Melanie Klein was born on March 30, 1882, in Vienna, Austria.¹⁾

She was a pioneering psychoanalyst known for her work in the field of child psychoanalysis.²⁾

Klein was the youngest of four children in her family.³⁾

She had a tumultuous relationship with her own mother, which may have influenced her interest in mother-child dynamics.⁴⁾

Klein's interest in psychoanalysis was sparked by reading Sigmund Freud's work.⁵⁾

She began her psychoanalytic career in Budapest and later moved to Berlin.⁶⁾

Melanie Klein was one of the first psychoanalysts to work with young children and infants.⁷⁾

Her work with children led to the development of play therapy as a therapeutic approach.⁸⁾

Klein is known for her development of object relations theory, which focuses on the early relationships between infants and their caregivers.⁹⁾

She believed that the infant's early experiences with the mother or primary caregiver profoundly influenced their psychological development.¹⁰⁾

Klein introduced the concept of “splitting,” which refers to the infant's tendency to see people and objects as either all good or all bad.¹¹⁾

She also introduced the idea of the “depressive position,” where the child begins to integrate their positive and negative feelings towards the same object.¹²⁾

Melanie Klein's work had a significant impact on the field of psychoanalysis and influenced subsequent theorists such as Donald Winnicott and Wilfred Bion.¹³⁾

In 1927, Klein moved to London, where she continued her psychoanalytic work and became a prominent figure in the British Psychoanalytical Society.¹⁴⁾

She faced opposition and controversy within the psychoanalytic community, particularly from Anna Freud, who had a different approach to child analysis.¹⁵⁾