ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

A century ago, the idea that children could suffer psychologically – or that their voices mattered – was barely even considered. It would take two fiercely intelligent and utterly compelling women to shift the dial.

In the early 20th century, Anna Freud and Melanie Klein emerged as prominent figures within the psychoanalytic community, each offering distinctive perspectives on children’s inner lives. Navigating grief, misogyny and a fraught personal rivalry, they built the entire field of child psychoanalysis from the ground up. And as bombs fell on a Blitzed London, their disagreements sparked a revolution that uprooted an entire professional and intellectual tradition.

Their perceived battlelines have shaped the contours of every debate in child psychology since. From parenting, to education, to therapy, and more. Professor Tanya Byron, clinical psychologist and child therapist, investigates how their shared story of creativity and contestation forever changed the way we understand and support children.

Featuring contributions from Carolyn Laubender, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies at the University of Essex; Nick Midgley, Director of the Child Attachment and Psychological Therapies Research Unit at Anna Freud; Margaret Rustin, child psychotherapist and author of ‘Reading Klein’; Lydia Tischler, one of the first child psychotherapists to train with Anna Freud in the 1950s.

With special thanks to Joan Tewkesbury, the Carter-Jenkins Center, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, Melanie Klein Trust and Anna Freud (formerly the Anna Freud Centre). Excerpts from ‘The Controversial Discussions’ read by Nicole Beutler.

Presented by Professor Tanya Byron
Produced by James Bonney and Olivia Humphreys
Executive Producer: Leonie Thomas
Mix: Mike Woolley

An Overcoat Media production for ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 4