Comparison of the use of the phenomenon of play between Anna Freud and Melanie Klein in the psychoanalysis of children

This bachelor's thesis compares the approaches of Anna Freud and Melanie Klein in the use of play in child psychoanalysis. Both psychoanalysts considered play to be a means of communication through which they could reach the world of children despite their lacked matured communication skills. Anna Freud saw play as a tool that allows children to express their emotions and inner conflicts, while also supporting function of ego and the reality processing; thus, in her view, it served communicative and diagnostic purposes. In contrast, Melanie Klein treated play as a symbolic expression of unconscious fantasies that appear from early childhood and resembles adult free association. This work demonstrates the differing conceptions of play in the methodological and conceptual approaches of the two schools of thought. The controversial debate between the two marked a decisive moment that shaped the future contours of the fields of child psychology and psychotherapy. Evident geographically, with the American Psychoanalytic Association dominated on the ideas of Anna Freud, while Melanie Klein's theories extended the work of the British Psychoanalytic Society.