Techniques in Kleinian Psychoanalysis

When Melanie Klein’s ideas about psychoanalysis were first introduced, they immediately stirred a large controversy over their effectiveness and appropriateness. It is also well known that Melanie Klein’s views led to the intense debate between the socalled contemporary “Freudians” and “Kleinians,” the two prominent schools in the British Psychoanalytic Society, particularly in the 1940s and in the next couple of decades. Despite the attention it received, Kleinian analysis has never been clearly defined, nor has it been distinctly differentiated from other analytic schools. It is believed, however, that Kleinian analysts employ different techniques, some of which are regarded by analysts adhering to other schools as “harmful” to patients or their analytic progress. These controversial points are related to Kleinian analysts’ timing of so-called “transference interpretation,” their emphasis on the “here and now” situation, and the reduced value they place on reconstruction during the course of analytic work. In my view, it is mainly Kleinian analysis’s conceptual or theoretical differences-from the traditional analytics-that have contributed to the development of its characteristic techniques. Melanie Klein is known to have developed her technique for analytic work with children while maintaining traditional analytic values. She discovered “primitive defences” during the preverbal period, which Freud had never observed directly. The direct experiences with children and new findings enabled her to challenge Sigmund Freud’s theory and his technique and were eventually developed into new ideas. In my view, however, Kleinian analysts would still argue that their techniques are not a deliberate diversion from traditional analytics but are designed simply to meet traditional analytic goals. Psychoanalysis 2012;23:87-94