Klein's Biography, Nancy McWilliams Drops an F-Bomb, and Making Progress
Klein’s Biography
I’m almost done reading the biography of Klein by Phyllis Grosskurth (Amazon affiliate link) and it’s… so so.
I like to study biographies to understand the psychology behind the theorist. For example, when I read the biography of Karen Horney (another brilliant female psychoanalyst if you haven’t heard of her) by Quinn I so badly wanted to have a beer with Horney. Because… what a woman! And also her theories made much more sense in the biographical context.
Klein’s biography contains more facts and original letters than I know what to do with. The great losses she endured in her life are moving - and yet she feels so distanced. And cold. It’s hard for me to imagine what was going on inside her head.
I was hoping to feel more connected to her as a person after reading her biography. But that didn’t happen so far. Maybe that’s the whole point?
Nancy McWilliams Drops an F-Bomb
If you ever wanted to hear Nancy McWilliams swear, there is a podcast for that (listen in here). Beyond that bit of pure human-ness (in a segment starting at 43:58), she dives into…
Working with shame
Strengths and weaknesses of different personality styles in psychotherapists
Working with dissociation
Navigating boundary violations like stalking
And much more!
She is simply fantastic and there is so much to take away from those ~100 minutes.
Making Progress
The paper “The Concept of Internal Object Relations” by Thomas Ogden has been hanging around in my folder for probably a year. I tried to read it once but it was tough to get through and I gave up.
Now it re-appeared as I’m diving into, well, internal objects. With 6 months of studying Klein in-depth in my back pocket to bolster me up, I revisited Ogden’s paper AND I COULD MAKE IT THROUGH AND GOT IT!
It made me so happy to feel that the hard work of studying psychodynamic theory is paying off. If you have a paper (or 79+ 🙄) that feels too hard to read right now, stick with it and you might just unlock it in 6-12 months. You can do it!
Best wishes,
Alina
PS: I have so many ideas for projects after the Melanie Klein course to help with that. (1) a free new resource to place and compare the major thinkers and their theories, (2) an introduction to psychodynamic thinking… 2026/2027 will be a good year for psychodynamics!