Anna Freud, Melanie Klein, and the Psychoanalysis of Children and Adolescents

The central theme of the book is concerned with a clear differentiation between child analysis proper and analytical child psychotherapy, and a detailed account of the controversies on technique between Anna Freud and Melanie Klein in the 1920s and 1930s. It takes into account the historical background against which child psychoanalysis developed, especially World War II and the Nazi regime in Germany. The author also looks at the way child analysis developed in specific institutions, such as The Hampstead Child Therapy Course in London, and in specific areas such as the spread of child analysis in the US. The concluding chapter is on the importance of knowledge of child analysis among analysts working with adults. The differences in the theories of the two "greats" in child analysis, Anna Freud and Melanie Klein, are examined one by one, including such concepts as the role of transference, the Oedipus complex and the superego.