ABSTRACT
A psycho-analyst comes to the subject of guilt as one who is in the habit of thinking in terms of growth, in terms of the evolution of the human individual, the individual as a person, and in relation to the environment. All psycho-analysts are familiar in their work with the replacement of symptoms by the more normal development, a sense of guilt, and an increased consciousness and acceptance of the content of the fantasy which makes the sense of guilt logical. The chapter explains that the work of Melanie Klein has enabled psycho-analytic theory to begin to include the idea of an individual’s value, whereas in psycho-analysis the statement was in terms of health and neurotic ill-health. Klein drew the attention of psycho-analysts to a very important stage in emotional development to which she gave the name, ‘the depressive position’. The study of the sense of guilt implies for the analyst a study of individual emotional growth.
