Through a glass darkly: Bion, unknowing, and the couple

Abstract

This article applies the work of Bion to the area of couple therapy. A clinical tapestry is composed of three interwoven skeins: Bion’s love life and life work; his theoretical contributions applied to couple work, particularly the negative epistemology embedded in Bion’s advice that the analyst actively renounce any reliance on memory, desire, understanding, or sense impressions; and a clinical vignette. Negative epistemology is an intrinsic aspect of psychotherapeutic methodology, whether with couples, families, or individuals. Bion’s contribution to such negative epistemology includes his writings on the K link, the psychoanalytic application of Keats’ concept of negative capability, and Henri Poincaré’s selected fact. This article also describes the interlocking traumatic scene and the conjoint selected fact.