Patronage in the Dispute Over Child Analysis Between Melanie Klein and Anna Freud—1927-1932

The author investigates the role of patrons and advocates for Melanie Klein's clinical ideas at the British Psycho-Analytical Society against the backdrop of her theoretical and technical differences with Anna Freud from 1927 to 1932. He also outlines the development of Klein and Anna Freud's theories and techniques within the nascent discipline of child psychoanalysis. The London and Viennese patrons/advocates contributed to polarising what initially were clinical differences about how to analyse pre-latency and latency-age children and which technical processes might best facilitate successful treatment. While the author speculates that a diversity of motivations and agendas may have driven the London group's support for Klein—personal and politicised enthusiasm (Jones), genuine conviction (Riviere) and attempts at theoretical rapprochement between the London and Vienna schools (Glover)—he also argues that Freud's diagnosis with cancer in 1923 and suspicion of patricidal son-successors necessitated the choice of a female successor with unquestioning loyalty to his doctrines. From 1932, when Klein's clinical authority was established, her first group of English supporters began to splinter, as she went on to become a training analyst, mentor and patron in her own right to a succeeding generation of adherents who defended her views during the Controversial Discussions.