Melanie Klein (Key Figures in Counselling and Psychotherapy series)

`Lively, readable and comprehensively researched. As an introduction to the influence of a truly original mind on the psychoanalytic understanding of psychic development in young children, and how unconscious Phantasy, schizoid defences and paranoid anxieties are implicated in adult psychopathology, this book can be thoroughly recommended. Julia Segal has taken pains to eliminate all unnecessary technical language and to relate Klein's concepts to everyday experiences in a refreshingly ordinary way... an excellent introductory text' - International Review of Psychiatry

`Klein's contribution is essential to an understanding of object-relations psychology... Segal writes well and provides a satisfying confrontation with crucial issues' - British Journal of Psychiatry

`A concise and accessible account of Klein's work and influence is particularly welcome... this book presents a lively overview of key notions with a strong sense of how theory and practice interrelate... the interested reader committed to researching origins will now be stimulated to read Klein for themselves' - Journal of Mental Health

`Segal manages to cover the entire opus of Klein's work in less than 150 pages. Furthermore, each of the five chapters is structured in terms of multiple sub-headings under which specific topics are covered. This makes it easy to read and to find information on specific topics. Segal also separates Klein's theoretical and practical contributions and... gives a vivid account of how Kleinian child and adult psychotherapy is conducted. She also addresses issues which most Kleinian theorists avoid, such as the role of the father in infant development. This is refreshing because Klein's focus was on the role of the breast/mother in psychic development, and so the father's place and influence was never really adequately considered in her work. What makes Segal's book unique as an introductory text, however, is that it has an entire chapter devoted to criticisms of Klein's work and rebuttals of these criticisms. Owing to the radical and controversial nature of her approach to theory and therapy, Klein is often attacked from both within and without the psychoanalytic community. Segal addresses common criticisms and, without being defensive, counters these from the Kleinian perspective... anyone having read Segal's highly accessible introduction will be well-primed to explore Klein's own writing' - Psychology in Society

`The book is very intimate; the first chapter on Klein's personal and professional life is extremely candid and enlightening. Will be enjoyed by pre-professional students and psychoanalytically oriented theoreticians and practitioners' - Choice