Melanie Klein: Narrative of a Child Analysis

˝In this book, Melanie Klein's last work and a companion volume to The Psycho-analysis of children, she gives a detailed account of the analysis of a ten-year-old boy, Richard, which lasted four months. Keeping notes of each session, Klein was able to describe the day-to day course of the analysis, interpreting Richard's drawings, play, verbal associations, and reports of dreams. She also makes clear the effects of these interpretations on material in subsequent sessions. Also included is the reproduction of seventy-one of the drawings made by the patient, the analysis of which is elaborated in the text. This fascinating and deeply instructive case study shows the fluctuations which characterise a psycho-analysis and reveals the dynamics, of the steps which eventually lead to progress in treatment. In a series of notes accompanying the clinical description, Melanie Klein comments upon the clinical material, linking the actual instances to more theoretical conclusions. In doing so, she has provided an invaluable guide to the technique of psycho-analysing children.˝