Posted by Jost on July 20, 2006, at 13:40:32
In reply to Re: Please excuse any over-generalisation, posted by Declan on July 20, 2006, at 0:11:51
Envy is an idea that Melanie Klein emphasizes a lot. In her original formulation, as I recall, it's envy of the socalled "good breast"-- I think the infant supposedly sees the "breast" as the container or possessor of everything good-- then since the infant has sort of again socalled 'primitive" mental processes, engages in some sort of splitting (or can do so), so that the breast is all good and the infant is either not good, or is bad.
So there's envy of the breast, and then some reparative desire, to undo or reverse the badness of envy.
But this is all taking place internally, in terms of internal objects, rather than only, or primarily, as a form of actual interaction swith literal other people--although other people can become associated with these internal objects.
Does that sound at all like the type of approach? I've always wondered if that doesn't begin to sound blaming-- the analyst being identified with the good breast (not necessarily, but it seemed to be the way it went), and the patient then acting out of the place where s/he was on the narrative of envy and reparation.
Jost
poster:Jost
thread:667935
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060703/msgs/668619.html