Melani Klein Case

Melanie Klien and Psychology

1- Melanie Klein claimed that in their earliest stages of infantile psychic life, they go through a complete development, through certain position. There are two major positions, the paranoid-schizoid position and the depressive position. The paranoid-schizoid position is the earlier position, whereby if a child's life environment and raising are adequate, they will successfully progress to the subsequent position: the depressive position. The transformation of the superego from its primitive to its mature form is part of the developmental transition from the paranoid-schizoid to the depressive position.

2- According to Ms. Klien, the manic defenses defend against the uncomfortable effects of depression. While in the phase of depression, a persons thoughts and physical movement slow down greatly, the opposite happens in the manic phase. When a person loves and hates an object at the same time, due to its bad a good side, they can't cope with hurting the object, therefore they return to splitting, where they either love or hate the object. In order to hate the object, the person uses devaluation and diminishing of goodness and value, and the function of the manic defense here is to avoid the pain, stress and guilt, so that the person won't be hurt by the fact that hey are capable of hurting the object and have hurt it. Therefore they make the object less important, not mattering anymore. The manic defense develops when anxiety cannot be tolerated anymore. The good enough mother is the one that is able to respond affectively to the child's mental states. When the caregiver is not able to reflect back in a proper way that child might develop manic defenses. The person denies the guilt that feel due to integration, so they repress this guilt. The manic defense in the devaluation, which devaluates the object and makes in not important in order to avoid the pain of hurting it, therefore it improves depression and anxiety. The manic defense does this through the process of splitting.

3- According to attachment theorists, for infants and toddlers, the primary goal of the attachment system is to maintain or achieve closeness to attachment figures, usually the parents. The attachment system aims to meet the needs of the independent member of the relationship, which is the child. The goal of the attachment system however, is not just achieving physical closeness, but also emotional closeness. First is physical proximity and then emotional closeness. The attachment system exists for the survival and safety of the infant, but its not just about physical needs. The attachment system is also important in the child's learning about the world, the culture and the insides of people. Psychologists generally feel that the attachment system's goal is focused on the relational and maturational needs, as well as physical needs of children.

When we internalize those feelings of emotional closeness and proximity, those early experiences