ABSTRACT
Erna and Peter are among the first young child patients Klein treated with the play technique in her consulting room in Berlin, after the experiment of seeing Rita at the family home. Peter is given a quite prominent profile as an early example of child analysis in Klein's early publications. Klein recognized the phenomenon of analytic "sibling" rivalry—indeed was forced to recognize it—in Erna's transference reaction to Peter, opening up new perspectives on an only child's views about siblings. In Erna's case, as in that of the Wolf Man, the primal scene had been completely repressed but had been subsequently re-activated and brought for a moment into consciousness. This is the foundation of Klein's reconstruction of Erna's case: the primal scene is, as ever, central and reverberates through the analysis. Erna's acting out and negative transference pervade the treatment notes from the start, as she expressed her unconscious phantasies through paper-cutting, drawing, water games, toys, and words.
