REPORT OUTLINE: MELANIE KLEIN – OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY:

BIOGRAPHY:

1. Melanie Reizes Klein was born March 30, 1882 in Vienna, Austria

2. Youngest of four children born to Dr. Moris Reizes and his second wife Libussa Deutsch Reizes.

3. She believed that her birth was unplanned- a belief that led to feelings of being rejected by her parents. She felt especially distant to her father who favored his oldest daughter, Emilie,

4. During her childhood, she observed her parents working at jobs they did not enjoy.

5. Klein’s early relationships were either unhealthy or ended in tragedy.

6. She felt neglected by her elderly father whom she saw as cold and distant, although she loved and idolized her mother, she felt suffocated by her.

7. Her older sister Sidonie died, she felt devastated and in later years, she confessed that she never got over grieving for Sidonie.

8. After death, she became deeply attached to her brother Emmanuel-teaching her arithmetic

9. She idolized her brother, and this infatuation may have contributed to her later difficulties in relating to men.

10. At age 18, her father died, after 2years, her brother died.

11. When still mourning for her brother’s death, he married Arthur Klein, an engineer –close friend of Emmanuel.

12. She believed that her marriage at 21 prevented her from becoming a physician, and for the rest of her life, she regretted that she had not reached that goal.

13. UNFORTUNATELY, Klein did not have a happy marriage; she dreaded sex and abhorred pregnancy.

14. Nevertheless, she has three 3children, Melitta-1904, Hans-1907 and Erich-1914.

15. The family moved to Budapest and there he met Sandor Ferenczi, a member of Freud’s inner circle and the one who introduced PSYCHOANALYSIS.

16. Klein became so depressed and entered psychoanalysis with F., it