Contributions to Psycho-Analysis, 1921-45

new thing to contribute. For one thing, Freud's statement of the earlier stages of female sexuality has seemed to many to be untenable. Early vaginal erotism is assumed by Mrs. Klein, and the development of the Oedipus complex in the female child is restated according to clinical findings with which most analysts would now agree. The recognition that to the child the phenomena of psychic reality are concrete processes which take place inside the body comes into prominence through Mrs. Klein's work, although it has always been implied by the term " inner reality Mrs. Klein's special contribution is that she has shown us how to trace the development of the inner world of the individual, this development being linked with instinctual experience. Also she has shown the various ways the defences against anxiety can be described in terms of the management of inner phenomena. She obviously puts the Oedipus complex in as central a position in the development of the normal child as Freud does, but she has developed the understanding of the pre-genital roots of the first triangular situation which eventually comes to be felt in terms of genital erotism. She finds that these pre-genital roots determine the quality of the child-father-mother relationship in ways not previously understood. Lastly, the concept of the depressive position must be singled out for mention because of its fundamental importance. Without this concept the rich development in psycho-analysis of the last twenty years would not have been possible. This concept of the depressive position reaches the public more easily under a different name, such as the stage of concern, a stage at which in health a child begins to mind about the aggressive impulses and ideas and to feel concerned as to the results of loving and hating. Those who are not acquainted with Mrs. Klein's work should start with the very clear last chapter on " The Oedipus Complex in the Light of Early Anxieties". They should then study the two previous chapters, first "A Contribution to the Psychogenesis of Manic-Depressive States ", and then " Mourning and its Relation to Manic-Depressive States ". After that they can go to and fro through the other papers which they will understand better through having already become acquainted with the conclusions which have developed from the earlier observations and formulations.