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This volume is a collection of Segal's principal works from 1950 to 1978. They are arranged in such a manner as to address specific topics in the Kleinian approach to clinical practice. The first two chapters, which serve as an introduction, summarize Klein's conceptions of psychoanalytic technique for adults and children. The remaining chapters contain Segal's papers on theoretical, clinical, and applied psychoanalytic topics, with postscripts added to reflect her second thoughts after the passage of time.
Segal remains the most lucid of Kleinian writers. Whether one differs with her or not, at least one comes away with a crystal-clear notion of her ideas and their source. They are and always have been mainstream Kleinian ideas, modified somewhat by Bion's contributions. They postulate a very early mental life, with a succession of paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions. The three-week-old infant is postulated to "organize" experiences of bodily need satisfaction by the maternal object so that frustration and satisfaction become differentiated and personified as "good and bad breast" experiences. The hallmark of this is fantasy, the unconscious mental representation of instincts. The instincts are perceived of as object-seeking rather than as discharging. Introjective identification with a good or satisfying breast is seen as mediating progression into