Melanie klein brief biography

Austrian-British psychoanalyst (1882–1960)

Melanie Klein (née Reizes; 30 March 1882 – 22 September 1960) was an Austrian-British author and psychoanalyst known for her work in child analysis.

She was the primary figure in the development of object relations theory. Klein’s work primarily focused on the role of ambivalence and moral ambiguity in human development.^[1] Klein suggested that pre-verbal existential anxiety in infancy catalyzed the formation of the unconscious, which resulted in the unconscious splitting of the world into good and bad idealizations.

Melanie klein brief biography

In her theory, how the child resolves that split depends on the constitution of the child and the character of nurturing the child experiences. The quality of resolution can inform the presence, absence, and/or type of distresses a person experiences later in life.^[2]

Life

Melanie Klein was born into a Jewish family and spent most of her early life in Vienna.

She was the fourth an