Learning and teaching the theories of Melanie Klein

Abstract

I shall attempt to bring together here thoughts of experienced clinicians and teachers who have taught Melanie Klein's theories to child psychotherapists. However, most of the contributors have also taught Klein to clinical trainees in adult psychoanalytic work and to different groups abroad and, in some cases, to already trained psychotherapists or psychoanalysts. Klein's theories are introduced at different stages in the different child psychotherapy programmes in London. For instance, the students at the Tavistock are introduced to Klein's theories before they are necessarily in their own psychoanalysis, while other trainings introduce her theories in the introductory years of the clinical training.

William Halton is one of the longest-running teachers of Klein in the Tavistock Child Psychotherapy Training and brings his 'framework' culled from many years of experience. Maria Rhode has taught the Narrative to students at the Tavistock for many years. Elizabeth Spillius, psychoanalyst, writer and teacher, brings her experiences teaching Klein to non-Kleinians. Karen Proner teaches at the Tavistock, in Italy and the United States.

TEACHING MELANIE KLEIN William Halton 10 Lincoln Road London N2 9DL

Key Words:

• Melanie Klein
• psychoanalytic teaching
• teaching theory
• projective identification