ABSTRACT

Abraham gave a narrative content to the instinctual impulses, to psychic energy and to the phases of the libido. Given Klein’s long-standing loyal interest in Abraham’s views, her understanding of the mind, its constituents and its relationships inevitably began to diverge from the classical trend Freud set out. Hers was a model that placed active relationships at the centre of the activity of the mind, whether they were narratives in reality with others, or composed in phantasy with others represented by the sensuous experience of the body.

How did Klein begin to describe the mind?