Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book offers a close examination of Sigmund Freud formulations of the primary source of anxiety in inhibitions, symptoms and anxiety, and of how Melanie Klein diverges from these formulations, particularly in relation to the role of the fear of death. It aims to raise understanding of what Freud referred to as primordial anxiety through the comprehension of instinctual movements—of life and of death. The book argues that the work he carried out aims at finding a balance between continuity and discontinuity. It focuses on the analytic discourse on anxiety and on unappreciated dimensions of both Freud's and Klein's thinking that together provide a framework for an in-depth understanding of the complex nature of man's most basic fears.