Introduction to the Work of Melanie Klein

This book is a very nice condensation of the main points highlighted in Klein's oeuvre. Segal has made a writer whose concepts can appear to many as opaque and experience-distant into something more readily digestible; Segal also supplements this material with her own case descriptions. In all honesty, the Kleinian approach can be difficult to warm up to, and object-relations theorists have been able to take a number of tremendously important principles that Klein highlighted and turn them into something which can be used in a language that may be more immediately accessible to patients. Thus, the theoretical points Segal discusses are much more "palatable" if you will than her case examples. I think the concepts of paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions have a great degree of salience, not only in clinical settings, but it life as well. It is something you see consistently in terms of the splitting and projective identification phenomena. I like to equate the PS position to Hollywood films, with the clear split between good and evil, and the desperate attempts to subvert the viewer's opinion to root for one and disdain the other - as Zizek stated, cinema teaches us "how" to desire. In contrast, the depressive position highlights perhaps a more bleak and European cinematic depiction, where life is a pretty melancholy experiment overall, no villains or heroes are identified, things just "happen," and no judgment need be passed. The shades of gray come out, omnipotence is abandoned, and the split becomes a distant concept. I think Klein was a pioneer for her viewpoints, and despite child development studies casting something of a questioning shadow on some of her claims with regards to the chronology of certain events and the mental processes present in infants, this seems like a moot point given the amazing applicability and insight of her views, irrespective of what neurobiology may point to now. I think it is the dialog between the past and future of psychic exploration that will give us a more holistic appreciation of life.

Excellent

Interesting, but not a light read by any means. Lots of information so be prepared to retread some sections more than once.

Unfortunately, Melanie Klein's ideas and concepts are now known to be completely invalid. This is because developmental psychology has progressed significantly since she wrote and lived. Check out the work of Daniel Stern and Marianne Tolpin.

Having worked the opposite way, from Melanie Klein to Hanna Segal, I was concerned this book would be overkill. I was wrong, this book helped me hugely place Melanie Klein and offers more analysand/analyst dialogue that really helped capture the depth Melanie Klein was writing about.Not to be missed is the glossary of Kleinian terms which is unlike Melanie Klein since it is clear and consistent in terms. You will never use the term 'anxiety' the same way ever again!

la consegna è stata veloce sopratutto considerando che il venditore si trova in Inghilterra. Il libro è in un buon stato anche se è usato e si tratta di una stampa degli anni 80.