A Kleinian appreciation of the Ego and the Id (1923–2023)

ABSTRACT

I divide this paper into three parts. First, I discuss Freud’s ideas about repression and the unconscious sense of guilt in order to compare them with Klein’s view that we disown uncomfortable facts through a process of splitting and projection, leading to a paranoid defence against guilt. Second, I describe Klein’s struggle to understand the origin and the severity of the primitive super-ego which was so prominent in her child patients. She considered that an important aim of analysis was to moderate the severity of the super-ego to create a more humane inner world. Finally, I will elaborate on her view, as well as Freud’s, that some of the primitive terrifying objects that lie buried deep in the unconscious are fixed and unmodifiable. I will use some ideas from Ron Britton to suggest that instead of trying to modify or get rid of these persecuting figures, it might be possible to stand up to them and to emancipate the ego from the tyranny of the super-ego.

KEYWORDS:

• Ego
• guilt
• projective identification

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 I have not been able to corroborate this story.

2 His mother was indeed “almost distracted” and half the town was called out to search for him and no one went to bed. At 5.00 am Sam woke now frozen and too weak to move. His cries were by good luck heard by Sir Stafford Northcote a neighbour who carried him in his arms to his father. I will never forget my father’s face … tears streaming down his face. My mother as you may suppose was outrageous with joy. Coleridge added that “neither philosophy or religion” would allow him to forgive a local lady who suggested that he should have been whipped for this exploit. Holmes R. (1989), Coleridge: Early Visions,Hodder and Stoughton.