Envy has generally been seen as an undesirable, negative feeling. However, inequality is an inescapable part of life, and envious feelings are a daily experience for most people.
The authors feel that envy is a normal human feeling which if acknowledged and accepted may be dealt with constructively. Practical examples and a case history are used to illustrate this thesis.
References
1.
Webster's New World Dictionary.New York and Cleveland: The World Publishing Co., 1970: 468.
2.
KleinM.Envy and gratitude.London: Tavistock Publications, 1957: 181.
3.
SullivanH.The interpersonal theory of psychiatry.WW Norton: New York, 1953: 347.
4.
KleinM.Envy and gratitude.London: Tavistock Publications, 1957: 181.
5.
FreudS.Standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, Vol. 18. London: Hogarth Press, 1953: 67–134.
6.
MoultonR.A survey and re-evaluation of the concept of penis envy.Contemporary Psychoanalysis1975; 7(1): 84–104.
7.
AbrahamK.Selected papers on psychoanalysis.New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1927: 370.
8.
Selected papers on psychoanalysis.338.
9.
Selected papers on psychoanalysis.393.
10.
JoffeW.A critical review of the status of the envy concept.Int J Psychoanal1969; 50: 533.
11.
MeissnerW.The paranoid process.New York: Jason Aronson, 1978.
12.
LesterE.P.On the psychosexual development of the female child.J Am Acad Psychoanal1976; 4(4): 515–27.
13.
FrankelS., SherickI.Observations in the development of normal envy.Psychoanal Study Child1977; 32: 257–81.
