Hanna Segal
Encyclopedia
Hanna Segal was a British psychoanalyst and a follower of Melanie Klein
. She was president of the British Psychoanalytical Society
, and vice-president of the International Psychoanalytical Association
. "Received wisdom suggests that she is the doyen of "classical" Kleinian thinking and technique."
(Poland), from where she had to flee in 1939, arriving in Great Britain (via Switzerland and France). Here she completed her medical studies and undertook psychoanalytic training, and an analysis with Melanie Klein, of whom she became a follower and of whose work she "offers...the clearest, most precise, and most understandable elucidation." It is said that without her introductory works, Klein would not have become so famous, and would certainly have been far less accessible.
She married mathematician Paul Segal in 1946. He died in 1996.
Segal also wrote on aesthetics
, art, symbolism, war, and the September 11 attacks, producing several books and numerous articles, including
Building on and extending her analysis of symbolism, "Hanna Segal... both applies and transforms Kleinian aesthetics." Segal stresses that "one of the most important tasks of the artist is to create a world of his own", something which requires "an acute reality sense in two ways: first, towards his own inner reality...and secondly...of the reality of his medium." She also emphasised "the importance of 'the ugly' in a work of art...'the destruction of good and whole objects and their change into persecutory fragments'". For Segal, "a work of art has its source in the existence of a destroyed internal world and the desire to restore it."
was "interested in Hanna Segal's early work on symbols and symbolic equations, but felt it did not really develop further after that", and certainly Segal was in the main content to work within the framework Klein had provided. If "Martin Bergmann talks about extenders, modifiers, and heretics" in psychoanalytic theory, Hanna Segal was clearly in the first category with respect to Klein - a perhaps relatively modest extender whose long-term explication of the riches of Klein's thought meant nonetheless that "Segal's work exemplifies...that body of knowledge and research that forms the post-Kleinian development."
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...
. She was president 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....
, and vice-president of the International Psychoanalytical Association
International Psychoanalytical Association
The International Psychoanalytical Association is an association including 12,000 psychoanalysts as members and works with 70 constituent organizations. It was founded in 1910 by Sigmund Freud, on an idea proposed by Sándor Ferenczi...
. "Received wisdom suggests that she is the doyen of "classical" Kleinian thinking and technique."
Life
Hanna Segal, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, was born in LodzLódz
Łódź is the third-largest city in Poland. Located in the central part of the country, it had a population of 742,387 in December 2009. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is approximately south-west of Warsaw...
(Poland), from where she had to flee in 1939, arriving in Great Britain (via Switzerland and France). Here she completed her medical studies and undertook psychoanalytic training, and an analysis with Melanie Klein, of whom she became a follower and of whose work she "offers...the clearest, most precise, and most understandable elucidation." It is said that without her introductory works, Klein would not have become so famous, and would certainly have been far less accessible.
She married mathematician Paul Segal in 1946. He died in 1996.
Segal also wrote on aesthetics
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
, art, symbolism, war, and the September 11 attacks, producing several books and numerous articles, including
Symbolism and art
"Her work on the concept of the symbolic equation was instrumental in deciphering the 'grammar' of psychotic concreteness." Here Segal emphasised the difference between the symbol as representative and the earlier stage of symbol as equivalent: "Only when separation and separateness are accepted does the symbol become the representative of the object rather than being equated with the object."Building on and extending her analysis of symbolism, "Hanna Segal... both applies and transforms Kleinian aesthetics." Segal stresses that "one of the most important tasks of the artist is to create a world of his own", something which requires "an acute reality sense in two ways: first, towards his own inner reality...and secondly...of the reality of his medium." She also emphasised "the importance of 'the ugly' in a work of art...'the destruction of good and whole objects and their change into persecutory fragments'". For Segal, "a work of art has its source in the existence of a destroyed internal world and the desire to restore it."
War
Segal explored the relationship of war "to the theme of ambivalence....One of the reasons that an enemy is needed is to sustain a paranoid attitude when the guilt and pain of depression cannot be faced." Segal's "long interest in factors affecting war is pursued in her examination of the psychotic factors, symbolic significance and psychological impact of the events of September 11."Criticism
A maverick Kleinian like Donald MeltzerDonald Meltzer
Donald Meltzer was a Kleinian psychoanalyst whose teaching made him influential in many countries. He became known for making clinical headway with difficult childhood conditions such as autism, and also for his theoretical innovations and developments...
was "interested in Hanna Segal's early work on symbols and symbolic equations, but felt it did not really develop further after that", and certainly Segal was in the main content to work within the framework Klein had provided. If "Martin Bergmann talks about extenders, modifiers, and heretics" in psychoanalytic theory, Hanna Segal was clearly in the first category with respect to Klein - a perhaps relatively modest extender whose long-term explication of the riches of Klein's thought meant nonetheless that "Segal's work exemplifies...that body of knowledge and research that forms the post-Kleinian development."