Melanie Klein

Short bio

• Austrian (like Freud)

• Born in 1882 (26 years after Freud)
• First discovered Freud in 1910, when she read his
book On Dreams. Became a fan.

• Became increasingly interested in psychology and

the psychoanalytical theory. Joined the Budapest
Society.
 How did Klein’s own
experiences affect her work?

• Two of Klein’s siblings died at relatively young

ages.

• Klein’s mother died when she was 18.

Melanie Klein’s
Ideas
-Strong focus on childhood

-Contributed to the object

relations theory

-Environment

-Theories based on a lot of

observation
Klein’s theory concerning the
psyche revolves around two
main states, or positions of
the mind.
Paranoid Schizoid Position
• The child categorizes everything around it into
two categories: the good and the bad.

• The child cannot deal with things that concern it,

as its ego is not yet fully developed.

• These things that concern it may be perceived

threats from the exterior, or troubling feelings in
its own mind.

• The child categorizes everything around it into

two categories: the good and the bad. What
satisfies it is good, and what doesn’t is bad. The
baby acts accordingly.
Depressive position
• “One would realize that the mother that one
hated was also the mother that one loved” (Woolf)

• The child gains the ability to see that the one that
it hates is also the one that provides care. This is a
major milestone in the development of the child’s
psyche, and indicated a developing ego.

• The child no longer separates everything into the

“good” and “bad” categories. This enables the
formation of a more realistic view of the world.
Other interesting ideas
 Toys

• Klein developed the

concept of play therapy
during World War I.

• She believed that

children would express
their innermost feelings
through their actions
with toys.
 Envy
• Part of the infant’s
primal thought process.

• The infant feels that the

mother’s breast is the
ultimate source of
nutrition, pleasure and is
full of power.

• When the infant cannot

immediately obtain the
breast, it feels that the
breast is keeping it’s
resources for itself. This
is envy.
 Bibliography

• Grosskurth, P. (1986). Melanie Klein: Her world

and her work. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

• Segal, H. (1980). Melanie Klein. New York: The

Viking Press.