Donald Meltzer
Encyclopedia
Donald Meltzer was a Kleinian
psychoanalyst whose teaching made him influential in many countries. He became known for making clinical headway with difficult childhood conditions such as autism
, and also for his theoretical innovations and developments. His focus on the role of emotionality and aesthetics
in promoting mental health
has led to his being considered a key figure in the "post-Kleinian" movement associated with the psychoanalytic theory of thinking created by Wilfred Bion
.
. He practised in St. Louis as a psychiatrist
, before moving to England in 1954 to have analysis with Melanie Klein
. He joined the Kleinian group, became a teaching analyst of the British Psychoanalytical Society
and took on British citizenship. In the early 1980s disagreements about the mode of training led him to withdraw from the Society. Meltzer worked with both adults and children
. Initially his work with children was supervised by Esther Bick, who was creating a new and influential mode of psychoanalytical training at the Tavistock Institute
based on mother-child observation and following the theories of Melanie Klein. As a result of the regular travels and teaching of Meltzer and Martha Harris (his third wife), who was head of the Child Psychotherapy Training Course at the Tavistock, this model of psychoanalytic psychotherapy training became established in the principal Italian cities, and in France and Argentina.
Meltzer taught for many years at the Tavistock, and practised privately in Oxford (UK) until his death. Owing to having left the British Society, his ideas were controversial. He supervised psychoanalytically oriented professionals in atelier-style groups throughout Europe, Scandinavia and South America, and his visits also included New York and California. Since his death in 2004 his reputation has increasingly regained ground also in his adoptive country. Several international congresses have focussed on his work: in London (1998), Florence (2000), Buenos Aires (2005), Savona (2005), Barcelona(2005) and Stavanger, Norway (2007).
Meltzer was a member of the Kleinian Imago Group founded by the Kleinian aesthete Adrian Stokes
for discussing applied psychoanalysis. The group included among others Richard Wollheim
, Wilfred Bion, Roger Money-Kyrle, Marion Milner and Ernst Gombrich
. With Stokes he wrote a dialogue “Concerning the social basis of art”. Meltzer's aesthetic interests, combined with the mother-baby model of early learning processes, led to seeing psychoanalysis itself as an art form. His later works describe the relationship between analyst and analysand as an aesthetic process of symbol-making. This has had an influence on the philosophical view of the relation between art and psychoanalysis.
are as follows:
Some further further reading - from a former client.
Words like virulent, aggression and hatred abound in the theories espoused by DM, and it may be useful to remind ourselves what he was actually trying to do and with whom. What do these words mean in action? How was it to experience their practice, not the theory?
He was supposed to be a healer of people suffering from mental illness. That is to say damaged, unhappy (even desperate), vulnerable people.
I can attest to DM's fidelity to his theories, and what it was like in reality to experience it outside the citations and the texts. I internalised and was gravely sabotaged by his dreadful critique, which he put together in one session, and it has taken far longer than a decade to do a search as the start of making some kind of formal complaint.
DM made a lot of money out of his work. He said as much. I could not afford him and for that, at any rate, I am thankful. However, he had his harvest - years and years of demoralisation and paralysing self-doubt.
I'd rather live on jobseeker's allowance the rest of my life than make a fortune like this.
Melanie Klein
Melanie Reizes Klein was an Austrian-born British psychoanalyst who devised novel therapeutic techniques for children that had an impact on child psychology and contemporary psychoanalysis...
psychoanalyst whose teaching made him influential in many countries. He became known for making clinical headway with difficult childhood conditions such as autism
Autism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
, and also for his theoretical innovations and developments. His focus on the role of emotionality and aesthetics
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
in promoting mental health
Mental health
Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...
has led to his being considered a key figure in the "post-Kleinian" movement associated with the psychoanalytic theory of thinking created by Wilfred Bion
Wilfred Bion
Wilfred Ruprecht Bion DSO was an influential British psychoanalyst, who became president of the British Psychoanalytical Society from 1962 to 1965....
.
Life and work
Meltzer was born in New York City and studied medicine at Yale UniversityYale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. He practised in St. Louis as a psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
, before moving to England in 1954 to have analysis with Melanie Klein
Melanie Klein
Melanie Reizes Klein was an Austrian-born British psychoanalyst who devised novel therapeutic techniques for children that had an impact on child psychology and contemporary psychoanalysis...
. He joined the Kleinian group, became a teaching analyst of the British Psychoanalytical Society
British Psychoanalytical Society
The British Psychoanalytical Society was founded by the British psychiatrist Ernest Jones as the London Psychoanalytical Society on October 30, 1913....
and took on British citizenship. In the early 1980s disagreements about the mode of training led him to withdraw from the Society. Meltzer worked with both adults and children
Melanie Klein
Melanie Reizes Klein was an Austrian-born British psychoanalyst who devised novel therapeutic techniques for children that had an impact on child psychology and contemporary psychoanalysis...
. Initially his work with children was supervised by Esther Bick, who was creating a new and influential mode of psychoanalytical training at the Tavistock Institute
Tavistock Institute
The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations is a British charity concerned with group behaviour and organisational behaviour. It was launched in 1946, when it separated from the Tavistock Clinic.-History of the Tavistock:...
based on mother-child observation and following the theories of Melanie Klein. As a result of the regular travels and teaching of Meltzer and Martha Harris (his third wife), who was head of the Child Psychotherapy Training Course at the Tavistock, this model of psychoanalytic psychotherapy training became established in the principal Italian cities, and in France and Argentina.
Meltzer taught for many years at the Tavistock, and practised privately in Oxford (UK) until his death. Owing to having left the British Society, his ideas were controversial. He supervised psychoanalytically oriented professionals in atelier-style groups throughout Europe, Scandinavia and South America, and his visits also included New York and California. Since his death in 2004 his reputation has increasingly regained ground also in his adoptive country. Several international congresses have focussed on his work: in London (1998), Florence (2000), Buenos Aires (2005), Savona (2005), Barcelona(2005) and Stavanger, Norway (2007).
Meltzer was a member of the Kleinian Imago Group founded by the Kleinian aesthete Adrian Stokes
Adrian Stokes (critic)
Adrian Stokes was a British writer and painter, known principally as an influential art critic. He was also a published poet.- Background :...
for discussing applied psychoanalysis. The group included among others Richard Wollheim
Richard Wollheim
Richard Arthur Wollheim was a British philosopher noted for original work on mind and emotions, especially as related to the visual arts, specifically, painting...
, Wilfred Bion, Roger Money-Kyrle, Marion Milner and Ernst Gombrich
Ernst Gombrich
Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich, OM, CBE was an Austrian-born art historian who became naturalized British citizen in 1947. He spent most of his working life in the United Kingdom...
. With Stokes he wrote a dialogue “Concerning the social basis of art”. Meltzer's aesthetic interests, combined with the mother-baby model of early learning processes, led to seeing psychoanalysis itself as an art form. His later works describe the relationship between analyst and analysand as an aesthetic process of symbol-making. This has had an influence on the philosophical view of the relation between art and psychoanalysis.
Ideas
Some of Meltzer's significant and widely used developments of Kleinian object relations theoryObject relations theory
Object relations theory is a psychodynamic theory within psychoanalytic psychology. The theory describes the process of developing a mind as one grows in relation to others in the environment....
are as follows:
- the aesthetic conflict, the foundation for normal development, based on the internal mother-baby relationship, was formulated in Meltzer and Harris Williams (1988) The Apprehension of Beauty;
- intrusive identification, a form of projective identificationProjective identificationProjective Identification is 'a term first used by Melanie Klein to describe a process whereby parts of the ego are thought of as forced into another person who is then expected to become identified with whatever has been projected'....
associated with life in the Claustrum (narcissistic pathology), first formulated in early seminal papers “The relation of anal masturbation to projective identification” and “The delusion of clarity of insight”, and expanded in The Claustrum (1992); - pseudo-maturity, a common clinical manifestation of arrested development;
- adhesive identification and dismantling in two-dimensional autistic states, formulated in a work documenting Meltzer's experience with 5 colleagues in treating autistic children, Explorations in Autism (1975);
- the preformed transference, first described in The Psychoanalytical Process (1967), referring to the patient's initial preconceptions about a psychoanalytic relationship which have to be overcome before a genuine transference and countertransferenceCountertransferenceCountertransferenceis defined as redirection of a psychotherapist's feelings toward a client—or, more generally, as a therapist's emotional entanglement with a client.-Early formulations:...
can be established; - a reappraisal of Melanie Klein’s discovery of the combined internal object, which stresses its beneficial nature as a basis for mental development, begun in Richard Week-by-Week, Part II of The Kleinian Development (1978).
Publications
Donald Meltzer was a prolific writer and his books and many papers are translated into French, Italian, Spanish, German and some into Portuguese and Japanese.- The Psychoanalytical Process (Heinemann 1967), reprinted Perthshire: Clunie Press, 1970
- Sexual States of Mind (1973) Perthshire: Clunie Press
- Explorations in Autism: a psychoanalytic study (1975) Perthshire: Clunie Press
- with Martha Harris: A psychoanalytic model of the child-in-the-family-in-the-community (a study commissioned by the United Nations, published in French in 1976 and first published in English in Sincerity: Collected Papers of Donald Meltzer (1994).
- The Kleinian Development: Book I (Freud), Book II (Klein), Book III (Bion). Single-volume edition Perthshire: Clunie Press, 1978
- Dream Life: a re-examination of the psycho-analytical theory and technique (1983) Perthshire: Clunie Press
- Studies in Extended Metapsychology: clinical applications of Bion’s ideas (1986) Perthshire: Clunie Press
- with Meg Harris Williams: The Apprehension of Beauty: the role of aesthetic conflict in development, art and violence (1988) Perthshire: Clunie Press
- The Claustrum: an investigation of claustrophobic phenomena (1992) Perthshire: Clunie Press
- Many of Meltzer’s papers may be found in Sincerity and Other Works: Collected Papers (1994) ed. A. Hahn. London: Karnac
- For books by Meltzer translated into languages other than English, see the publishing lists of: Armando (Rome, Italy); Bollati Boringhieri (Turin, Italy); Borla (Rome, Italy), Cortina (Milan, Italy); Dunod (Paris, France); Hublot (Brittany, France); Diskord (Tübingen, Germany); Klett-Cotta (Stuttgart, Germany); Spatia (Buenos Aires, Argentina); Grafein (Barcelona, Spain); Kongo Shuppan (Tokyo, Japan).
As a teacher
Meltzer was well known internationally as a teacher and supervisor. He favoured an atelier-style system for the teaching and selection of candidates for psychoanalytical training, adumbrated in his paper “Towards an atelier system”. His method was to ask supervisees to present sessions of unedited clinical material, rather than finished papers. Several of his groups and individual supervisees have documented their experiences.- Castella, R., Farre, L., Tabbia, C. (2003) Supervisions with Donald Meltzer. London: Karnac.
- Emanuel, R. (2004) “A personal tribute to Donald Meltzer”, Bulletin of the Association of Child Psychotherapists 149, 11–14
- Fisher, J. (2000) “Reading Donald Meltzer: identification and intercourse as modes of reading and relating”, Exploring the Work of Donald Meltzer ed. Cohen and Hahn. London: Karnac, 188–202
- Hoxter, S. (2000) “Experiences of learning with Donald Meltzer”, Exploring the Work of Donald Meltzered. Cohen and Hahn. London: Karnac,12–26
- Psychoanalytic Group of Barcelona (2000), “A Learning Experience”, Exploring the Work of Donald Meltzer ed. Cohen and Hahn. London: Karnac, 203–14
- Psychoanalytic Group of Barcelona (2002) Psychoanalytic Work with Children and Adults. London: Karnac
- Psychoanalytic Group of Barcelona (2007) De un Teller psicoanalitico, a partir de Donald Meltzer. Barcelona: Grafein (in Spanish)
- Oelsner, M. and Oelsner, R. (2005) “About supervision: an interview with Donald Meltzer”, British Journal of Psychotherapy, 21 (3).
- Racker Group of Venice (2004) Transfert, Adolescenza, Disturbi del Pensiero. Armando (in Italian)
See also
- Object relations theoryObject relations theoryObject relations theory is a psychodynamic theory within psychoanalytic psychology. The theory describes the process of developing a mind as one grows in relation to others in the environment....
- Dream interpretationDream interpretationDream interpretation is the process of assigning meaning to dreams. In many ancient societies, such as those of Egypt and Greece, dreaming was considered a supernatural communication or a means of divine intervention, whose message could be unravelled by people with certain powers...
- Wilfred BionWilfred BionWilfred Ruprecht Bion DSO was an influential British psychoanalyst, who became president of the British Psychoanalytical Society from 1962 to 1965....
- Sigmund FreudSigmund FreudSigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
- ReparationReparation (psychoanalysis)'The term reparation was used by Melanie Klein to indicate a psychological process, something more than the making of amends...reparative gestures towards the damaged world'...
Further reading
- Campart, M. (1996) “Matching modes of teaching with modes of learning: a review of Donald Meltzer’s ideas”, in M. Campart and R. Berg, (eds.) Methods of Art as Paths to Knowledge. Malmo: Lund University.
- Cassese, S. F. (2002) Introduction to the Work of Donald Meltzer. London: Karnac
- Cohen, M. and Hahn, A. (eds.) (2000) Exploring the work of Donald Meltzer: a festschrift. London: Karnac
- Fisher, J. (2002) “A father’s abdication: Lear’s retreat from aesthetic conflict”, International Journal of Psycho-analysis Vol. 81(5) 963–82
- Freeden, I. (2005) “Obituary of Donald Meltzer”, Journal of the British Association of Psychotherapists Vol. 43 (19) 88–92
- Gosso, S. (2004) Psychoanalysis and Art. London: Karnac
- Hahn, A. (2005) “Obituary of Donald Meltzer”, International Journal of Psycho-analysis Vol. 86 (1) 175–178
- Harris, M. (1975) Thinking about Infants and Young Children. Perthshire: Clunie Press
- Harris, M. and Negri, R. (2007) The Story of Infant Development. Karnac and the Harris Meltzer Trust
- Hindle, D. (2000) “L’enfant et les sortileges revisited in the light of Meltzer’s contribution to psychoanalytic thinking”, International Journal of Psycho-analysis Vol. 81, 1185
- Li Causi, R. and Waddell, M. (2005) “An appreciation of the work of Donald Meltzer”, Journal of Child Psychotherapy Vol. 31 (1) 3–5
- Maizels, N. (1998) "An appreciation of the work of Donald Meltzer - as illustrated through the animated film Pinocchio", Bulletin Australian Psychoanalytic Psychology, 2–19
- Maizels, N. (1992) "The wrecking and re-pairing of the internal couple", Australian Journal of Psychotherapy Vol. 24, 12–26
- Maizels, N. (1994) "Inoculative identification in Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train", Journal of Melanie Klein and Object Relations Vol. 9, 17–35
- Maizels, N. (1995) "Smoking and intrusive identification", Bulletin Australian Psychoanalytic Psychology Vol. 10, 32–53
- Money-Kyrle, R. (1976) “Review of Explorations in Autism”, International Journal of Psycho-analysis Vol. 57
- Nemas, C. et al., (2005) “Remembering Donald Meltzer”, British Journal of Psychotherapy, 21(3)
- Vladescu F.V. (ed) (1998) Papers in Honor of Donald Meltzer. New York: esf
- Williams, M. H. (1998) “The aesthetic perspective in the work of Donald Meltzer”, Journal of Melanie Klein and Object Relations Vol. 16 (2)
- Williams, M.H. (1999) “Psychoanalysis: an art or a science? a review of the implications of the theory of Bion and Meltzer”, British Journal of Psychotherapy Vol. 16 (2) 127–35
- Williams, M. H. (2005a) “The three vertices: science, art and religion” British Journal of Psychotherapy Vol. 21(3), 429–41
- Williams, M. H. (2005b)The Vale of Soulmaking: the postKleinian model of the mind. London: Karnac
Some further further reading - from a former client.
Words like virulent, aggression and hatred abound in the theories espoused by DM, and it may be useful to remind ourselves what he was actually trying to do and with whom. What do these words mean in action? How was it to experience their practice, not the theory?
He was supposed to be a healer of people suffering from mental illness. That is to say damaged, unhappy (even desperate), vulnerable people.
I can attest to DM's fidelity to his theories, and what it was like in reality to experience it outside the citations and the texts. I internalised and was gravely sabotaged by his dreadful critique, which he put together in one session, and it has taken far longer than a decade to do a search as the start of making some kind of formal complaint.
DM made a lot of money out of his work. He said as much. I could not afford him and for that, at any rate, I am thankful. However, he had his harvest - years and years of demoralisation and paralysing self-doubt.
I'd rather live on jobseeker's allowance the rest of my life than make a fortune like this.
External links
- The Harris Meltzer Trust - includes information about Donald Meltzer and bibliographies of his work and related to his work, and an e-journal Meltzer Studies
- The Meltzer Online Atelier - includes a biography of Donald Meltzer, list of works and discussion forum
- Benign and virulent projective identification