0

Joseba Achotegui

Barcelona University, Spain

Presentation Title:

An evolutionary reading of Melanie Klein. Five relevant concordances between evolutionary theory and Melanie Klein's psychoanalysis. Application in the Kayak test

Abstract

The presentation shows the relevant agreements that exist between evolutionism and Melanie Klein's psychoanalysis, despite the fact that they are apparently very different approaches. Five major, very relevant points of agreement are highlighted. 1) The importance of relational life in the structure of mental functioning. Our brain is 7 times larger than our size, and it is to be able to manage our very complex social life. We are a eusocial species, like bees or ants, but we have autonomy and freedom with many emotions, fantasies, experiences. Melanie Klein points out how from birth impulses seek a relationship with the object, our world is relational. Mental disorder is largely the expression of relational problems and there is a continuum between mental health and mental disorder. In the evolutionary model it is stated that our mind was built for community life but that this social life creates many emotional tensions. Melanie Klein considers that anxiety is fundamentally an expression of aggressiveness. The two theories consider the game as training and an expression of emotions and learning about life together. For Melanie Klein, play is a central element in her psychoanalytic treatment model. The two theories consider that the baby has intense experiences in relation to her situation of dependence and her ties with her caregivers and with the community. In the evolutionary model, the competition-collaboration theory and the Kleinian envy-gratitude theory share the perspective that conflict with the management of aggression is key to mental health.

Biography

Joseba Achotegui is a Professor of Psychotherapy Techniques at the University of Barcelona and a psychiatrist specializing in psychotherapy, mental health and migration, community mental health, and evolutionary psychology. He has served as the secretary of the Transcultural Section of the World Psychiatric Association. A prolific author, he has published several books and regularly contributes to a blog in the newspaper Público. In 2002, Dr. Achotegui described the Ulysses Syndrome, a condition linked to the chronic and extreme stress experienced by migrants.