ABSTRACT
Clinical work was of the utmost importance to Melanie Klein, being the basis on which she developed her theories and technique. Klein’s development of her play technique in the treatment of children was concurrent with the development of her theories. Klein’s experience with children also influenced the way in which she formulated interpretations, in that she tended to use bodily-based part-object language. Klein developed a very concrete language of part-objects and bodily functions in her work with small children. This language became rather ritualised and was felt by many analysts as ‘forcing’ patients into accepting the analyst’s preconceptions. Klein’s notion of transference developed concurrently with her understanding of the mechanisms of projection and introjection. For Klein the concept of transference was linked to her notion of unconscious phantasy which underlies all thought and which was described by Susan Isaacs as the mental representation of instincts.
