MELANIE KLEIN - OBJECT RELATION THEORY

Flashcards based on lecture notes about Melanie Klein's Object Relations Theory.

When was Melanie Klein born?

March 30, 1882

Where was Melanie Klein born?

Vienna, Austria

Who were Melanie Klein's parents?

Dr. Moriz Reizes and Libussa Deutsch Reizes

How did Klein feel about her parents?

She felt rejected by her parents.

Who was Arthur Klein?

An engineer and best friend of her brother, Emmanuel

Who were Melanie Klein's three children?

Melitta, Hans, and Erich

Who introduced Klein to the world of psychoanalysis?

Sandor Ferenczi

What happened after Klein's mother died?

She became depressed and entered analysis with Ferenczi.

Who analyzed Melitta, Klein's daughter?

Karen Horney

What were Klein's feelings about marriage and pregnancy?

She dreaded sex and abhorred pregnancy.

Where did Klein establish her psychoanalytic practice?

Berlin

Who did Klein begin an analysis with after Ferenczi?

Karl Abraham

What did Klein do after Abraham died?

She decided to begin a self-analysis.

Why did Klein move from Berlin to London?

To avoid conflicts with pre-existing practice in psychoanalysis.

Who disagreed with Klein's emphasis on child psychoanalysis?

Sigmund and Anna Freud

How did Klein's older son, Hans, die?

He was killed in a fall.

Who did Melitta begin analysis with, who was one of Klein's rivals?

Edward Glover

What were the three training procedures accepted by the British Society in 1946?

Traditional, Advocated by Anna Freud, A middle group

What is object relations theory

It is an offspring of Freud’s instinct theory

What is the difference between Freud’s instinct theory and object relations theory?

Have less emphasis on biologically based drives and see contact as prime motivation

What is the basic assumption of object relations theory?

Speculation on how the infant’s early relations with the mother become a model for later relationships

What does Klein stress that’s a prototype for later relationships?

The child’s relation to the breast

What period of a child's life did Klein emphasize as the most important?

1st to 6th months after birth

What are phantasies/fantasies, according to Klein?

Psychic representations of unconscious id instincts.

What do infants possess at birth according to Klein?

They possess unconscious images of "good" or "bad."

What are objects in Klein's theory?

Any person, part of a person, or thing through which the aim is satisfied.

What are examples of important objects for infants according to Klein?

Breast, vagina, and penis

What do positions involve, according to Klein?

A struggle between good & bad, life or death, love & hate, creativity & destruction.

What did Klein use rather than stages of development?

Positions

What are the two basic positions according to Klein?

Paranoid-schizoid position and Depressive position

When is the paranoid-schizoid position developed?

First 3 or 4 months of life

What are the two types of breasts in the paranoid-schizoid position?

The persecutory breast and the ideal breast

When does the depressive position begin to surface?

5-6 months

What are Klein's psychic defense mechanisms?

Introjection, Projection, Splitting, Projective Identification

What is introjection, according to Klein?

Infants fantasize taking into their body perceptions and experiences with external objects.

What is projection, according to Klein?

The fantasy that one’s own feelings and impulses reside in another person.

What is splitting, according to Klein?

Infants can only manage the good and bad aspects of themselves and of external objects by keeping them apart

What is projective identification, according to Klein?

Split off unacceptable parts of themselves, project them into another object, and introject them back.

What are the three important internalizations according to Klein?

Ego, Superego, Oedipus Complex

According to Klein, when does the ego develop?

4-6 months

How does Klein describe the superego compared to Freud?

Earlier in life, not as a result of resolved Oedipus complex, more harsh and cruel.

How does Klein describe the Oedipus complex?

Begins at a much earlier age, exist with both genders

What do relationships with mother and other significant objects in the first few months form?

A model for later interpersonal relations.

According to Margaret Mahler, what does the children's sense of identity rest on?

Basic needs cared for, symbiotic relationship, establish individuality

What was Mahler's work concerned with in general?

The infant’s struggle to gain autonomy and a sense of self.

What did Heinz Kohut theorize?

Children developed a sense of self during early infancy when parents treat them as individuals.

What did Mary Ainsworth develop a technique for?

Measuring the type of attachment style an infant develops toward its caregivers.

What type of psychotherapy technique did Klein develop?

Developed the play therapy technique

What is the goal of Klein's therapy?

Reduce the depressive anxieties and persecutory fears

What are Klein’s Views of Human Nature?

Determinism vs free choice, Pessimistic or optimistic, Similarities vs uniqueness