Melanie Klein – Summary Theories of Personality – OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY MELANIE KLEIN OVERVIEW ● – Studocu

OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY

MELANIE KLEIN

OVERVIEW

● the woman who developed a loving relationship between parent and child had 
neither a nurturant nor loving relationship with her daughter Melitta 
○ Melitta was the oldest of 3 children born to parents who did not particularly 
like each other. 
○ when Melitta was 15, her parents separated and she blamed her mother for 
the separation, as well as the divorce that followed. 
○ as Melitta matured, her relationship with her mother became more 
acrimonious. 
⬥ ACRIMONIOUS: adj; (typically of speech or a debate); angry or bitter. 
○ after Melitta received her medical degree, she underwent a personal 
psychoanalysis and presented her scholarly papers to the British 
Psycho-Analytical Society, she was a member of that society, 
professionally equal to her mother. 
○ her analyst, Edward Glover, was a bitter rival of her mother. Glover 
encourage Melitta’s independence and was least indirectly responsible for 
Melitta’s virulent attacks against her mother. 
○ the animosity between mother and daughter became even more intense, 
when Melitta married Walter Schmideberg, another analyst who strongly 
opposed Klein, and also supported Anna Freud. 
⬥ ANNA FREUD: Klein’s most bitter rival. 
○ Melitta went on to say that she would no longer relate to her mother in the 
neurotic manner of her younger years. she now had a shared profession 
with her mother and insisted she be treated as an equal. 
○ the story of Melanie Klein and her daughter takes on a new perspective in 
light of the emphasis that object relations theory places on the importance 
of mother and child relationship. 
● Object-relations theory was built on careful observations of young children. 
● KLEIN vs. FREUD: 
○ Klein stressed the importance of the first 4 to 6 months after birth while 
Freud emphasized the first 4 to 6 years of life. 
○ Klein insisted that the infant’s drives are directed to an object 
⬥ DRIVES: 
⬦ hunger 
⬦ sex 

⬥ OBJECT:

⬦ breast 
⬦ penis 
⬦ vagina 
⬥ the child’s relation to the breast is fundamental and serves as a 
prototype for later relations to whole objects, such as mother and 
father. 
⬥ the very tendency of infants to relate to partial objects gives their 
experiences an unrealistic or fantasy-like quality that affects all 
interpersonal relations. 
○ Klein’s ideas tend to shift the focus of psychoanalytic theory from 
organically based stages of development to the role of early fantasy in the 
formation of early interpersonal relationships. 
● in addition to Klein, other theorists have speculated on the importance of a child’s 
early experiences with the mother. 
○ MARGARET MAHLER: 
⬥ believed that children’s sense of identity rests on a three-step 
relationship with their mother. 
⬦ FIRST: infants have their basic needs cared for by their 
mother. 
⬦ SECOND: they develop a safe symbiotic relationship with an 
all-powerful mother. 
⬦ THIRD: they emerge from their mother’s protective circle and 
establish their separate individuality. 
○ HEINZ KOHUT: 
⬥ children develop a sense of self during early infancy when parents 
and others treat them as if they had an individualized sense of 
identity. 
○ JOHN BOWLBY: 
⬥ investigated infants’ attachment to their mother as well as the 
negative consequences of being separated from their mother. 
○ MARY AINSWORTH: 
⬥ (and her colleagues) developed a technique for measuring the type 
of attachment style an infant develops towards its caregiver. 

● her early relationships were either unhealthy or ended in tragedy. 
● Klein had a special fondness for her sister Sidonie. in later years, she confessed 
that she never got over grieving for Sidonie. 
● after Sidonie’s death, she became deeply attached to her only brother.  
● she idolized her brother and this infatuation may have contributed to her later 
difficulties in relating to men. 
● at age 18, Klein’s father died. 2 years later, her brother died. his death devastated 
her. 
● while still mourning her brother’s death, she married her brother’s close friend. 
○ HUSBAND 
⬥ ARTHUR KLEIN 
⬦ an engineer 
⬦ a close friend of Emmanuel Reizes 
○ believed that her marriage at age 21 prevented her from becoming a 
physician and for the rest of her life, regretted that she did not reach that 
goal. 
○ theirs was not a happy marriage; she abhorred sex and pregnancy. 
Nevertheless, they had 3 children. 
○ CHILDREN 
⬥ MELITTA 
⬦ born in 1904 
⬦ her mother attempted to psychoanalyze her 
⬦ eventually went to other psychoanalysts. 
￭ KAREN HORNEY 
￭ EDWARD GLOVER 
⬦ became a psychoanalyst 
⬦ married Walter Schmideberg 
⬦ moved to London in 1934 
⬦ maintained that her brother Hans, committed suicide 
⬦ blamed her mother for her brother’s apparent suicide 
⬥ HANS 
⬦ born in 1907 
⬦ his mother attempted to psychoanalyze him 
⬦ eventually went to other psychoanalysts 
⬦ died in 1934; killed in a fall. 
⬥ ERICH 
⬦ born in 1914 
⬦ was trained according to Freudian principles 
⬦ was psychoanalyzed from the time he was young 
○ 1909, they moved to Budapest, where Arthur had been transferred. 

⬥ SANDOR FERENCZI

⬦ a member of Freud’s inner circle. 
⬦ the person who introduced Melanie Klein to the world of 
psychoanalysis 
○ 1914, her mother died 
⬥ she became depressed and entered analysis with Ferenczi. 
⬥ such an experience served as a turning point in her life. 
⬥ on that same year she read Freud’s “On Dreams” 
⬦ “and realized immediately that was what I was aiming at, at 
least during those years when I was so very keen to find out 
what would satisfy me intellectually and emotionally” 
⬥ attempted to analyze her 2 older children; both eventually went to 
other analysts, one of whom was, Karen Horney 
⬦ Horney analyzed Klein’s daughter, Melitta 
⬦ Klein analyzed Horney’s 2 youngest daughters, aged 12 and 9; 
the eldest daughter, aged 14, refused to be analyzed. 
⬦ unlike Melitta’s voluntary analysis by Horney, the 2 Horney 
children were compelled to attend analytic sessions, not for 
any treatment of neurotic disorder but as a preventive 
measure. 
○ separated from her husband in 1919 but did not obtain a divorce for several 
years. 
○ after the separation, she established a psychoanalytic practice in Berlin. 
⬥ made her first contributions to psychoanalytic literature with a 
paper dealing with her analysis of Erich, who was not identified as 
her son, long after Klein’s death. 
○ KARL ABRAHAM 
⬥ another member of Freud’s inner circle. 
⬥ a collaborator of Sigmund Freud; his best pupil 
⬥ Klein wasn’t satisfied with her own analysis by Ferenczi; she ended 
the relationship and started an analysis with Abraham 
○ Unfortunately, after only 14 months, Abraham died and Klein experienced 
yet another tragedy.  
⬥ at this point in her life, she decided to begin a self-analysis that 
continued for the remainder of her life. 
● before 1919, psychoanalysts, including Freud, based their theories of child 
development on their therapeutic work with ​adults
○ LITTLE HANS 
⬥ Freud’s only case study of a child 
⬥ a boy whom he saw as a patient only once. 

○ Melitta maintained her animosity towards her mother even after her 
mother’s death. 
● Melitta was not a supporter of Anna Freud but her persistent antagonism with her 
mother, increased the difficulties of Klein’s struggle with Anna Freud. 
● ANNA FREUD: never recognized the possibility of analyzing children. 
● the friction between Melanie Klein and Anna Freud never abated, each side 
claiming to be more Freudian than the other. 
● in 1946, the British Society accepted 3 training procedures: 
○ the traditional one of Melanie Klein 
○ the one advocated by Anna Freud 
○ a middle group that accepted neither training school but was more eclectic 
in its approach. 
● by such division, the British Society remained intact, albeit with an uneasy alliance. 

INTRODUCTION TO OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY

● Object Relations theory is an offspring of Freud’s Instinct theory, but it differs from 
its ancestor in at least 3 general ways: 
○ ORT places​ less emphasis on biologically based drives ​and more​ importance 
on consistent patterns of interpersonal relationships.
○ ORT tends to be more maternal, stressing the intimacy and nurturing of the 
mother, as opposed to Freud’s rather paternalistic theory, that emphasizes 
the power and control of the father. 
○ OR theorists generally see human contact and relatedness – not sexual 
pleasure – as the prime motive of human behavior. 
● the concept of Object Relations has many meanings, just as there are many object 
relations theorists. 
○ MARGARET S. MAHLER: 
⬥ concerned with the infant’s struggle to gain autonomy and a sense of 
self. 
○ HEINZ KOHUT 
⬥ formation of the self. 
○ JOHN BOWLBY 
⬥ stages of separation anxiety 
○ MARY AINSWORTH 
⬥ styles of attachment 
● if Klein is the mother of Object Relations theory, then Freud is the father. 
○ Freud believed that instincts or drives have an impetus, source, aim and 
object, with the latter 2 having greater psychological significance 
○ although different drives may seem to have separate aims, their underlying 
aim is always the same – reduce tension, to achieve pleasure. 
○ in Freudian terms, OBJECT of the drive 

⬥ is any person, or part of a person or thing, through which the aim is 
satisfied. 
⬦ Klein and other Object Relations theorists begin with this 
basic assumption of Freud and speculate on how the infant’s 
real or fantasized early relations with the mother or the breast 
become a model for later interpersonal relationships. 
￭ adult relationships, therefore are not always what they 
seem. 
￭ an important portion of any relationship is the​ internal 
psychic representations of early significant objects, 
such as the mother’s breast or the father’s penis, that 
have been​ introjected​, or taken into the infant’s 
psychic structure and then ​projected​ onto one 
another’s partner. 
◽ these internal pictures are not accurate 
representations of the other person but are 
remnants of each person’s earlier experiences. 
○ although Klein regarded herself as “Freudian” she extended psychoanalytic 
theory beyond the boundaries set by Freud. 
⬥ Freud chose mostly to ignore Klein. 
⬥ 1925, Ernest Jones wrote to Freud about Klein’s “valuable work” with 
childhood analysis and play therapy. 
⬦ FREUD:​ “Melanie Klein’s work has aroused considerable doubt 
and controversy here in Vienna.” 

PSYCHIC LIFE OF THE INFANT

● whereas Freud emphasized the first few years of life, Klein stressed the 
importance of the first 4 to 6 months. 
○ to her, infants do not begin life with a blank slate but with an inherited 
predisposition to reduce the anxiety they experience as a result of the 
conflict produced by the forces of the life instinct and the power of the 
death instinct. 
○ the infant’s innate readiness to act or react presupposes the existence of 
phylogenetic endowment, a concept that Freud also accepted. 
● PHANTASIES 
○ psychic representations of unconscious id instincts 
○ one of Klein’s basic assumptions is that the infant, ​even at birth, ​possess an 
active phantasy life. 
○ not to be confused with conscious fantasies of older children and adults 
⬥ Klein intentionally spelled phantasy this way to make it 
distinguishable. 

⬦ INTROJECTION:

￭ in their active fantasy, ​infants introject​, or take into 
their psychic structure these external objects. 
￭ EXTERNAL OBJECTS: 
◽ father’s penis 
◽ mother’s hands and face 
￭ introjected objects are more than internal thoughts 
about external objects. 
￭ they are fantasies of internalizing the object in 
concrete and physical terms. 
◽ children who have introjected their mother, 
believe that she is constantly inside their own 
body. 
￭ INTERNAL OBJECTS: 
◽ Klein’s notion of internal objects suggests that 
these objects have a power of their own. 
◽ comparable to Freud’s concept of superego, 
which assumes that the father or mother’s 
conscience is carried within the child. 

POSITIONS

● Klein saw human infants are constantly engaging in a basic conflict between the 
life instinct and the death instinct. 
○ good vs. bad 
○ love vs. hate 
○ creativity vs. destruction 
● as ego moves toward integration and away from disintegration, infants naturally 
prefer gratifying sensations over frustrating ones. 
● in their attempt to deal with this dichotomy of good and bad feelings, infants 
organize their experiences into positions. 
○ POSITIONS: 
⬥ ways of dealing with both internal and external objects 
⬥ chose the term “position” rather than “stage of development” to 
indicate that positions alternate back and forth. 
⬥ they are not periods of time or phases of development through 
which a person passes. 
⬥ although she used psychiatric or pathological labels, she intended 
these positions to represent ​normal​ social growth and development. 
⬥ the 2 basic positions are the paranoid-schizoid and depressive 
positions. 

⬥ PARANOID-SCHIZOID

⬦ earliest months of life, infants come into contact with both 
the good and bad breast. 
￭ these alternating experiences of gratification and 
frustration threaten the very existence of the infant’s 
fragile ego. 
￭ the infant desires to control the breast by devouring 
and harbouring it. 
￭ at the same time the infant’s innate destructive urges 
create fantasies of damaging the breast by biting, 
tearing or annihilating it. 
◽ in order to tolerate both feelings toward the 
same object, at the same time, the ego splits 
itself, retaining parts of its life and death 
instincts while deflecting parts of both instincts 
onto the breast. 
◽ rather than fearing its death instinct, the infant 
fears the ​“persecutory breast” 
◽ the infant also has a relationship with the​ ideal 
breast,​ which provides love, comfort and 
gratification. 
◽ the infant desires to ​keep the ideal breast inside 
itself as a protection​ against annihilation by 
persecutors. 
◽ to control the good breast and to fight off its 
persecutors the infant adopts this position. 
⬦ a way of organizing experiences that includes both paranoid 
feelings of being persecuted and a splitting of the internal and 
external objects into good and bad. 
⬦ infants develop this position during the first 3 to 4 months of 
life. 
￭ PARANOID 
◽ the ego’s perception of the external world is 
subjective and fantastic rather than objective 
and real. 
◽ thus, the persecutory feelings are considered to 
be paranoid. 
◽ they are not based on any real or immediate 
danger in the outside world. 
￭ the child must keep the good breast and the bad breast 
separate, because to confuse them would be to risk 

that person as being perfect while viewing 
themselves as worthless and empty. 
⬥ DEPRESSIVE 
⬦ beginning at about the 5th or 6th month 
⬦ an infant begins to view external objects as whole 
⬦ see that good and bad can exist in the same person. 
⬦ infant develops a more realistic picture of the mother and 
recognizes she is an independent person who can be both 
good and bad. 
⬦ the ego begins to mature to the point that it can tolerate 
some of its own destructive feelings rather than project it 
outward. 
⬦ however, the infant also realizes the mother might go away 
and be lost forever.  
⬦ fearing the possible loss of the mother, 
￭ infant desires to protect her 
￭ keep her from the dangers of its own destructive 
forces. 
￭ DESTRUCTIVE FORCES 
◽ those cannibalistic impulses that had previously 
been projected onto her. 
⬦ but the infant’s ego is mature enough to realize that it lacks 
the capacity to protect the mother. 
￭ thus the infant experiences guilt for its previous 
destructive urges toward the mother. 
⬦ the feelings of anxiety over losing a loved object coupled with 
a sense of guilt for wanting to destroy that object constitute 
what Klein called the DEPRESSIVE POSITION. 
￭ children in the depressive position recognize that the 
loved and hated object are one and the same. 
￭ they reproach themselves for previous destructive 
urges towards their mother and desire to make 
reparation​ for these attacks. 
￭ because children see their mother as whole and 
endangered, they feel ​empathy​ for her. 
◽ EMPATHY: a quality that will be beneficial in 
their future interpersonal relations. 
⬦ the depressive position is resolved: 
￭ when children fantasize​ that they have made ​reparation
for their previous transgressions 

￭ when recognize that their mother ​will not go away 
permanently​ but will return after each departure 
￭ COMPLETE RESOLUTION: 
◽ children lose the split between the good and 
bad mother. 
◽ they are able to love from their mother 
◽ they are able to display their own love ​for ​her. 
￭ INCOMPLETE RESOLUTION: 
◽ can result in lack of trust 
◽ morbid mourning at the loss of a loved one 
◽ a variety of other psychic disorders. 

PSYCHIC DEFENSE MECHANISMS

● Klein suggested that from very early infancy, children adopt several psychic 
defense mechanisms to protect their ego against the anxiety aroused by their own 
destructive fantasies. 
○ DESTRUCTIVE FEELINGS: 
⬥ intense 
⬥ originate with oral-sadistic anxieties concerning the breast 
⬦ the dreaded, destructive breast on the one hand 
⬦ the satisfying, helpful breast on the other. 
○ to control these anxieties, infants use several psychic defense 
mechanisms. 
● INTROJECTION 
○ infants fantasize taking into their body those perceptions and experiences 
that they have had with the external object, originally the mother’s breast. 
○ begins with the infant’s first feeding when there is an attempt to 
incorporate the mother’s breast into the infant’s body. 
○ ordinarily, the infant tries to introject GOOD OBJECTS: 
⬥ to take them inside itself as a protection against anxiety. 
⬥ sometimes the infant introjects bad objects 
⬦ bad breast 
⬦ bad penis 
⬥ in order to gain control over them 
○ when dangerous objects are introjected, they become internal prosecutors, 
capable of terrifying the infant and leaving frightening residues that may be 
expressed in dreams or an interest in fairy tales 
⬥ the big bad wolf 
⬥ snow white and the seven dwarves 
○ introjected objects are not accurate representations of the real object but 
are colored by the child’s fantasies. 
● PROJECTION 

⬥ EXCESSIVE AND INFLEXIBLE SPLITTING

⬦ can lead to pathological repression 
￭ if children’s egos are too rigid to be split into good me 
and bad me, they cannot introject bad experiences into 
the good ego. 
⬦ when children cannot accept their own bad behavior, they 
must then deal with destructive and terrifying impulses in the 
only way they can 
￭ by repressing them 
● PROJECTIVE IDENTIFICATION 
○ a fourth means of reducing anxiety 
○ a psychic defense mechanism  
⬥ in which infants split off unacceptable parts of themselves,  
⬥ project them into another object 
⬥ finally introject them back into themselves in a changed or distorted 
form. 
○ by taking the object back into themselves, infants feel that they have 
become like that object – they identify with that object 
⬥ infants typically split off parts of their destructive impulse and 
project them into the bad, frustrating breast. 
⬥ next they identify with the breast by introjecting it 
⬦ a process that permits them to gain control over the dreaded 
and wonderful breast. 
○ EXERTS A POWERFUL INFLUENCE ON ADULT INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS 
⬥ unlike simple projection which can exist wholly in phantasy, 
projective identification exists only in the world of real interpersonal 
relationships. 
⬥ a husband with strong but unwanted tendencies to dominate others 
may project those feelings into his wife, whom he then sees as 
domineering. the man subtly tries to get his wife to become 
domineering. he behaves with excessive submissiveness in an 
attempt to force his wife to display the very tendencies that he has 
deposited in her. 

INTERNALIZATIONS

● INTROJECTS

○ takes in 
● the person takes in aspects of the external world and then organizes those 
introjections into a psychologically meaningful framework. 
● in Kleinian theory, the 3 important internalizations are the ego, superego, Oedipus 
complex. 
● EGO 

○ one’s sense of self 
○ reaches maturity at a much earlier stage than Freud had assumed 
○ FREUD vs. KLEIN 
⬥ Freud hypothesized that the ego exists at birth but he did not 
attribute complex psychic functions to it until about the 3rd or 4th 
year; to him the child is dominated by the id. 
⬥ Klein, however, largely ignored the id, and based her theory on the 
ego’s ability to sense both destructive and loving forces, and to 
manage them through splitting, projection and introjection. 
○ mostly unorganized at birth 
⬥ but is strong enough to feel anxiety 
⬥ use defense mechanisms 
⬥ form early object relations in both phantasy and reality 
○ begins to evolve​ with the infant’s first experience with feeding 
⬥ good breast fills infant not only with milk but with love and security 
⬥ infant also experiences the bad breast, one that is not present or 
does not give milk, love or security 
⬥ the infant introjects both the good breast and the bad breast and 
these images provide a focal point for ​further expansion of the ego​. 
○ all experiences, even those not connected with feeding, are evaluated by 
the ego in terms of how they relate to the good breast and the bad breast. 
⬥ thus the infant’s first object relation becomes the prototype not only 
for the ​ego’s future development​ but for the individual’s later 
interpersonal relations. 
○ however before a unified ego can emerge, it must first become split. 
○ Klein assumed that infants innately strive for integration, but at the same 
time, they are forced to deal with the opposing forces of life and death, as 
reflected in their experience with the good breast and the bad breast. 
⬥ to avoid disintegration, the newly emerging ego must split itself into 
the good me and bad me. 
⬦ THE GOOD ME: exists when the infant is being enriched with 
milk and love. 
⬦ THE BAD ME: experienced when they do not receive milk and 
love. 
⬥ this dual image of self allows them to manage good and bad aspects 
of external objects. 
○ as infants mature, their perceptions become more realistic, they no longer 
see the world in terms of partial objects and their egos become more 
integrated. 
● SUPEREGO 
○ it emerged much earlier in life 

◽ after they have experienced an oral and anal 
stage. 

￭ Klein:  
◽ Oedipus complex begins at during the earliest 
months of life;  
◽ overlaps with the oral and anal stages 
◽ reaches its climax during the genital stage 
◽ preferred “genital” to “phallic”, as the latter 
suggests masculine psychology 
◽ 3 or 4 years of age 
⬥ SECOND: 
⬦ a significant part of the Oedipus complex is children’s fear of 
retaliation from their parent for their fantasy of emptying the 
parent’s body. 
⬥ THIRD: 
⬦ she stressed the importance of children retaining positive 
feelings towards both parents during the Oedipal years. 
⬥ FOURTH: 
⬦ she hypothesized that during its early stages, serves the same 
need for both genders: 
￭ to establish a positive attitude with the good or 
gratifying object 
￭ to avoid the bad or terrifying object 
⬦ in this position, children of either gender can direct their love 
either alternately or simultaneously toward each parent. 
⬦ thus, children are capable of having homosexual and 
heterosexual relations with both parents. 
○ like Freud, Klein assumed that girls and boys eventually come to experience 
the Oedipus complex differently. 
● FEMALE OEDIPAL DEVELOPMENT 
○ beginning: first months of life 
⬥ sees breasts as good and bad 
○ around 6 months 
⬥ she begins to view breasts as more positive than negative. 
○ later she sees her whole mother as full of good things 
⬥ this attitude leads her to imagine how babies are made. 
⬥ she fantasizes her father’s penis feeds her mother with riches, 
including babies. 

⬥ she sees the father’s penis as the giver of children, she develops a 
positive relationship to it and fantasizes that her father will fill her 
body with babies. 

○ IF THE FOP PROCEEDS SMOOTHLY:

⬥ the little girl adopts a “feminine” position 
⬥ adopts a positive relationship with both parents. 
○ contrary to Freud’s view, Klein could find no evidence that the little girl 
blames her mother for bringing her into this world without a penis; Klein 
contended that that girl retains a strong attachment to her mother 
throughout the Oedipal period. 
● MALE OEDIPAL DEVELOPMENT 
○ sees his mother’s breast as good and bad. 
○ early months of oedipal development: 
⬥ the boy shifts his oral desires from his mother’s breast to his father’s 
penis. 
⬥ the little boy is in his feminine position 
⬦ he adopts a passive homosexual attitude towards his father. 
⬥ he moves to a heterosexual relationship with his mother, but 
because of his previous homosexual feeling for his father, he has no 
fear that his father will castrate him. 
⬥ PASSIVE HOMOSEXUAL POSITION: 
⬦ prerequisite for the boy’s development of a healthy 
heterosexual relationship with his mother. 
⬦ the boy must have a good feeling about his father’s penis 
before he can value his own. 
○ as the boy matures, he develops oral-sadistic impulses towards his father 
⬥ wants to bite his penis 
⬥ murder him 
⬥ these feelings arouse castration anxiety and the fear that his father 
will retaliate against him by biting off his penis. 
⬥ the fear convinces the little boy that sexual intercourse with his 
mother would be extremely dangerous to him. 
○ Oedipus complex is only partially resolved by his castration anxiety. 
⬥ a more important factor is his ability to establish positive 
relationships with both parents at the same time. 
⬦ the boy sees his parents as whole objects; a condition that 
enables him to work through his depressive position.