Work Of Bion Research Articles

Back to our senses: Some (psycho)somatic aspects of the digestive system and their potential relevance to the study of eating disorders

This work explores various aspects of the digestive system’s functioning during the early stages of development. These functions become systemically associated with our emotional experience, forming mental correlates that affect our mental development throughout our lifespan. Furthermore, these mental correlates lead to the construction of an interface between the functions of the digestive system and our emotional experience. Advancing these notions will be centered around the idea that the digestive system, primarily the parts associated with the functioning of the mouth, esophagus, and stomach, produces sensations no different and no less consequential than the sensory experience produced by our other senses. Thus, and building on the work of Bion, Anzieu, and others, it is further suggested that the above-mentioned parts of the digestive system should be considered a part of our sensory make-up. In addition to its digestive functions, this system is assumed to play an essential role in the composure of our psychic infrastructure and mental development. Finally, special attention is given to the relevance of these ideas to the study of eating disorders. These issues are explored with the purpose of pointing to some potential links between the functions of the digestive system and the specific manifestations of eating disorders. A brief illustration of some case material is discussed.

A Metapsychology of the Unrepresented

The terms unrepresented and unrepresented states are increasingly being referred to in psychoanalytic discourse, without our having established a generally agreed upon consensus about their definition, use or meaning. While these particular designations were never used by Freud, a careful reading of his work reveals them to be qualities that characterize the initial state of both the drive and perception. This paper attempts to place these terms in a clinically useful, metapsychological perspective by reviewing their conceptual origin in Freud and examining their elaboration and clinical relevance in the work of Bion, Winnicott, and Green. These concepts should prove especially useful for understanding and addressing problems presented by non-neurotic patients and psychic organizations and will help expand the reach and efficacy of psychoanalytic understanding and technique to increasing numbers of contemporary patients.

In C: Towards a ‘Bionian’ Theory of Creativity

While Wilfred Bion did not formally develop a theory of art and creativity, Bion's work, both as a psychoanalytic theorist and a surprisingly creative writer, offers the possibility to discern a ‘Bionian’ theory of creativity drawing on his theory of thinking (Bion, 1993). He frequently referenced the work of many different artists and thinkers, including John Milton, William Shakespeare, and Leonardo da Vinci, and his last major work, A Memoir of the Future, is explicitly an experimental and creative text blending fiction, autobiography, and theory. A number of key ideas, such as the thought without a thinker, the stray or wild thought, the construction of the necessary dream, and Bion's use of Elliott Jaques’ idea of the integrative reticulum as a model of the container‐contained relationship are brought together to imagine a new kind of transformation, the transformation ‘in C’, where C is understood chiefly as a shorthand for creativity and its role in communication between minds, but also with echoes of row C (the level of dreams and myths) of the Grid. Bion is shown to draw comparison between the artist, the psychotic, and the psychoanalyst, and he invites the practising therapist to consider their work a kind of creative artwork.

“Reappraising John O. Wisdom’s Critique of W.R. Bion’s Learning from Experience at a meeting of the British Psychoanalytical Society—17 October 1964.”

ABSTRACT The paper takes up Wisdom's (1964) little known but significant critique of Bion's book, Learning From Experience. While Wisdom appreciates Bion's clinical and theoretical innovations, he criticised the at times confusing structure of themes that were not sufficiently segregated, the extraneous use of mathematical notation, and the scientific/deductive part of Bion's monograph. In deploying a crucial distinction from Wisdom's critique, one that separates the scientific/deductive aspect of Bion's work from its clinical/inductive trajectory, the author offers an approach to reading Bion's complex text.

Towards a New Model of Dream Interpretation?

AbstractThe discussion of an analytic session which includes the dream of a patient is followed by some theoretical reflections on contemporary dream interpretation in clinical psychoanalysis. The approach to dreams is increasingly intersubjective and relational. The focus is more on the dream as a curtain of illusion. Contemporary analysts are focused on the unconscious message in the dream about transference-countertransference dynamics, the functioning of the analyst and his way of intervening, the use of the dream as play material, the portrayal of the unconscious intrapsychic and relational situation, countertransference dreams and sequential dreams. The way of working with dreams is much influenced by the work of Bion and his followers.

R. B. Braithwaite’s influence on Bion’s epistemological contributions

ABSTRACT This paper presents evidence that Bion's epistemological contributions drew on the work of R. B. Braithwaite, a British philosopher of science, more than has generally been acknowledged. Braithwaite introduced the “scientific deductive system”, a term Bion adopted. It proposed that empirical scientific methods could be applied to immaterial subjects of study, including “unconscious mental processes” (Braithwaite 1953, ix). Bion's private work journal, collected in Cogitations, documents Braithwaite's direct influence throughout its entries, particularly in one dated 10 January 1959, entitled “Scientific method” (Bion 1959b). This paper reviews relevant elements of Braithwaite's work, and examines Bion's “Scientific method” and samples from his epistemological work to argue that one of Bion's goals was to bring an empirically based scientific model to psychoanalytic theory and clinical practice. More than a matter of academic interest, Braithwaite's work lends pragmatically useful context to understand Bion's theoretical and clinical intentions in greater depth. It also suggests the main reasons why his project did not come fully to fruition, which led Bion to turn from the scientific deductive system towards his later developments.

Bound by Infinities: Technology, Immediacy and Our Environmental Crisis.

This paper explores the relationship between human desire, technology, and imagination, emphasizing (1) the phenomenology of this relationship, and (2) its ontological and ecological ramifications. Drawing on the work of Bion and Winnicott, the paper will develop a psychoanalytic container for attitudes contributing to our current climate-based crisis, paying special attention to the problematic effect technology has had on our sense of time and place. Many of our technologies stunt sensuous engagement, collapse psychic space, diminish our capacity to tolerate frustration, and blind us to our dependence on worlds beyond the human. In short, our technologies trouble our relationship to our bodies and other bodies. The paper argues that omnipotent fantasies organizing our relationship to technology, to each other, and to the nonhuman world, have cocooned us in a kind of virtual reality that devastates a sense of deep obligation to the environment.

The Proof is in the Pudding: Commentary on Papers Updating Anna Freud’s Diagnostic Profile

ABSTRACTThis fine collection of articles documents efforts to bring Anna Freud’s diagnostic profile (1965) up to date by integrating more recent theory and research in attachment theory, inter-subjective theory, and theories deriving from the work of Bion on the process of “containing” (Bion, 1988). While some of the articles present the theoretical context for this integrative effort, Melandri’s (this issue) thoughtful and comprehensive clinical case shows us how an updated diagnostic profile can be put to work in the consulting room.

Experimental intervention program in psychosomatic pathology

IntroductionThe work of Bion, developing the psychoanalytic theories of Freud and Klein on the origins of anxiety in childhood, includes the hypothesis of a protomental system as a matrix in the human organism in which physical and mental are at first undifferentiated. He defends that the continuing experience by the infant of parental containment of its anxieties, through a process of projection and introjection, develops its capacity for thinking about frustration rather than evading it. This conception was extended to psychosomatic illness, by the hypothesis that, without this experience, frustration may lead to basic assumption mentality and psychosomatic illness rather than emotions and thought.ObjectivesThis work aims to describe an experimental technique of group psychotherapy, inspired in Bion's principles combined with relaxation techniques, in the context of psychosomatic diseases.AimsThe authors pretend to identify improvement in clinical symptomatology, quality of life, identification and expression of emotions, in the group submitted to this method, compared to controls.MethodsIt was performed a weekly group psychotherapeutic session and a weekly relaxation session (using Jacobson's method), along two months. The patients were randomly selected and submitted to psychological evaluation with scales and questionnaires, in the beginning and at the end of the study.ResultsAt the time of submission of this work, the results of the intervention were in analysis.ConclusionsThis paper describes an experimental method of psychotherapeutic intervention in the field of psychosomatic disease, using a transdisciplinary perspective.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

A Chance to Show His Mettle: War, Creativity and Reparation in the Work of Wilfred Bion

This paper looks in detail at Wilfred Bion's war writings, specifically at his preoccupation with issues of morale and leadership, and at the intense feelings of isolation and disillusionment that accompany his bleakest moments. This reading of the war writings demonstrates that Bion found resources that enabled him not only to survive this harrowing time but also to work creatively to improve the lives of his fellow soldiers, and it is suggested that Melanie Klein's concept of unconscious reparation may be helpful in considering Bion's life and work during this period. An impulse to repair may also be discerned in Bion's first published paper, ‘The “war of nerves”…’ (), as well as in his work in 1942 for the War Office Selection Board where, with the support of gifted army leaders, Bion was able to draw on his traumatic wartime experiences in order to make influential contributions to the reform of the British Army.

Looking at the gap between social psychological and psychodynamic perspectives on group dynamics historically

Purpose – The paper aims to describe and understand the gap between the psychodynamic literature on groups and the social psychological perspective on group dynamics. Design/methodology/approach – As Wilfred Bion is the most influential group dynamics representative of the psychodynamic tradition the authors performed a citation analysis of Bion's work to find out whether it influenced the social psychological research on group dynamics. They compared three domains of literature: therapy/clinical, management/organization studies and social psychology. Moreover, they depict (by drawing on interviews with European pioneers in social psychology) the historical context in which European social psychology developed to explain the gap between the psychodynamic and social psychological approaches in the study of group dynamics. Findings – The results clearly indicate the existence of a gap between the social psychological and psychodynamic perspectives on group dynamics. Moreover, the authors show that Bion did influence scholars studying or working with real-life groups and is cited more by American than European scholars. The attempt to build a legitimate scientific identity for social psychology provides a context for understanding of the neglect of the psychodynamic tradition. Research limitations/implications – The authors conclude by exploring ways in which the psychodynamic tradition may fertilize the social psychological tradition in studying groups. Originality/value – The paper is one of the first to address the discrepancy between the social psychological and psychodynamic perspectives in the study of group dynamics.

Can art-based reflection help us cope with organisational change in the public sector?

Never before have public sector jobs been so threatened. Fear and anxiety have shifted their focus, from performance to survival. With reference to immediately contemporary works on the NHS in particular, such as Mandelstam (2011) and Leys and Player (2011), the paper establishes the factual validity of the crisis.The authors conducted a series of workshops for public sector staff to enable them to explore their reactions to the current situation.It is possible to identify increasing levels of denial and other forms of resistance to change similar to those first identified by Menzies' (1959). Drawing on the work of Bion (cited Obholzer & Roberts, 1994) the paper considers the dangers of a retreat to the paranoid schizoid position, and identifies a theoretical clue in Halton (2004) for turning the trauma of change into a creative opportunity.Art has access to emotional, spiritual and creative facets of the human mind that science cannot explore. Klein's (1975) consideration of the infantile and regressive aspect of art is acknowledged. The paper then considers what is revealed by a study of specific works of art which were presented in the workshops; including paintings by Bosch, Rousseau, Breughel and Goya. The work of Zagier-Roberts (1998) and Winnicott (1971) is called upon to endorse the usefulness of such a playful collage of responses.Art can be used to help people move through Kubler Ross' stages of bereavement (1997); not to acceptance but out of the paranoid schizoid position into the depressive position (Klein 1975). Revisiting the work of Halton (2004) and the concept of evolutionary creativity, a move on from the depressive position can begin. Collective validation can be affirmed through a rebooting of the essential public sector values while a radical turning away from organisational priorities, to face the service user, provides a more far reaching optimism than any envisaged by an essentially limited demand for modernisation.In conclusion the paper considers the recent contributions of Dienst (2011) and Dumenil and Levy (2011) to advocate tactical resistance to the denigration of the public sphere.

In the spaces between – sustaining creativity in child psychotherapy

The following paper has grown out of a spoken presentation given to the annual conference of the ACP in June 2012. Beginning from ideas that have emerged from reading and experiencing the work of Bion, the presentation attempted to apply these ideas to some of the issues that face child psychotherapists working in publicly funded health services today, and to suggest that rather than truncate our clinical and professional thinking to meet the demands of shrinking budgets and evidence based practice, we should embrace our capacities for observation and ‘reverie’ not only within our clinical work, but in the professional activities beyond. Using brief discussion of the work of artists, the paper revives our knowledge of the unconscious mind’s potential for repair, often making creative developments out of forgotten resources in unnoticed spaces. In fact it is the forgotten, unnoticed and discarded that have the potential to be the richest resources in a time when more conventional resources are fading.

Desiring (With) Bion: An Experience in Reading

This article considers my experience of reading Wilfred R. Bion's book Learning from experience (1962) and how transference operates in and around his work. I argue that Bion's work cannot simply be read but must be felt. I highlight the importance of Learning from experience for psychoanalytic practitioners becoming more self-reflexive about our theoretical and clinical practices, but also to bring attention to the process through which many of us come to Bion's insights "first hand" if you like, which is through his writings, in our position as readers.

On psychic elements in a case of autistoid perversion

The paper explores the formation of psychic elements from an epistemological point of view, drawing on the work of Bion to examine a clinical case of autistoid perversion. Distinguishing the qualification of psychic elements from the realization of pre‐conceptions, the paper argues that psychical elements are constituted through a mutually shared experience of presence, and so they should be understood in a paradoxical way – through being‐O and transformations into K. These ideas are explored via a clinical case concerning a patient with an autistoid–perverse organization. The patient had been denied any bodily contact with her parents during her first year of life due to an infection; in later life she exhibited an autistoid coprophilic perversion. During the course of her treatment, as it became possible to break down the autistoid organization, the nameless contents surfaced in a mutually shared experience of presence. The analyst was able to hold on to their meaning, which was unavailable to the patient. The absent analyst, however, turned into the mother who ‘put the child down’ and was experienced by the patient as a suicidal threat. In being‐O, the analyst was able to endure the paradox of being the one who ‘put her down’ in order not to put her down; the paradox of being‐O functioned as a container for the destructive objectal dimension of the state of ‘being put down’.

Organizational Consulting Meets Relational Psychoanalysis: Commentary on Papers by Kenneth Eisold and Marc Maltz

This commentary brings the perspective of relational psychoanalysis to bear on Marc Maltz's and Kenneth Eisold's papers about organizational consulting. Maltz and Eisold both discuss their experiences coaching challenging leaders. Eisold also describes consulting to organizations. This commentary explains that organizational consulting originated in an integration of psychoanalytic object relations theory and systems theory and that it draws on the work of Bion and Klein. The commentary identifies aspects of corporate culture that challenge organizational consultants to create a reflective and safe space in the workplace.

Interview with Morris Eagle.

This interview was conducted from New York via Skype with Morris Eagle at his home in Los Angeles. Safran: Hi Morris. Thanks for joining us this afternoon. As we were setting up the Skype connection, I was thinking about your most recent book, From Classical to Contemporary Psychoanalysis, and your book Recent Developments in Psychoanalysis, published in 1984, and it seems to me that they make nice bookends. Recent Developments in Psychoanalysis was a real classic. In some ways, it’s linked in my mind with Greenberg and Mitchell’s 1983 book, Object Relations in Psychoanalytic Theory, as marking an important shift that was starting to take place in psychoanalysis toward more interpersonal and relational perspectives. I think your most recent book has the makings of a similar type of classic. It provides a clear, comprehensive perspective on where psychoanalysis began and how it has evolved. It’s synthetic, balanced, and at the same time, in your trademark style, very critical, in a constructive way. Thinking back to where psychoanalysis was at the time that your 1984 book was published, I was wondering, what, from your perspective, stands out as the most important changes that have taken place? What’s happened in the field that has surprised you? Have there been developments that you did not anticipate, or are there developments that looked promising then and now look disappointing to you? Eagle: My sense right now is that what’s happened mainly in the last 25 or so years has largely been a continuation of what was apparent then. That is, the emergence of a relational point of view and its increasing influence in psychoanalysis, a continuation of a self-psychology perspective, and so on. You noticed in the most recent book I don’t have much to say about the work of Bion or Lacan, which I know is very popular in certain circles. I’ll explain why in a moment—although the easy answer is that I’ve made attempts to try to understand both and life is relatively short and one has to prioritize. In both cases, I have not entirely given up, but in both cases I have at least tentatively given up. But I’ll elaborate more in a moment. But more directly to your question, I think a number of things have happened. For one, in many ways the key relational theorists have now become part of the mainstream. For example, Jay Greenberg is now the editor of Psychoanalytic Quarterly. The work of theorists like Adrienne Harris, Lewis Aron, and Jessica Benjamin is now reasonably well

Learning From the Inkblot

The contributions of Wilfred Bion to psychoanalysis and Hermann Rorschach to personality assessment have had considerable influence on psychotherapy. Both authors developed their own systems in attempts to establish a more scientific approach to the study of the mind. This article introduces some key concepts from the work of Bion and shows their applications to the Rorschach Test.

Wilfred Bion's Letters to John Rickman (1939–1951)Introduction

This is a collection of 29 letters, 27 from Wilfred Bion to John Rickman, one addressed to Mrs Rickman and one from Rickman to Bion. These letters have been fully transcribed, annotated and published for the first time and offer a rare glimpse into the blossoming relationship between the two men and the gradual emergence of Bion's intellect through his work in War Office Selection Boards (WOSBs), the Northfield Military hospital and the exploratory groups at the Tavistock Clinic.Through this material it becomes evident that Bion's fascination with the work undertaken at WOSBs had more to do with the social ramifications of the principles and ideology applied there rather than with particular techniques per se, such as ‘leaderless groups’. Furthermore, the reader becomes witness to Rickman's profound influence on Bion's analytic work and in cultivating his interest in therapeutic institutions, ultimately leading to their groundbreaking work at Northfield Military hospital. While Bion's descriptions of his post-war group work at the Tavistock Clinic offer the first signs of his unique theory and technique on the exploration of group dynamics. The continuation of their correspondence until Rickman's untimely death is a testament to their strong collegial and personal relationship which transcended analytical work and other professional engagements.

S. Akhtar and H. Parens (eds): Lying, Cheating and Carrying On: Developmental, Clinical, and Sociocultural Aspects of Dishonesty and Deceit

The title, ‘‘Lying, Cheating, and Carrying On’’ quickly draws one into this fascinating book on lying within the clinical setting. The book presents an enjoyable and clinically inspiring discussion of lying in all its forms. This volume is the latest in a series of publications that is based on panel discussions at the Annual Margaret Mahler Symposia held each year in Philadelphia since 1991. The 2009 Symposium resulted in this monograph edited by Salman Akhtar and Henri Parens. The book includes chapters on the developmental, clinical and cultural aspects of lying by a range of important clinicians, including Lucy Lafarge, Harold Blum, and Daniel Freeman. Opening with an overview chapter on lying, Salman Akhtar presents the issues of lies, liars and lying as well as keeping secrets. He also discusses psychodynamic issues that provide the drive for lying. In an engaging discussion, he describes types of lies, such as social lies, narcissistic lies, psychopathic lies and pathological lies, life saving lies, and occupational lies. He also summarizes the contributions of psychoanalysis to the concept of lying by outlining the work of Bion, Kernberg, and Lemma. Akhatar helps us to understand these concepts and the relativity of lying by using engaging examples from forgery in arts and antiques, as well as an ancient Indian parable. In Chap. 2, Dr. Ruth Fischer describes the developmental and intrapsychic capacities required for lying. She suggests that, in order to lie successfully, one must have eight prerequisite capacities: an attachment bond, a separate sense of self from others, achievement of rapprochement and object constancy, reflective functioning, appropriate cognitive development, distinction of reality from fantasy, ability to play, and oedipal organization. In Chap. 3, Dr. Gail Edelsohn expands these concepts by discussing developmental research on children from preschool-aged to adolescence and their lies, as well as their ability to maintain a lie or disclose a lie. These two chapters together provide clinically relevant material regarding the development of the capacity to lie. In Chap. 4, Dr. Lucy Lafarge offers an interesting approach to lying among clients with narcissistic personality disorder. She places her clients on a continuum of narcissistic disorders from nondeceptive narcissism to major narcissistic personality disorder, as well as a continuum of lying ranging from concerns of authentication to malicious deception. Dr. Lafarge presents intriguing case material focused on transferential and countertransferential aspects of lying at each level. The lying continuums she describes will be useful for clinicians considering the meaning of their clients’ dishonesty. Chapter 5 is a response to Dr. Lafarge by Dr. Harold Blum. He focuses on the contributions of the superego to lying behaviors. He also discusses a clinical vignette of lying associated with trauma. The client, who came to treatment with the complaint of feeling shadowy and inauthentic, had parents who had lied about traumas they experienced. The client’s early dream in treatment was of being on a train car with no access to reality. He asserts that this case confirmed his conceptualization of lying for the purpose of altering and controlling reality. Chapters 6 and 7 present forms of lying in personality disorders, ranging from borderline personality disorder to antisocial personality behaviors. Dr. Michael Stone, along with Dr. Clarence Watson, describes a range of personality S. D. Comer (&) Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, MA, USA e-mail: scomer3470@aol.com; scomer@smith.edu