The Controversial discussions were a protracted series of 'Scientific Meetings' 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....

 which took place between October 1942 and February 1944 between the Viennese school and the supporters of 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...

. They led to a tripartite division of training in the Society after the war with the three groups of Kleinians, Freudians and the Middle or later Independent Group.

In these sessions the differences between 'classical' Freudian analysis and newer Kleinian

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...

 theory were argued with considerable vehemence. The Freudian side was principally represented by Anna Freud

Anna Freud

Anna Freud was the sixth and last child of Sigmund and Martha Freud. Born in Vienna, she followed the path of her father and contributed to the newly born field of psychoanalysis...

, who was resistant to the revisions of theory and method proposed by Klein as a result of her work as an analyst of young children.

The Klein Group included Susan Isaacs

Susan Sutherland Isaacs

Susan Sutherland Isaacs, CBE was a Lancashire-born educational psychologist and psychoanalyst. She published studies on the intellectual and social development of children and promoted the nursery school movement...

, Joan Riviere

Joan Riviere

Joan Hodgson Riviere was a British psychoanalyst, who was both Freud's earliest translator and an influential writer on her own account.-Life and career:...

, Paula Heimann and Roger Money-Kyrle. The Anna Freud Group included Kate Friedlander, Ilse Hellman, and Willie Hoffer. The "Middle Group"

British Independent Group (psychoanalysis)

The Independent or Middle Group of British analysts represents one of the three distinct sub-schools of the British Psychoanalytic Society, and 'developed what is known as the British independent perspective, which argued that the primary motivation of the child is object-seeking rather than drive...

, who tried to apply a moderating force included Ella Freeman Sharpe

Ella Freeman Sharpe

Ella Freeman Sharpe was 'a pioneer of British psychoanalysis and one of the few natives of the United Kingdom among its leaders'. In 1947 she was 'said by Sylvia Payne [to have undertaken more training analyses than any other analyst in England'...

, James Strachey

James Strachey

James Beaumont Strachey was a British psychoanalyst, and, with his wife Alix, a translator of Sigmund Freud into English...

, Sylvia Payne

Sylvia Payne

Sylvia Payne was one of the pioneers of psychoanalysis in the United Kingdom.-Early life:Born as Sylvia May Moore in Marylebone, London, the daughter of Rev. Edward William Moore and his wife Letitia. Her father was incumbent of Brunswick Chapel and an adherent of the Higher Life movement, being...

, Donald Winnicott

Donald Winnicott

Donald Woods Winnicott was an English paediatrician and psychoanalyst who was especially influential in the field of object relations theory. He was a leading member of the British Independent Group of the British Psychoanalytic Society, and a close associate of Marion Milner...

, William Gillespie, Marjorie Brierley, and later Michael Balint

Michael Balint

Michael Balint or Bálint Mihály was a Hungarian psychoanalyst and proponent of the Object Relations school.-Life:...

.

The resolution finally achieved was political rather than theoretical, with a 'gentleman's agreement' being reached according to which both sides undertook never to attempt a take-over of the Society. The agreement stands to this day, with Freudian and Kleinian approaches co-existing side-by-side within the institution and upheld in separate training divisions.

The discussions were thus foundational in defining the nature of psychoanalytic thought and practice in the UK.