad, with at first little or no
integration between them.

Klein has the view that infants suffer a great deal of anxiety and that this is caused by the death instinct
within, by the trauma experienced at birth and by experiences of hunger and frustration. She assumes the
very young infant to have a rudimentary although unintegrated ego, that attempts to deal with experiences,
particularly anxiety, by using phantasies of splitting, projection and introjection.

The infant splits both his ego and his object and projects out separately his loving and hating feelings (life
and death instincts) into separate parts of the mother (or breast), with the result that the maternal object is
divided into a 'bad' breast (mother that is felt to be frustrating, persecutory and is hated) and a 'good' breast
(mother that is loved and felt to be loving and gratifying). Both the 'good' and the 'bad' objects are then
introjected and a cycle of re-projection and re-introjection ensues. Omnipotence and idealisation are
important aspects of this activity; bad experiences are omnipotently denied whenever possible and good
experiences are idealised and exaggerated as a protection against the fear of the persecuting breast.

This 'binary splitting' is essential for healthy development as it enables the infant to take in and hold on to
sufficient good experience to provide a central core around which to begin to integrate the contrasting
aspects of the self. The establishment of a good internal object is thought by Klein to be a prerequisite for the
later working through of the 'depressive position'.

A different kind of splitting, 'fragmentation', in which the object and/or the self are split into many and
smaller pieces is also a feature of the paranoid-schizoid position. Persistent or enduring use of fragmentation
and dispersal of the self weakens the fragile unintegrated ego and causes severe disturbance.

Klein considers that both constitutional and environmental factors affect the course of the paranoid-schizoid
position. The central constitutional factor is the balance of life and death instincts in the infant. The central
environmental factor is the mothering that the infant receives. If development proceeds normally, extreme
paranoid anxieties and schizoid defences are largely given up during the early infantile paranoid-schizoid
position and during the working through of the depressive position.

Klein holds that schizoid ways of relating are never given up completely and her writing gives the
impression that the positions can be conceptualised as transient states of mind. The paranoid-schizoid
position can be thought of as the phase of development preceding the depressive position as a defence
against it and also as a regression from it.

Key papers
For full references for Melanie Klein's works visit the 'Melanie Klein's publications' section.

The early period

1921 Klein, M. 'The development of a child'. Suggestion that the child protectively splits off an unwanted
part of the mother.
1926 Klein, M. 'The psychological principles of early analysis'. This paper and the one above describe the
child's oral and anal sadistic attacks on the mother as resulting in a persecutory superego (internal mother
imago).
1929 Klein, M. 'Personification in the play of children.'
1930 Klein, M. 'The importance of symbol formation in the development of the ego'. This paper and the
one above explore the child's use of splitting into good and bad and the use of projection as a defence and as
a means of working through internal conflicts and anxieties.

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1932 Klein, M. The Psychoanalysis of Children. Klein adopts Freud's concepts of the life and death
instincts, the deflection of the death instinct and introduces the idea of splitting the id.
1933 Klein, M. 'The early development of conscience in the child'. The splitting of the id is elaborated
(later to become splitting of the ego).

The middle period

1935 Klein, M. 'A contribution to the psychogenesis of manic-depressive states'. The framework of
'positions' is introduced, the depressive position is contrasted with the earlier paranoic phase and a
differentiation made between part- and whole-object relating.
1940 Klein, M. 'Mourning and its relation to manic-depressive states.' Manic defences of idealisation and
denial are elaborated.

The later period

1946 Klein, M. 'Notes on some schizoid mechanisms'. The definitive paper in which the 'paranoid-schizoid'
position is introduced and its anxieties and the defences against them are set out.
1952 Klein, M. 'Some theoretical conclusions regarding the emotional life of the infant'. Good summary
of both paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions. Increasing emphasis on importance of securely
established good object.
1955 Klein, M. 'On identification'. Continued emphasis placed on the importance of a securely established
good object. Projective identification is illustrated.
1957 Klein, M. 'Envy and gratitude'. An expanded description of both the depressive and the paranoid-
schizoid positions; envy is introduced as the expression of the death instinct.
1963 Bion, W. Elements of Psychoanalysis. Heinemann. Ch. 8. Fluctuation between paranoid-schizoid and
depressive positions, symbolised as Ps<–>D.
1987 Steiner, J. 'The interplay between pathological organisations and the paranoid-schizoid and
depressive positions', International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 68: 69-80; republished in E. Spillius (ed.)
_Melanie Klein Today, Vol. 1. Routledge (1988). Movement between the two positions explored.
1998 Britton, R. 'Before and after the depressive position; Ps(n)–>D(n)–>Ps(n+1)'. Belief and
Imagination: Explorations in Psychoanalysis. Routledge. Importance of capacity to fluctuate between the
two positions is emphasised.

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Depressive position
Definition
'Depressive position' is a mental constellation defined by Klein as central to the child's development,
normally first experienced towards the middle of the first year of life. It is repeatedly revisited and refined
throughout early childhood, and intermittently throughout life. Central is the realisation of hateful feelings
and phantasies about the loved object, prototypically the mother. Earlier there were felt to be two separate
part-objects; ideal and loved; persecuting and hated. In this earlier period the main anxiety concerned
survival of the self. In the depressive position anxiety is also felt on behalf of the object.

If the confluence of loved and hated figures can be borne, anxiety begins to centre on the welfare and
survival of the other as a whole object, eventually giving rise to remorseful guilt and poignant sadness,
linked to the deepening of love. With pining for what has been lost or damaged by hate comes an urge to
repair. Ego capacities enlarge and the world is more richly and realistically perceived. Omnipotent control
over the object, now felt as more real and separate, diminishes. Maturation is thus closely linked to loss and
mourning. Recognition of the other as separate from oneself encompasses the other's relationships; thus
awareness of the oedipal situation inevitably accompanies the depressive position. Emerging depressive
anxiety and pain are countered by manic and obsessional defences, and by retreat to the splitting and
paranoia of the paranoid-schizoid position. Defences may be transient or become rigidly established, which
prevents the depressive position from being faced and worked through.

The term 'depressive position' is used in different but related ways. It can refer to the infantile experience of
this developmental integration. More generally it refers to the experience, at any stage of life, of guilt and
grief over hateful attacks and over the damaged state of external and internal objects, varying in level of felt
catastrophe on a scale from normal mourning for loss to severe depression. The term is also loosely used to
refer to 'depressive position functioning', meaning that the individual can take personal responsibility and
perceive him-/herself and the other as separate.

Key papers
For full references for Melanie Klein's works visit the 'Melanie Klein's publications' section.
1927 Klein, M. 'Criminal tendencies in normal children'. First observations of guilt in children after
aggressive attacks.
1929 Klein, M. 'Infantile anxiety-situations reflected in a work of art and in the creative impulse'. Shift
observed from dread of attack to fear of the loved object. First mention of reparation.
1932 Klein, M. The Psychoanalysis of Children. Splitting in order to protect the good object; the
importance of 'restitution' in sublimation.
1933 Klein, M. 'The early development of conscience in the child'. Change in nature of superego from
vengeful to concerned with guilt and moral sense.
1935 Klein, M. 'A contribution to the psychogenesis of manic-depressive states'. First explicit exposition
of the depressive position.
1940 Klein, M. 'Mourning and its relation to manic-depressive states'. Clearer and more developed
exposition.
1945 Klein, M. 'The Oedipus complex in the light of early anxieties'. Important link made between
depressive position and Oedipus complex.
1946 Klein, M. 'Notes on some schizoid mechanisms'. Introduction of the paranoid-schizoid position, with
clearer delineation of the two positions.

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Oedipus complex
Definition
Freud's Oedipus complex, to the fore between ages 3 and 5 years, involves wish-fulfilling fantasies of the
death of the same-sex parent, with usurpation of their place in the couple. Inverse forms are also central. The
boy's fear of castration by the vengeful father and the girl's fear of loss of love lead to the abandonment of
these wishes and to installation of the superego. Freud describes all this at the phallic level.

Klein, like Freud, sees the Oedipus complex as central, but modifies and extends his ideas in her new
conceptions of an earlier Oedipus situation. She postulates infantile preconception with an exciting and
terrifying parental couple, phantasied first as a 'combined figure': the maternal body containing the father's
penis and rival babies.This primitive version of a couple, phantasised as in continuous intercourse, exhibits
sadistic oral, urethral and anal features due to projections of infantile sexuality and sadism. Phantasies about
the maternal body link to Klein's new understandings of primary femininity and both the male and female
Oedipus complexes.

Primitive superego figures develop early, in relation to infantile sadism generally, not simply as a result of
the oedipal situation. The splitting characteristic of paranoid-schizoid functioning [see Paranoid-schizoid
position] facilitates clear and oscillating division of the part-object parents into ideal/loved ones and
denigrated/hated ones. Increasing awareness of whole objects, ambivalently regarded, and the onset of
depressive guilt for attacks lead increasingly to the need to relinquish oedipal desires and to repair the
internal parents, allowing them to come together [see Depressive position]. For Klein, the Oedipus complex
and the depressive position are closely linked.

Key papers
For full references for Melanie Klein's works visit the 'Melanie Klein's publications' section.
1897 Freud, S. Letter 71 from 'Extracts from the Fleiss Papers'. _The Standard Edition of the Complete
Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. 1. Hogarth Press (1966). Freud's first mention of the idea of
the Oedipus complex in a letter to Fleiss.
1923b Klein, M. 'Early analysis'. Klein still using classical model. Oedipal material, often pregenital in its
nature, observed in children. Centrality of phantasies and fears about the 'primal scene'.
1925 Freud, S. 'Some psychical consequences of the anatomical distinction between the sexes'. The
Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. 19. Hogarth Press (1961).
Freud gives for the first time an account of the Oedipus complex that fully lays out the distinction in his view
between male and female oedipal development.

1926 Klein, M. 'The psychological principles of early analysis'. 'Incipient Oediups tendencies' described at
beginning of second year. Early, severe and cruel superego activity.
1927a Klein, M. 'Symposium on child analysis'. Onset of Oedipus complex dated at weaning.
1927b Klein, M. 'Criminal tendencies in normal children'. Oral and anal sadistic impulses contributing to
distorted and frightening versions of sexual intercourse.
1928 Klein, M. 'Early stages of the Oedipus conflict'. Klein's first paper devoted to the Oedipus complex.
Idea of maternal body phantasised by child as site of sexual activity. New conceptions of female sexuality.
1929b Klein, M. 'Infantile anxiety-situations reflected in a work of art and in the creative impulse'.
First explicit mention of the combined parent figure.
1932 Klein, M. The Psychoanalysis of Children. Sexual development of boy and girl further explicated.
1933 Klein, M. 'The early development of conscience in the child'. Superego development uncoupled
from the Oedipus complex. Begins to emphasise the importance of love/hate conflict, using Freud's life and
death instinct concepts.
1935 Klein, M. 'A contribution to the psychogenesis of manic-depressive states'. Begins to see the
Oedipus complex as inextricably linked to the depressive position.
1945 Klein, M. 'The Oedipus complex in the light of early anxieties'. Third and final paper devoted to the
Oedipus complex. Now seen as beginning to be worked through when love comes to the fore, at onset of the
depressive position.
1952 Klein, M. 'Some theoretical conclusions regarding the emotional life of the infant'. Reciprocal and
beneficent relation between Oedipus complex and depressive position.
1957 Klein, M. 'Envy and gratitude'. Deleterious effects of envy on the oedipal situation.

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Projective identification
Definition
Projective identification is an unconscious phantasy in which aspects of the self or an internal object are split
off and attributed to an external object.
The projected aspects may be felt by the projector to be either good or bad. Projective phantasies may or may
not be accompanied by evocative behaviour unconsciously intended to induce the recipient of the projection
to feel and act in accordance with the projective phantasy.
Phantasies of projective identification are sometimes felt to have 'acquisitive' as well as 'attributive'
properties, meaning that the phantasy involves not only getting rid of aspects of one's own psyche but also of
entering the mind of the other in order to acquire desired aspects of his psyche. In this case projective and
introjective phantasies operate together.
Among British Kleinians there is a tacit assumption that 'projection' and 'projective identification' mean the
same thing, and that 'projective identification' is an enrichment or extension of Freud's concept of
'projection'.

Key papers
For full references for Melanie Klein's works visit the 'Melanie Klein's publications' section.

Klein, M. (1946, 1952)

1946 'Notes on some schizoid mechanisms'. Gives a definition but the actual term 'projective identification'
is mentioned only in passing two pages after the definition.
1952 'Notes on some schizoid mechanisms'. This 1952 version gives the same definition as the 1946
version but adds a definitive sentence: 'I suggest for these processes the term "projective identification"'.

Rosenfeld, H. (1947, 1964, 1971)

1947 'Analysis of a schizophrenic state with depersonalization', International Journal of Psychoanalysis.
28: 130-139; republished in Psychotic States. Hogarth Press (1965). First published description of projective
identification in a particular clinical case.
1964 'On the psychopathology of narcissism: a clinical approach', International Journal of
Psychoanalysis. 45: 332-337; republished in Psychotic States. Hogarth Press (1965). In narcissistic states,
identification may be formed both by introjection and projection.
1971 'Contribution to the psychopathology of psychotic states: The importance of projective
identification in the ego structure and the object relations of the patient'. P. Doucet and C. Laurin (eds.)
Problems of Psychosis. Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica; republished in E. Spillius (ed.) Melanie Klein Today,
Vol. 1. Routledge (1988). Motives for projective identification.
Bion, W.R. (1959, 1962)
1959 'Attacks on linking', International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 40: 308-315; republished in Second
Thoughts. Heinemann (1967); and in E. Spillius (ed.) Melanie Klein Today, Vol. 1. Routledge. (1988).
Distinguishes normal and pathological projective identification.
1962 Learning from Experience. Heinemann. Introduces 'container/contained' model of thinking of which
patient's projective identification is an important aspect.

Other
1988 Joseph, B. 'Projective identification: Clinical aspects'. E. Spillius (ed). Melanie Klein Today, Vol. 1.
Routledge; republished in J. Sandler (ed.) Projection, Identification, Projective Identification. Karnac, pp.
65-76; and in Psychic Equilibrium and Psychic Change. Routledge (1989). Lucid clinical description of
projective identification in three patients.
2004 Sodré, I. 'Who's who? Notes on pathological identifications'. E. Hargreaves and A. Varchevker
(eds.). In pursuit of Psychic Change. Routledge. Normality or pathology depends on whether thinking is
concrete or symbolic, not on whether identification is introjective or projective.

Download a transcript of a panel discussion on projective identification with Edna O'Shaugnessy and
Elizabeth Spillius, June 2012
Listen to the discussion on projective identification.

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Superego
Definition
An internal structure or part of the self that, as the internal authority, reflects on the self, makes judgements,
exerts moral pressure and is the seat of conscience guilt and self-esteem. In Kleinian thinking the superego is
composed of a split-off part of the ego into which is projected death instinct fused with life instinct and good
and bad aspects of the primary and also later objects. It acquires both protective and threatening qualities.
The superego and the ego share different aspects of the same objects; they develop in parallel through the
process of introjection and projection. If all goes well the internal objects in both ego and superego, which
are initially extreme, become less so and the two structures become increasingly reconciled.

In Klein’s view the superego starts to form at the beginning of life, rather than with the resolution of the
Oedipus complex, as Freud theorised. The early superego is very severe and in the process of development
becomes less severe and more realistic. In pathological development, the early severe superego does not
become modified and in extreme cases the terrifying and idealised defused aspects of the primary objects are
split off by the ego and banished into an area of deep unconscious. Klein came to think of these defused part-
objects as separate from the superego, whereas others consider them as forming an abnormally destructive
superego. Whether or not considered as superego, these extreme internal objects are thought by Klein and
others to be associated with extreme disturbance and even psychosis. They are considered to be different
from the ordinary early severe superego that is based on predominantly fused instincts capable of
modification.

Debate continues about the degree to which change can occur in the superego, about the exact nature of its
constituent parts and on the question of whether it is best conceptualised as a structure or as a function.

Key papers
For full references for Melanie Klein's works visit the 'Melanie Klein's publications' section.
1923 Freud, S. ‘The ego and the id’. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of
Sigmund Freud, Vol. 19. Hogarth Press (1961). Introduction of the term ‘super-ego’.
1924 Freud, S. ‘The economic problem of masochism’. The Standard Edition of the Complete
Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. 19. Hogarth Press (1961). Relationship between death instinct
and sadistic superego explored.

1926 Klein, M. ‘The psychological principles of early analysis’. Introjected hostile mother described as the
basis of early persecutory superego.
1927a Klein, M. ‘Symposium on child analysis’. Superego thought to be a ‘highly resistant product, at heart
unalterable’.
1927b Klein, M. ‘Criminal tendencies in normal children’. Unconscious guilt linked to the idea of a harsh
superego.
1928 Klein, M. ‘Early stages of the Oedipus complex’. Pregenital stages of superego described.
1929 Klein, M. ‘Personification in the play of children’. Normal supergo thought to consist of multiple
internal (part-) objects’.
1932 Klein, M. ‘Early stages of the Oedipus conflict and of superego formation’. Idea of the superego
originating in the death instinct is introduced.
1933 Freud, S. ‘The dissection of the psychical personality’. The Standard Edition of the Complete
Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. 22. Hogarth Press (1964). Summary of Freud’s views on the
super-ego.
1933 Klein, M. ‘The early development of conscience in the child’. The superego is described as being
formed by a division in the instinctual impulse (death instinct fused with libido) in which one part is directed
against the other.
1934 Strachey, J. ‘The nature of the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis’, International Journal of
Psychoanalysis. 15: 127-159; (1969) International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 50: 275-292. Analyst becomes
an auxiliary superego.
1935 Klein, M. ‘A contribution to the psychogenesis of manic-depressive states’. A description is given
of the defences employed at the threshold of the depressive position to meet the demand for repair from a
persecutory perfectionist and sadistic superego.
1948 Klein, M. ‘On the theory of anxiety and guilt’. Dual aspect of the superego clearly stated.

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1952 Klein, M. ‘Some theoretical conclusions regarding the emotional life of the infant’. Depressive
position thought to modify the extreme severity of the superego.
1952 Rosenfeld, H. ‘Notes on the psychoanalysis of the superego conflict in an acute schizophrenic
patient’, International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 33: 111-131. Terror and guilt provoked by destroyed
internal object.
1957 Klein, M. ‘Envy and gratitude’. Idea of an envious superego introduced.
1958 Klein, M. ‘On the development of mental functioning’. Klein removes the terrifying internal figures
from the superego and places them in the deep unconscious.
1959 Bion, W. ‘Attacks on linking’, International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 40: 308-315; republished
in Second Thoughts. Heinemann (1967); and in E. Spillius (ed.) Melanie Klein Today, Vol. 1. Routledge.
(1988). Idea of ‘ego-destructive superego’.
1962 Bion, W. Learning from experience. Heinemann. Idea of ‘- K’, a kind of ‘super’ ego activity.
1963 Klein, M. ‘On the sense of loneliness’. Loneliness is increased by a harsh superego.
1968 Money-Kyrle, R. ‘Cognitive development’, International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 49: 691-698;
republished in The Collected Papers of Roger Money-Kyrle. Strath Tay: Clunie Press (1978); and in J.
Grostein (ed.) Do I Dare Disturb the Universe? Beverly Hills, CA: Caesura (1981). Harsh superego is a
misconception.
1985 Brenman, E. ‘Cruelty and narrow mindedness’, International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 66: 273-
281; republished in E. Spillius (ed.) Melanie Klein Today, Vol. 1. Routledge (1988). Idealised cruel superego
narrows perception.
1999 O’Shaughnessy, E. ‘Relating to the superego’, International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 80: 861-870.
Differentiation of normal from abnormal superego.
2002 Britton, R. Sex, Death and the Superego. Karnac. Importance of development of judging functions in
the ego.

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Envy
Definition
The definition of envy used by Klein is the angry feeling that another person possesses and enjoys something
else desirable, often accompanied by an impulse to take it away or spoil it. Contemporary writing also
recognises envy as a painful affliction. Klein thinks that envious impulses, oral and anal sadistic in nature,
operate from the beginning of life, initially directed against the feeding breast and then against parental
coitus. She sees envy as a manifestation of primary destructiveness, to some extent constitutionally based,
and worsened by adversity. The attack on the good object leads to confusion between good and bad, and
hence difficulties with depressive position integration. Envy heightens persecution and guilt. Klein came to
see gratitude as an expression of love and thus of the life instinct, and as the antithesis of envy.

Key papers
For full references for Melanie Klein's works visit the 'Melanie Klein's publications' section.
1928 Klein, M. 'Early stages of the Oedipus conflict'. Envy during the early Oedipus complex, manifest as
desire to spoil the mother's possessions.
1932 Klein, M. The Psychoanalysis of Children. A small child's envious attacks on phantasied parental
coitus.
1945 Klein, M. 'The Oedipus complex in the light of early anxieties'. Envy of the mother in the Oedipus
complex of both sexes.
1952 Klein, M. 'The origins of transference'. The prototypical envy-provoking phantasy of the parents
combined in everlasting mutual gratification.
1955 Klein, M. 'On identification'. A literary example showing envy as an important factor in projective
identification.
1957 Klein, M. 'Envy and gratitude'. Klein's seminal paper on envy and gratitude, where the two are first
explicitly paired.
1959 Klein, M. 'Our adult world and its roots in infancy'. A straightforward and comprehensive outline of
the paired concepts of envy and gratitude.

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Symbol formation
Definition
The term 'symbol formation' is used in psychoanalysis to denote a mode of indirect or figurative
representation of a significant idea, conflict or wish. The ability to move on from relating concretely to
archaic objects to relating symbolically to substitute objects (symbols) is both a developmental achievement
and a move made because of the anxieties involved in relating to primal objects. Klein extended the ideas of
both Freud and Jones on symbols, showing in particular the symbolic significance of play and how
sublimation depends on the capacity to symbolise. Segal further developed Klein's theory of symbols,
distinguishing between the symbol proper formed in the depressive position and a more primitive version,
the symbolic equation, belonging to paranoid-schizoid functioning. In the symbolic equation, the symbol is
equated with the thing symbolised.

Key papers
For full references for Melanie Klein's works visit the 'Melanie Klein's publications' section.
1895 Freud, S. and Breuer, J. Studies in Hysteria. Translated from the German and edited by J. Strachey and
A. Strachey. New York: Basic Books (1957). Symptom formation through symbolisation.
1900 Freud, S. The Interpretation of Dreams. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of
Sigmund Freud, Vol. 4. Hogarth Press (1953). The importance of symbolism in dreams.
1916 Jones, E. 'The theory of symbolism', British Journal of Psychology. Vol. 9. 2: 181–229; republished
in Papers on Psychoanalysis. Balliere, Tindall and Cox (1950). Early influential but limited theory of
symbolism, for example distinguishing symbolism from sublimation.
1923a Klein, M. 'The role of the school in the libidinal development of the child'. Learning is inhibited
when words and numbers are imbued with frightening, concrete symbolic significance.
1923b Klein, M. 'Early analysis'. Contrary to Jones, Klein concludes that symbolism is the foundation of all
sublimation.
1929a Klein, M. 'Personification in the play of children'. Symbolisation in play.
1929b Klein, M. 'Infantile anxiety-situations in a work of art and in the creative impulse'.
Symbolisation in play.
1930 Klein, M. The importance of symbol formation in the development of the ego'. Klein's definitive
statement on symbol formation.
1952 Segal, H. 'A psychoanalytic approach to aesthetics', International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 33:
196-207; republished in M. Klein, P. Heimann and R. Money-Kyrle (eds.) New Directions in
Psychoanalysis. Tavistock (1955); and in The Work of Hanna Segal. New York: Jason Aronson (1981). The
link between the aesthetics and the depressive position.
1957 Segal, H. 'Notes on symbol formation', International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 38: 391-397;
republished in The Work of Hanna Segal. New York: Jason Aronson (1981) and in E. Spillius (ed.) Melanie
Klein Today, Vol. 1. Routledge (1988). Landmark paper on symbolisation.
1974 Segal, H. 'Delusion and artistic creativity', International Review of Psychoanalysis. 1: 135-141;
republished in The Work of Hanna Segal. New York: Jason Aronson (1981) and in E. Spillius (ed.) Melanie
Klein Today, Vol. 2. Routledge (1988). Golding's novel The Spire is used to explore some aspects of
creativity.
1979 Segal, H. Postscript to 'Notes on symbol formation'. The Work of Hanna Segal. New York: Jason
Aronson. Segal refines her 1957 symbol theory in terms of Bion's container and contained.

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Kleinian technique
Definition
Technique is a set of prescribed procedures for analyst and patient designed to facilitate making the
unconscious conscious. Consistency and regularity of setting, time boundaries and frequency of sessions are
emphasised, together with the importance of the analyst maintaining a receptive but discriminating attitude
of mind.

Throughout her writing Klein stresses that her work, including her technique, is based on that of Freud, who
describes his essential method with adult patients as involving sessions five or six times a week, use of the
couch and asking patients to 'free associate', that is, to say to the analyst as best they can what they think and
feel, without censorship. His complementary injunction to the analyst is that he should maintain 'evenly
suspended attention' and should avoid looking in the patient's material for what he hopes to find (Freud,
1912).

Klein stresses Freud's concept of transference, meaning the conscious but also unconscious expression of
past and present experiences, relationships, thoughts, phantasies and feelings, both positive and negative, in
relation to the analyst. She particularly emphasises the importance of the negative transference, which she
thinks can be usefully worked with provided it is recognised and understood by the analyst. She emphasises
the role in the transference of the 'total situation' of the patient's past and present experiences. Like Freud she
emphasises the importance of the patient's defences against the recognition of psychic reality. She also
stresses the patient's anxiety as the starting point for the analyst's understanding of the patient's unconscious
phantasies and she regards the analyst's interpretation as the main tool of analytic therapy.
Although Klein agrees in general with Freud's idea of the life and death instincts, in her technical approach
she is more concerned with the specific content of instinctual drives than with their abstract
conceptualisation. Clinical observation is her starting point and her special gift. In her work, observation and
ideas interact with each other to engender new observations and further theories. Thus for Klein technique
and clinical content are closely linked and interactive, and she does not attempt to describe technique in
purely abstract terms without accompanying clinical content.
Further developments in technique have been made during and since Klein's work by Strachey, Racker,
Rosenfeld, Bion, Segal, Joseph and others. There have been two main types of change. First, there is
the increased focus on the analyst-patient relationship as the main source of information about the patient, in
contrast to the former view as the patient as an isolated entity who could be observed from an outside
'objective' perspective. Second, in contrast to Freud and Klein there has been a developing view that the
analysts countertransference can in certain circumstances be a useful source of information about the patient.
These two main trends of change in technique have been accompanied by other less major changes,
including a number of useful terminological distinctions.

Key papers
For full references for Melanie Klein's works visit the 'Melanie Klein's publications' section.
1932 Klein, M. The Psychoanalysis of Children. The climax of Klein's early theory of child development,
including the play technique (see Child analysis).
1934 Strachey, J.'The nature of the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis', International Journal of
Psychoanalysis. 15: 127-159; (1969) International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 50: 275-292. Very influential
paper on the analyst/patient relationship and role of the 'mutative interpretation' in psychic change.
1943 Klein, M. 'Memorandum on technique' (not published until 1991). Succinct statement about
importance of transference; first mention of 'situations'.
1950 Heimann, P. 'On counter-transference', International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 31: 81-84. A
description of the analyst's countertransference as 'the patient's creation'.
1952 Klein, M. 'The origins of transference'. Klein's technique with adults; transference based on infantile
object relations; idea of 'total situation'.
1956 Money-Kyrle, R. 'Normal counter-transference and some of its deviations', International Journal of
Psychoanalysis. 37: 360-366; republished in The Collected Papers of Roger Money-Kyrle. Strath Tay:
Clunie Press (1978). Further description and ideas about analyst-patient relationship and role of
countertransference in it.
1962 Bion, W. Learning from Experience. Heinemann. Theory of container/contained.

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1964 Rosenfeld, H. 'On the psychopathology of narcissism: A clinical approach', International Journal
of Psychoanalysis. 45: 332-337; republished in _Psychotic States. Hogarth Press (1965). Differentiates
'libidinal' from 'destructive' narcissism and describes ways of analysing the destructiveness of both.
1967 Bion, W. 'Notes on memory and desire', Psycho-Analytic Forum. 2: 272-273, 279-280; republished
in E. Spillius (ed.) Melanie Klein Today, Vol. 2. Routledge (1988). Focus on memory and desire detracts
from attention to immediate interaction between patient and analyst in the present.
1971 Rosenfeld, H. 'A clinical approach to the psychoanalytic theory of the life and death instincts: An
investigation into the aggressive aspects of narcissism', International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 52: 169-
178; republished in E. Spillius (ed.) Melanie Klein Today, Vol. 1. Routledge (1988). Differentiates 'libidinal'
from 'destructive' narcissism and describes ways of analysing the destructiveness of both.
1985 Brenman Pick, I. 'Working through in the countertransference', International Journal of
Psychoanalysis. 66: 157-166; republished in E. Spillius (ed.) Melanie Klein Today, Vol. 2. Routledge (1988).
Work to develop understanding of own countertransference is essential for understanding the patient.
1985 Joseph, B. 'Transference: The total situation', International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 66: 447-454;
republished in E. Spillius (ed.) Melanie Klein Today, Vol. 2. Routledge (1988); and in Psychic Equilibrium
and Psychic Change. Routledge (1989). Definition of 'total situation' with illustrations.
1987 Rosenfeld, H. Impasse and Interpretation. Tavistock. 'Thin-skinned' and 'thick-skinned' narcissistic
patients.
1989 Britton, R. 'The missing link: Parental sexuality in the Oedipus complex'. R. Britton, M. Feldman
and E. O'Shaughnessy (eds.) The Oedipus Complex Today: Clinical Implications. Karnac. Concept of
'triangular space'.
1989 Joseph, B. Psychic Equilibrium and Psychic Change. Routledge. Joseph develops strong focus on the
immediate relationship between patient and analyst in the present.
1992 O'Shaughnessy, E. 'Enclaves and excursions', International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 73: 606-611.
Need for analysts to analyse relationships with patients that create enclaves or excursions, which avoid
tackling the psychic situations that need to be analytically addressed.
1993 Steiner, J. 'Problems of psychoanalytic technique: Analyst-centred and patient-centred
interpretations'. Psychic Retreats. Routledge.

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Child analysis
Early thoughts on child analysis
The emotional development of children was of considerable interest from the earliest days of psychoanalysis,
and Freud’s ‘Little Hans’ case is probably the most famous example of early work with children. It is
probable that many of the group around Freud were young parents with concerns about their own children,
and who would have wished that they could have the same kind of help as Little Hans was receiving.
However, it was not until after the First World War that the first children became subjects of analytic
treatment in their own right.
The challenge of analysing children
It was obvious that children could not be expected to manage an adult psychoanalytic setting of the couch
and free associations and this was going to be a considerable problem. Other pioneers, in particular Anna
Freud, felt at that time that children under the age of seven could not be helped directly, because before that
age they could not co-operate with the adult technique.

Klein's approach
To overcome these challenges, Klein developed a technique in which children could express themselves
through toys and play. She wanted, as far as possible, to be able to analyse children in the same way that
adults were analysed, paying attention to the meaning of the play, the transference and the unconscious
phantasies being expressed.
Instead of the child being expected to lie on the couch and bring verbal associations, the analyst would have
a simple playroom with a box or drawer of his own containing play material such as paper, crayons, string, a
ball, small cups, a sink with taps and small figures that a child could manipulate easily and would not be too
representative, giving maximum opportunity for the child's own imagination to be expressed.
The child would then be free to use the materials, the room and the analyst himself as he wished, including
the analyst being drawn in to play different roles - for example, being the naughty child while the child
became the strict teacher.
In current practice, the basic setting and approach to child analysis is still largely as Melanie Klein described
it.
It is interesting to notice how accessible child analytic material is to non-child analysts, whilst the superficial
characteristics of the setting are so different. However, once we see adult material as consisting of a constant
process of action through words, that it is not so much that children are like little adults in their analyses, but
rather that adults in analysis continue to be children, then it is not so mysterious.

Child analysis and its impact on Klein’s theories

Using this technique of child analysis was of enormous importance in the development of Melanie Klein's
theories, and especially on her emphasis of the importance of infantile experience in disturbance of later life.
In The Psychoanalytic Play Technique (1955, p122), Klein states that:
“….my work with both children and adults, and my contributions to psycho-analytic theory as a whole,
derive ultimately from the play technique evolved with young children. I do not mean by this that my later
work was a direct application of the play technique; but the insight that I gained into early development, into
unconscious processes, and into the nature of the interpretations by which the unconscious can be
approached, has been of far-reaching influence on the work I have done with older children and adults.”

Training in child analysis

Over the years many psychoanalysts from The Institute of Psychoanalysis also trained as child analysts and
indeed during the 1950s about half the members were also child psychoanalysts the majority of whom had
trained in the Melanie Klein technique. This is a measure of how cutting-edge child analysis was felt to be at
that time. Now these findings from child analysis have moved into the adult field and there are fewer child
analysts though still a significant number and there is still a training at The Institute of Psychoanalysis which
recently has become more popular again.
In the late 1940s Esther Bick, with the support of John Bowlby, founded the child psychotherapy training at
the Tavistock Clinic. Bick wanted to see if child analytic work could be brought to the new National Heath
Service and convinced Melanie Klein that it was possible to conduct authentic psychoanalytic therapy for
children seen with less frequency than the five times weekly treatments. Melanie Klein found this quite
convincing and so with her blessing the first training using her technique was started. The training has been
led at different times by other internationally known child analysts and child psychotherapists Martha Harris,

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Donald Meltzer, Gianna Williams, Anne Alvarez and Margaret Rustin to name but a few. It has continued
ever since and is now the largest child psychotherapy training in the UK.
Later the wish to spread child analytic work beyond London led first to Edinburgh with the training of the
Scottish Institute of Human Relations and more recently the Northern School of Child and Adolescent
Psychotherapy and the Birmingham Trust for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. There are also many trainings
in psychoanalytic institutes and child psychotherapy organisations all over the world using Melanie Klein’s
technique.
Robin Anderson
Listen to Betty Joseph talking about the use of play in child psychoanalysis

Key papers
List of key papers courtesy of The New Dictionary of Kleinian Thought by Elizabeth Bott Spillius, Jane
Milton, Penelope Garvey, Cyril Couve and Deborah Steiner. For full references visit the 'Melanie Klein's
publications' section.
1921 Klein, M. 'The development of a child'. The hallmarks of Klein's work are already apparent in her
acceptance of speech, play, actions and dreams as expressive of the child's unconscious mind.
1923a Klein, M. 'The role of the school in the libidinal development of the child'. Klein observes the
inhibitory effects of aggressive phantasies. The use of a play technique yields more material for analysis
[Felix aged 13; Fritz 5; Grete 9].
1923b Klein, M. 'Early analysis'. Klein presents issues such as anxiety, inhibitions, symptoms and symbol
formation. She introduces her ideas about the early Oedipus complex and the resolution of oedipal anxieties
as enabling development [Felix, Fritz, Grete].
1925 Klein, M. 'A contribution to the psychogenesis of tics'. The tic is traced back to masturbatory
anxieties involving identification with combined parents in intercourse, as a central factor in the formation of
the superego.
1926 Klein, M. 'The psychological principles of early analysis'. Early sadism and its relation to the early
stages of the Oediups complex and the formation of the superego [Trude 3¼; Rita 2½; Ruth 4¼].
1927a Klein, M. 'Criminal tendencies in normal children'. A cruel superego operates differently from the
more normal conscience. Increasing interest in the conflict between love and hate [Gerald 4; Peter 3¾ and an
unnamed boy aged 12].
1927b Klein, M. 'Symposium on child analysis' Klein argues the need to interpret from the start the
positive and negative transference.
1928 Klein, M. 'The early stages of Oedipus complex'. The early onset of the Oedipus complex at this
stage is linked to weaning, when oral and anal sadistic impulses predominate. The pain, hatred and anxiety
that such impulses engender are stressed.
1929a Klein, M. 'Personification in the play of children'. Children's games originate from internal images,
and processes of splitting and projection involved in playing serve as a defence against anxiety. These
processes involve the transference of inner figures onto the analyst [Erna 6; George 6; Rita 2½].
1930 Klein, M. 'The importance of symbol formation in the development of the ego'. Klein clarifies the
underlying causes of childhood psychosis. She shows that contact can be made with a psychotic child who
did not develop a capacity to symbolise and who showed no emotion of any kind [Dick 4].
1931 Klein, M. 'A contribution to the theory of intellectual inhibition'. Further exploration of the child's
anxieties about sadistic attacks on the mother's body, representing the source of life and knowledge, and
consequent inhibition of curiosity and learning [John 7].
1932 Klein, M. 'The technique of early analysis'. Klein describes her play technique [Peter 3¼: Rita 2½:
Trude 3¼: Ruth 4¼].
1932 Klein M. 'An obsessional neurosis in a six year old girl'. Erna was a very disturbed child who
suffered from sleeplessness, obsessional symptoms and severe learning inhibition [Erna].
1932 Klein, M. 'The technique of analysis in the latency period'. Variations in Klein's technique with
different children, for example the use of the couch and toys [Grete 9; Inge 7; Kenneth 9½; Werner; Egon
9½].
1945 Klein, M. 'The Oedipus complex in the light of early anxieties'. Development and modification of
hear earlier statement on the Oedipus complex [Richard 10; Rita 2½].
1955 Klein, M. 'The psychoanalytic play technique, its history and significance'. An account of the
particular discovery that each child case enabled her to make.
1961 Klein, M. Narrative of a Child Analysis. This detailed account of Klein's analysis of Richard, aged 10,
comprises the whole of Volume 4 of The Writings of Melanie Klein.

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 Reparation
Definition
Reparation is integral to the depressive position. It is grounded in love and respect for the separate other, and
involves facing loss and damage and making efforts to repair and restore one's objects. Effective reparation
involves a type and degree of guilt that is not so overwhelming as to induce despair, but can engender hope
and concern. Reparation itself provides a way out of despair, by promoting virtuous cycles rather than
vicious cycles in states of depression. It is a significant root in all creative activity and indeed a central part
of development.

Key papers
For full references visit the 'Melanie Klein's publications' section.
1922 Klein, M. 'Inhibitions and difficulties at puberty'.
1927 Klein, M. 'Criminal tendencies in normal children'.
1929 Klein, M. 'Infantile anxiety situations reflected in a work of art and in the creative impulse'.
1940 Klein, M. 'Mourning and its relation to manic-depressive states'.
1945 Klein, M. 'The Oedipus complex in the light of early anxieties'.

Three papers on reparation

The concept is explored in this series of three papers, which were presented during the seminar ‘Facing the
Pain of Crimes and their Reparation’ at the 48th International Psychoanalytical Association congress,
Prague, in 2013.

Download the papers:

• Melanie Klein's Discovery of Reparation, by Claudia Frank

• Waiting for a Concept, by Edna O'Shaughnessy
• Primitive Reparation and the Repetition Compulsion in the Analysis of a Borderline Patient, by Heinz Weiss

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