ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the developments in psychoanalysis, which led to the emergence of Object Relations. Psychoanalysis became established in Britain early in the twentieth century. Ernest Jones worked with the British Medical Association to facilitate its recognition as a valid medical treatment and set up the London Psycho-Analytical Society in 1913. The points of dispute focused on the disparities between Kleinian and Freudian thinking. These held implications for the official stance of the British Psychoanalytical Society with regard to theoretical outlook, clinical practice and the teaching of trainees, and for who held power in the organisation. Clinically, Melanie Klein homed in on the patient's most pressing anxieties, expressed through unconscious phantasy, while her Freudian colleagues aimed to foster positive relations before venturing into more difficult territory; and unlike the Freudians, Klein sought to interpret all clinical material in terms of the transference relationship.
