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Relations Theories, where they are often intertwined, as one necessarily implies the other. Building a representation involves gathering basic elements—symbols—to form meanings.
V. Aa. Melanie Klein and later Kleinian theorists V. Aaa. Extending Ferenczi’s and Jones’ conceptualizations , Melanie Klein (1923; 1926; 1927a, b; 1929a, b; 1930; 1932; 1940) regarded symbols as the representations of unconscious phantasy in the form of derivatives of the unconscious. She described the capacity to symbolize unconscious frightening, sadistic aggressive feelings for the object as an important step in Ego development. She described two (defense) processes in the usage of symbols: splitting and projective identification. In the child symbolic play, the libidinal and aggressive wishes, fears and anxieties, as well as the defenses can be represented. While Klein does not fashion any specific theoretical definition of representation, her use of the term in a clinical context of analytic play therapy with children has contributed greatly to further understanding of the developmental links and transformative processes between symbolization and representation. There are subtle differences in emphasis among regions which will be noted below. In European perspective , covering mainly years between 1923 and 1929, Klein (1923 b) fashions a theory of inhibition, sublimation and symbolization, building on Ferenczi who affirmed that throughout life symbolic relationships persist between the human body and the world of objects. Jean-Michel Petot (1982), who offers a rigorous exegesis of Klein’s evolving theories and clinical contributions, notes: “The child learns to represent the external world through his own body. She substantiates this, among others, in the analysis of Erich, who - for example - represented in his fantasy his body and his mother's body as cities” (Petot, 1982, p.82). The symbols are not limited to functioning as substitutes for things, organs, erogenous zones, and sexual processes. They are also loaded with a value of pleasure. Klein hypothesizes that the libidinal charge of external objects, while conferring pleasure on them, allows the child to represent the interior of the body through these objects. These objects, now equivalent to the body and its parts, replace what the child had previously known only through kinesthetic and coenesthetic sensations. In ‘primary identification’, symbolic equivalence involves two reciprocal phenomena. First, the representations of external things receive a libidinal charge from the parts of the body, based on similarities perceived by the pleasure principle. Second, the visible parts and invisible organs of the body, as well as their spatial organization, are thought through images provided by external objects. Foremost among these is the mother’s body, which the child explores. By relating its parts to those of his own body, the child can represent both the whole and its connection to the mother’s body.
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