Explorations in Bion's 'O'

Everything We Know Nothing About

Afsaneh K. Alisobhani, Glenda J. Corstorphine, Afsaneh Alisobhani, Glenda Corstorphine, Afsaneh K. Alisobhani, Glenda J. Corstorphine

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Topic: Psychology
• eBook ISBN:
  9780429814853
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Wilfred Bion described "O" as "the unknowable and the unreachable ultimate truth". In this fascinating collection, a range of authors offer their own theoretical, clinical and artistic approaches to exploring this enduring but mysterious idea.

Drawn from contributions from the 8th International Bion Conference in 2014, the book examines how "O" can be experienced in all aspects of internal and external reality and within all relationships, from an individual relating to the mother to their emotional relationship with their self. It features insights into "O" drawn from the area of faith as well as its manifestations in clinical practice, while also included is a chapter exploring the links between Bion's ideas and those of Winnicott, Lacan, Green and Freud.

Featuring contributions from some of the world's leading Bion scholars, this will be essential reading for any psychoanalyst interested in exploring the concept of "O", as well as scholars in philosophy and theology.

Index

“A aparição do demônio na fábrica, no meio da produção” (Devil’s apparition in the factory, in the middle of the production line) (Martins) 181

Abramovic, Marina 198

Abraxas 21

Absolute Truth 19, 23–24, 225

abstraction 119–120, 123

Achilles 162–163, 166

ad hoc theories 64

Aeneid (Virgil) 142–143, 186–187

Aesthetic Dimension of the Mind, The (Pistiner de Cortiñas) 84

aesthetic experience 66

aesthetic pleasure 65, 66–67

aggression 302–303

Aguayo, Joseph 22–23

“aleph” 17

alpha element(s) 27, 84, 108, 165, 229–230, 233, 251, 268, 271–272, 277, 284, 308

alpha function 5, 10, 11, 12, 18, 19, 33, 42–44, 59, 80–82, 84, 86, 127, 137, 140, 146–147, 157, 165, 221, 223–224, 228–231, 233–235, 245, 251, 255, 265–266, 285, 301, 308–312

Alterpoiesis (Junqueira Filho) 177

Amado, Jorge 178

ancient Greeks 24, 29

Andreas-Salomé, Lou 101

annihilation anxiety 147

annihilation of psychic pain 187

annihilation of psychic reality 238

Anorexia 269; nervosa 12, 25, 283, 287, 288

Antichrist 253

anxiety: castration 243, 246; catastrophic 82–83; evade 237, 238; excessive 198; homosexual 106

apeiron 224

art 196–198, 202

Artaud, Antonin 197, 208

Artist Is Present, The (Abramovic) 198

atonement 76, 86–87

at-one-ment 6, 11, 33, 38, 76, 79, 83–84, 86–87, 111, 165, 24...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• About the editors and contributors
• Introduction
• Section I Everything we know nothing about
• Section II Bion’s journey toward O
• Section III Transformation and O
• Section IV Faith and O
• Section V Catastrophe, catastrophic change and O
• Section VI Caesura and O
• Section VII Creativity and O
• Section VIII Freud, Klein, Winnicott, Lacan and O
• Section IX O in the consulting room
• Section X Epilogue
• Index