Betrachtungen zur Konzeption des Neids bei Melanie Klein

When the relationship with Paula Heimann broke up, envy was conceived by Melanie Klein as a direct expression of the death instinct, as an innate hatred of the feeding breast which in its good aspect she saw as the prototype of maternal goodness, of inexhaustible patience and generosity and of creativeness. Subsequently Heimann for her part dissociated from Kleinian positions which she had co-elaborated and supported for 20 years. In particular she revised her view of the earliest stages in infant development. The author offers a critical survey of Klein’s conception of innate envy, its clinical implications and its potential consequences for the treatment.