Melanie Klein: Changing the Way We View Infancy - Research Paper Example

Melanie Klein: Changing the Way We View Infancy Total Number of Words: 4,249 Introduction Aside from Sigmund Freud, there are a lot of psychoanalytic theorists who aimed at developing a set of theories that would enable us to explain the psychological development of the infants. Particularly the works of Melanie Klein has significantly influenced the way we understand infancy today. Working as a child analyst in a British school, Klein’s works did not only reveal a single hypothetical source of ambivalent attitude towards the others but also enabled us to have a better understanding about the complex relationship each individual is going through with his own self and those that are outside self. As part of describing a set of psychic functions that could occur during the early stages of infancy, Klein decided to describe each corresponding phase of development that are expected to occur during the first year of human life as ‘positions’. In general, Klein has introduced two types of position known as: (1) the paranoid-schizoid position; and (2) depressive position. Among the other common psychoanalytic theories that were introduced by Klein includes: (1) object relations; (2) play technique; and (3) views on envy and greed among others. Upon providing a list of definition of related medical words, a literature review will be conducted to determine the way that Melanie Klein’s psychoanalytic theories had changed our understanding concerning the infancy. As part of going through the main discussion, the way we have previously viewed infancy prior to Klein’s introduction of her psychoanalytic theories specifically with Freud’s theories of infancy which includes ego/superego, ideas of phantasy, guilt, and anxiety will be analyzed and discussed. This will provide the readers with a better understanding regarding the impact on how Klein’s theories had molded the current theories behind infancy. Definition of Words Ego – organized realistic part of the psyche. (Snowden, 2006, p. 107) Id – uncoordinated instinctual trends. (Snowden, 2006, p. 107) Infant Development – “the process of psychic organization and transformation that lead the preverbal infant from absolute dependency to the earliest integrations of the ego during the first year of life” (Pinol-Douriez & Despinoy, 2009). Neuroses (also known as psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder) – another term which refers to a class of functional mental disorders like distress but not necessarily related to delusions or hallucinations. (Freud, The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Trans. James Strachey. 24 vols, 1964) Phantasy – the act wherein the infant is dependent on the pleasure-principle which includes sucking and biting. (Klein, Color morphs induced under controlled environmental conditions in adult Earias insulana (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), 1988, pp. 218 – 219) Super Ego – enables a person to criticized or judge moral functions. (Snowden, 2006, p. 107) Literature Review Infancy prior to Klein’s Introduction of Her Psychoanalytic Theories Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality introduced the concept of id, ego, and superego as a complex part of the human behavior. Basically, the id is the part of our own personality which already exists at the time of our birth (Van Wagner, 2009; Miller, 1962). The id is driven by pleasure which includes the infant’s desire, wants, and needs. Once these desires are not satisfied, Freud explained that the infant may experience anxiety and/or tension. This is primarily one of the main reason that explains why infants cry when they are either hungry or when their diapers are wet. Ego is actually a component of our personality which enables us to deal with reality whereas the superego is the aspect of personality which enables us to hold onto our moral standards based on our beliefs including those that we have acquired from our parents and the society. (Van Wagner, 2009; Grotjahn, 1981) As explained by Freud, ego develops from the id whereas the superego develops from id and ego (Boeree, 1997). In other words, a balance between the three aspects is necessary for a person to be able to have a healthy personality. Aside from the theory of personality, Freud also introduced the concept of psychosexual development which includes: (1) oral stage (infancy 0 – 1 y/o); (2) anal stage (toddlerhood and early childhood 1 – 3 y/o); (3) phallic (early childhood 3 – 6 y/o); (4) latency (middle childhood 7 – 11 y/o); and (5) genital (adolescence 12 – 19 y/o). (Weatherston, 2001) Basically, the infant will have to satisfy the oral stage by sucking milk, chewing, and/or biting. Based on evolutionary perspective, Freud developed most of his personal view regarding the human development based on ethology, object relations, etiology of disorder, and adaptive behavior (Weatherston, 2001). With regards to the presence of unconscious thoughts, Freud considered this type of symptom as one that is similar to the presence of unconscious phantasy. (Segal, 1991, p. 16) According to Freud, symptoms related to hysteric acts are not usually attached with the actual memory of what has happened to the infant but an attachment to the infants’ phantasies that are based on their memory (Freud, Huish, & Beer, The Wolfman and Other Cases, 2003, pp. 1 – 22). Given that phantasy during the infancy stage includes sucking and biting, Freud believes that this type of act continuous as the child enters the play stage up to the time he or she enters the elderly stage (Klein, The Importance of Symbol-Formation in the Development of the Ego, 1930). The only difference that is expected to occur is that the child would learn the difference between reality objects and those that are formed out of day-dreaming (ibid). Freud mentioned the significant relationship between the mother and the infant during feeding time which could eventually develop into a lifetime love-relations between the two. (Freud, 1940 / 1964, p. 188) According to Freud, emotional and psychological attachment between the mother and a baby which can be established during the infancy stage is mostly based on the need-fulfilling relationship with the primary object (Greenberg & Mitchell, 1983). This enables the infant to learn what gratification is all about aside from developing his or her own expectations from the people around him or her. (Weatherston, 2001) Given that the mother failed to satisfy the infant’s hunger, emotional conflict which is represented by anger, anxiety, and loud cry is likely to manifest. Nurturing the infant is an act of dependency to self-reliance. (Freud A., 1965, p. 64) Once the infant enters the toddlerhood and early childhood stage, the child’s emotional attachment towards his or her parents would slowly shift to his or her new set of friends. Likewise, other developmental aspect which are associated with the infancy stage would also shift to another stage. For instance: The child’s physical dependency on the parents and/or caregiver during feeding, toileting, child care, and play would gradually seize as the child enters the toddlerhood stage, preschool stage, school age, adolescence stage, and the early adulthood stage. In line with this matter, Freud explained that the mother’s attention and care given to the infant during the infancy stage forms the child’s psychological and emotional foundation as he or she enters a new stage in life. (Freud A., 1965) Back in 1909, Sigmund Freud failed to finish a child analysis when he wrote the book ‘Little Hans” which is about a boy’s father instead of focusing on issues regarding having a direct contact with a five-year old child with phobia (Freud, 1909). Since Klein is strongly convinced with the theories of Freud, the works of Klein has basically evolved from Freudian theory. Although Freud mentioned the significant bond between the mother and infant, Freud’s work which gave more emphasis over the impact of a strong father-figure over the psychological development of a child. On the contrary, Klein put more emphasis over the role of a mother. For instance: Out of Freud’s psychosexual developmental stages and Oedipus theory, Klein was able to form her own object-relation theory which strongly suggest that the bond between the mother and infant significantly affects the personality of the child. Klein’s Two Types of Position Paranoid-Schizoid Position It was between 1940s and 1950s when Klein began exploring the schizoid phenomena which made her able to develop the paranoid-schizoid position. (Klein, 1946) The paranoid-schizoid position normally occurs during the early stage of infancy development which is often characterized by the infant’s relation to part objects including the mother. Basically, the paranoid-schizoid position is referring about the mental state of the children since birth up to the first six months of age. Based on Klein’s object-relations theory, Klein considers emotion as something that is significantly related to what other people feel. During the first few months of the infant, the only object that is directly attached with the infant includes the mother’s breast, the parents’ hands, and their face among others. For this reason, Klein believes that the relationship between the infant and other people are purely with part of the objects. Similar to the perception of Freud’s, given that the infant failed to become satisfied with his or her relationship with the objects around him, there is a strong possibility for paranoid anxiety to occur. Klein believes that paranoid anxiety is actually a result of fear of invasive malevolence which often comes from the infant’s external environment. On the other hand, the word schizoid is actually the infant’s central defense mechanism for not being able to satisfy his own needs and wants. Basically, paranoid-schizoid position is present when the child develops or projects a negative feeling with regards to an external object (Klein, The Selected Melanie Klein, ed. J. Michell, 1986, pp. 176 – 200). Considering this point-of-view, the paranoid-schizoid position actually trigger’s the infant’s depressive position. Depressive Position There is an unexplainable strong relationship between a mother and an infant. Under the depressive position, Klein assumed that the infants recognizes their mother as a whole object which is capable of causing them to develop negative emotions such as anxieties, feeling of loss, pain, and/or guilt each time infants is taken away from their mother. Upon analyzing the entire situation, the negative emotions felt by the infant is possible due to the reasons or possibility that an infant could project or identify the mother as an external part of the self. Back in 1940, Klein wrote a journal entitled “Mourning and Its Relations to Manic Depressive States”. In this article, Klein stated that the depressive position is actually a process of an early “reality testing” which could significantly affect how the child would go through the process of mourning during the later part of his life (Klein, 1940). As explained by Klein: “The baby experiences depressive feeling which reaches a climax just before, during, and after weaning. …The object which is being mourned is the mother’s breast and all that the breast and milk have come to stand for in the infant’s mind: namely love, goodness, and security. All these are felt by the baby to be lost, and lost as a result of his own uncontrollable, greedy, and destructive phantasies, and impulses against his mother’s breast” (Hutcheon, 2006, p. 127). As explained by Klein, depressive position is possible given that the infant is able to realize that his or her love one has been directed towards the same object which includes the mother and the infant’s body. Once the bond between the mother and the infant has been damaged, the first unconscious impulse of the infant is to develop destructive actions or behaviors which include hate. In other words, the negative feeling such as hate is basically a form of inherent and depressive feelings on the part of the infant. Klein believed that an infant’s inner world of phantasies could develop and be altered with his or her external environment in such a way that external reality is formed based on the child’s psychic or inner reality. (Klein, Our Adult World and its Roots in Infancy, 1959) Similar to the theory of Freud, Klein strongly agreed that phantasy during the infancy stage occurs orally when a child tries to incorporate a particular object into their mouth and eventually expel the object. In line with this matter, Klein believed that this particular act is closely related to the infant’s ability to project two types of emotions which includes: (1) love; and (2) hate for his or her mother. Basically, it is the external environment which significantly affects how the child would think about the objects around him (Klein, 1988). As explained by Klein, the unconscious phantasies of the infants are not exactly the same as what we know about day dreams. Basically, the unconscious activity of the infants’ mind happen within the deep unconscious levels which causes the child to act on impulse or instinct. For instance: It is likely that the infant would feel something not normal inside his stomach when he is hungry. Due to the absence of the conscious mind, the infant may consider hunger as something that would want to hurt him in the process of being hungry. Since the mother is the one feeding the infant with the milk, the infant may start viewing his or her mother as someone who is kind and a good object. In line with this matter, Klein explained that: “It has sometimes been suggested that unconscious phantasies such as that of tearing to bits would not arise in the childs mind before he had gained the conscious knowledge that tearing a person to bits would mean killing him or her. Such a view does not meet the case. It overlooks the fact that such knowledge is inherent in bodily impulses as a vehicle of instinct, in the aim of instinct, in the excitation of the organ. i.e. In this case, the mouth” (Isaacs, 1948, pp. 93 – 94). In relation to infancy development, the first study that Klein conducted was related to children’s play. Upon examining the impact of play on the physical, mental, and social development of a child using little wooden toys, she noticed that most of the very young child revealed a complex system of phantasy. For this reason, Klein decided to infer the systems of unconscious phantasy during the early stages of infancy (Rycroft, 2005). Klein strongly supports the idea that the origin of anxiety is aggression. She viewed this type of behavior as a physical manifestation of death instinct which comes out of the self. Eventually, she developed the idea that anxiety, the internal danger of threats including the instinct of death are some consequences which may have developed out of the concept of phantasy and nature of creativity (Klein, 1929). In line with this matter, Klein suggested that the true artistic and creativity side of an infant is deeply rooted out of anxiety aside from the inner instinct of developing destructive and sadistic phantasies caused by the instinct of death. Other Psychoanalytic Theories of Klein Other psychoanalytic theories that were developed by Klein include the study behind the following subject matters: (1) neuroses; (2) object relations; (3) play technique; and (4) views on envy and greed. Neuroses Between the late 1920s and the early part of 1930s, Klein started to become more concentrated on the detecting the origin of neuroses. As part of the study, Klein considered Freud’s analysis behind the Oedipus complex during the first few months of infancy stage (Klein, 1929). As explained by Freud, it is not possible for neuroses to occur within the family setting since there is a strong possibility that mental disorders may occur at a very early part of the infancy life. Therefore, Klein came up with the idea that the infantile psychic functioning and structure has something to do with neuroses. Object Relations Similar to Freud, Klein also examined the relationship between infants and objects. In general, an object can be tackled in two ways. Theorists can either study any forms of relationship between an infant and the inner part of an object or the relationship between an infant and the external part of an object. For instance: Determining the relationship between the infant and the external part of an object may have contributed to phantasies and psychopathology among the infants’ behavior. Because of Klein’s strong interest in knowing the infants’ instinct and impulses with regards to internal objects, her continuous study behind the direct link between infants and objects, the theory behind ‘object-relations’ was introduced to the public. Eventually, Klein was able to develop a new psychoanalysis theory with regards to the differences between the infants’ relationship with either a part or a whole object. Play Technique As part of analyzing the child development, Klein came into argument with Anna Freud with regards to the theory behind play techniques back in 1927. Basically, Freud believed that the use of play technique in treating children is not the same nor is equivalent to the adult free association. Therefore, Freud insisted that the use of play technique in treating children should not be regarded as something that can trigger repeat anxiety. Freud strongly believed that it is not possible to analyze the main causes of a young child’s anxiety due to the fact that probing a child’s unconscious mind could only make a child develop some negative feelings. Unlike Freud, Klein strongly believed that it is possible on the part of the theorists to learn more about the root cause of a child’s anxiety rather than simply getting rid of the symptoms. Because of the challenged triggered by Freud, Klein decided to gather some clinical evidences to support her claim that it is possible to interpret and determine the root cause of a child’s anxiety. Aiming to gather some concrete evidences regarding the importance of play technique, Klein started analyzing the possible link between play and the primary object which is the mother’s body. Similar to Freud’s argument, Dr. Hinshelwood also finds Klein’s interpretation of the child’s play as something that is not concrete. According to Dr. Hinshelwood, Klein often disregarded the actual links that came out of the clinical sessions with the patients (Hinshelwood, 1989). Eventually, Klein investigated the impact of child’s play through destructiveness which is originated out of death instincts including the importance of normal and pathological development of a child. Klein’s decision to investigate on this matter resulted to the development of the concept of depressive position which is commonly used in the psychoanalytic theories we used in analyzing the infancy stage (Klein, 1940 &1935). Views on Envy and Greed Basically, the anxiety that is felt by the infant is significantly connected with the paranoid-schizoid position and eventually with the depressive position. Aside from anxiety, envy has also something to do with the presence of depressive position. As part of Klein’s explanation on this matter, she considered the oral and anal-sadistic expression in relation to the death instinct as a basis for her claims. When we talk about envy, we are actually referring to the pain that infants feel out of seeing an object that he wants but he could not get. This often occurs with the concept of Oedipus theory. For instance: A male child may develop the feeling of envy given that he constantly sees his father hugging and kissing her mother. On the other hand, greed can be explained as a craving for more than what an object is willing to give. Klein believes that one’s own uncontrollable greed and inconsolable sorrow has a significant impact over one’s feeling of destruction. According to Klein, greed can be present within the infant’s phantasies by sucking her mother’s breast as hard as he could even though the child is unconscious about it. Envy can be a source of defensive mechanism. When the infant feels envious about something, the infant may unconsciously place the bad part of the self into his or her mother as a way of destroying her creativeness (Klein, 1988, p. 180). Since the feeling is envy can lead to the development of negative emotions, Klein believes that enviousness is capable of destroying all sources of creativity and value within the self and the outside environment. In fact, the negative consequences of enviousness can effectively destroy the process of reparations that are highly related with the depressive position. Given that people who envy another person does not necessarily feel guilty about the negative thoughts, it is possible that this person could easily inflict harm towards a good object regardless of whether it was made intentionally or unintentionally. Discussion Melanie Klein’s psychoanalytic theories had changed our understanding concerning infancy. Over the years, the psychoanalytical developmental theories behind infants were conducted through a long series of observational research. Although there is a tendency for a new theory to overshadow the validity of the past theories, it is likely that the research evidences of the most recent theories had been carefully compared and contrast with the validity of the past existing psychoanalytical developmental theories (Zuriff, 1993). Among the three major papers that Klein has spent on analyzing the artistic and creative themes includes: (1) ‘Infantile Anxiety Situations Reflected in a Work of Art and the Creative Impulse’ (1929); (2) ‘On Identification’ (1955) and (3) ‘Some Reflections on the Orenstein’ (1963). Basically, these writings had foreshadowed part of the concept behind the depressive position, the inner world, and the unconscious phantasy. Klein view anxiety as a negative feeling that can occur as early as the infancy stage. During the first three to four months from the time the infant was born, the infant is already capable of experiencing anxiety each time the infant experience shock coming from the external environment. As a result, the infant is likely to feel negative emotions related to pain or fear of being left alone (Klein, The Selected Melanie Klein, ed. J. Michell, 1986, pp. 176 – 200). Klein’s further study behind the depressive position made her able to identify the two types of anxiety known as: (1) paranoiac or the persecutory; and (2) depressive. Distinguishing these two types of anxiety gave her a break in the way we view infancy since Freud’s development of physiological and economic models. Since Freud’s models were based on Darwinian’s view of a man, a lot of theorists were convinced that Freud’s suggested theories were somewhat unrealistic. Instead of using Freud’s typical psycho-sexual stages of growth development which includes the oral, anal, phallic, genital stages; Klein reformulated this particular psychoanalytic model by introducing the paranoid and depressive positions. (Boeree, 1997) For this reason, it is possible to conclude that the contribution of Klein in psychoanalytic theories on the development of infants is more of a refinement rather than a whole contribution towards the development of psychoanalytic theories. Even though she was not able to develop a theory on her own, her personal input of thoughts has been very important in the development of Dr. Hannah Segal’s systematic theory of creativity and aesthetics (Glover, 2009). The personal stand of Klein with regards to the psychoanalytic development of infant is very much similar with the concept used by Freud. The only difference between the two is the way Klein highlighted more on the possible negative outcome when the infant failed to receive what he wanted from the objects around him by focusing on examining the process of symbol-formation, the unconscious phantasy, and the inner world within the infants. Basically, Klein’s idea to examine the inner world among the infants has significantly improved our existing psychoanalysis theories and understanding behind the child’s psychic functioning including the child’s own imagination. For instance: Given that the infant is hungry, the child would continuously cry out loud as a sign that he is not receiving what his body needs to sustain his physical growth and development. In line with this matter, Klein focused on analyzing the factors which may have caused the child to behave that way. Similar with the beliefs of Freud, Klein also agreed that failure of the infant to achieve a sound or balanced emotional, physical, and psychological growth could negatively affect the child’s personality as he or she enters the different stages in life. The problem with the psychoanalytic theories of Freud is its failure to examine the inner world of the infants. For this reason, Freud was not able to search for ways on how one can fully explain the psychological behavior of the infants. Another problem with Freud’s theories is the fact that most of his concepts were based on Darwinian theories. Basically, the primitive nature in Darwinian’s theories had limited Freud’s theoretical analysis with regards to matters related to a child’s emotional being and mental life. Conclusion The gap in Freud’s psychoanalytic theories with regards to enabling us to understand matters related to the emotional and mental well-being of the infants was narrowed down by Klein’s theories related to object-relations, play technique, views on envy and greed, and phantasy enabled us to have a better understanding about the uncovered developmental stages that the infants are going through. Other than the four psychoanalytic theories of Klein, the introduction of paranoid-schizoid position and depressive position gave us a better explanation behind the factors that causes an infant to behave in certain ways. Basically, one should never conclude that the works of Klein is better than the theory of Freud’s since we already know that the works of Klein is simply an enhancement or refinement of Freud’s existing theories. In line with this matter, we can conclude that the study behind the existing psychoanalytic theories behind the human development is a continuous process. Given that a new theorist can develop clinical evidences over a particular concept, there is a strong possibility that a new theory can foreshadow the past theories that we have once considered the best. *** End *** References: Boeree, G. (1997). Retrieved April 20, 2009, from Sigmund Freud: http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/freud.html Freud, A. (1965). Normality and pathology in childhood: Assessments of development. Madison: International Universities Press, Inc. Freud, S. (1909). Retrieved April 20, 2009, from Analysis of a phobia in a five-year-old boy: http://www.myotherdrive.com/file/066.265102.15012008.90772.0067fi/Little%20Hans.pdf Freud, S. (1940 / 1964). An outline of psycho-analysis. In J. Strachey (Ed. And Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 23). London: Hogarth Press. Freud, S. (1964). The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Trans. James Strachey. 24 vols. London: Hogarth. 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