**\#️⃣ Tags:** #Person #Psychology ![[Melanie Klein.jpg|303]] --- The landscape of psychoanalysis was forever altered by Melanie Klein's pioneering work in [[Object Relations]] theory. Where others saw instincts and drives, she understood a more nuanced inner world—a constant negotiation between connection and destruction. Klein always saw herself as a follower of [[Sigmund Freud]], but not an orthodox one. She was imaginative, intuitive, and bold, making theoretical leaps that could only be backed by inner resonance. While Freud remained anchored to biological frameworks, Klein listened deeply to the lived experiences of her patients, especially children. Her contribution was reimagining how we understand early human development. Klein believed infants are not blank slates, but sophisticated beings with complex inner worlds. Every impulse, every bodily exchange—whether milk, feeding, or even urine and faeces—was laden with profound psychological meaning. Where Freud saw the ego as emerging gradually, Klein understood that from birth, we are oriented towards external reality. An infant doesn't just receive experience, but actively creates meaning through what she called "phantasy"—a primitive, largely unconscious way of interpreting sensations as actions. Klein's approach challenged everything and transformed psychoanalysis from a theory of drives to a nuanced exploration of relationship. She saw human development as a continuous negotiation between connection and destruction, between integrating experiences and fragmenting them. # Library - [[An Introduction to Object Relations by Lavinia Gomez]]