ABSTRACT
Melanie Klein can be placed among those scholars who have most contributed to the development of psychoanalysis. It is obvious that for Klein projective identification played a fundamental role in the analytic process, while countertransference – which would have great significance for post-Kleinian analysts – was seen as something that interferes with the analytic process, for example by intensifying the analyst's identification with the patient, thus preventing the uncovering of the mind's deepest layers. It is clear that the real watershed is 'A Contribution to the Psychogenesis of Manic-Depressive States', from which point Klein began to recognise the importance that the external environment played in the process of child development. It is important to point out that projective identification as a specific concept was made famous by Klein, but as in the case of all concepts, it did not just appear out of nowhere.
