ABSTRACT
Klein’s treatment of Erna, whom she describes as ‘very ill indeed’ (1955, WMK III, p. 135), took place from January 1924 to April 1926 and was the most extensive analysis of the Berlin years.1 Although Klein describes Erna’s illness only briefly as an ‘obsessional neurosis’ at its first mention in 1926 (WMK I, p. 136), in the second publication where Erna is mentioned, ‘Symposium on child-analysis’ (1927a), Klein gives a vivid picture of her disorder:
Erna, whose behaviour at home was unbearable and who displayed marked asocial tendencies in all her relations, suffered from great sleeplessness, excessive obsessional onanism, complete inhibition in learning, moods of deep depression, obsessive brooding, and a number of other serious symptoms.
