Een in Oostenrijk geboren Britse psychoanalytica die nieuwe therapeutische technieken voor kinderen ontwikkelde, wat een aanzienlijke impact had op de kinderpsychologie en de hedendaagse psychoanalyse. Ze was een toonaangevende vernieuwer in de theorievorming van de objectrelatietheorie.
Melanie Klein gives a detailed account of the analysis of a ten year old boy, Richard. Klein describes the day to day course of the analysis interpreting Richard`s drawing, play, verbal associations and reports of dreams.
She made possible the extension of psycho-analysis to the field of early childhood, and in this way not only made the treatment of young children possible but also threw new light on psychological development in childhood and on the roots of adult neuroses and psychoses.
Melanie Klein's writings, particularly on infant development and psychosis, have been crucial both to theoretical work and to clinical practice. 'Envy and Gratitude' her last major work, introduces her theory of primary envy.
In the final paper on the Oedipus complex, Klein develops her theories of the earliest infant stages of development, extending Freud`s analysis of the Oedipus complex and laying a basis for her own subsequent conceptualising of the paranoid-schizoid position in the first six months of life.