Three Papers of W.R. Bion

W.R. Bion, Chris Mawson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9780429846052
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Three Papers of W.R. Bion features two previously unpublished papers and one which has only previously appeared in The Complete Works of W. R. Bion (2014). Characterised by Bion's directness, clarity and intensity, together they illustrate important aspects of his later thinking. They also show Bion using his key ideas in fresh contexts which will allow readers already familiar with his theoretical and clinical concepts to appreciate them from a new angle.

The first paper, Memory and Desire, clarifies one of Bion's most important and clinically-relevant ideas: the value of suspending elements of our memory and desire in the service of allowing openness to psychoanalytic intuition. The second, Negative Capability, was reformulated to become the final chapter of his 1970 Attention and Interpretation. The publication here of the original paper allows an interesting and rewarding three-way comparison to be made with the 1970 chapter, and Memory and Desire. The third paper, Break Up, Break Down, Break Through, was presented without notes in 1976 in Los Angeles and the transcript from the recorded talk is published here for the first time. It displays the complex interweaving of the personal and the theoretical and offers a fascinating contribution to the study of what Bion called "the turbulence that obeys no man-made 'laws of nature'".

Wilfred R. Bion's writing continues to be read and re-read by an increasing and widening readership; the three papers presented here possess contemporary clinical relevance and each have a bearing on the underlying philosophical basis of psychoanalytical work and thinking.

Index

abstraction 1, 27, 33

Aguayo, J. 18n1

Alice [Memoir of the Future] 50

analysis, aim of 5

analytic session(s), clinical accounts of 3

anatomy 36, 38

anchorage, loss of 14, 15

Andreas-Salomé, L. 10n4, 12, 23, 31

ante-natal and post-natal, division between 37, 38

anxiety: catastrophic 46, 50; existential 44; psychical container for 46; reality of 20; traumatic 50

anxiety state 4

apperception 15

artificial blinding 12

attention and memory, ego-functions underlying 12

beast-sense 21

Beckett, S. 45

being and knowing, components of, connection between 44

Bion, F. xvi, 10n1, 28n1, 41n1, 43

Bion Talamo, P. 16

birth trauma 37

blinding oneself artificially 10n4, 12, 23, 31

borderline disorder 22

brain phylogeny 44

Braithwaite, R. B. x–xii

breakage, as theme 50

breakdown 40, 45, 48–50

break(ing) down 35–41, 46, 48–50

break(ing) in 35, 46

break(ing) out 35, 40, 41, 46, 47

break(ing) through 35–41, 46–48, 50; concept of 47

break-up 48–50

break(ing) up 35–41, 46, 49

British Psychoanalytical Society xv, 11, 12, 29

Britton, R. ix, 29–32

calculus, mathematical x

Caper, R. 17

Carter [War Memoirs] 48

cataphatic, approach to definition 18n2

catastrophic anxiety 46, 50

catastrophic change xii–xiii, 46, 50

Chomsky, N. ix

Churchill, Sir W. 42n7

clinical account: pictorial representation of 3, 42n6; sensuous representation of 3; verbal formulations of 3

Coleridge, S. T. 24, 31

column 2 statements 45, 51n2

communication: lateral 19, 20, 30; violent 23, 30

conscious: and Unconscious, division between 38; and unconscious systems of mind, modes of operations of, distinction between 38

consciousness: role of, as sense organ for apprehension of psychical quali...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Paper I: Memory and Desire
• Editor’s postscript
• Paper II: Negative Capability
• Editor’s postscript
• Paper III: Break Up, Break Down, Break Through
• Editor’s postscript
• References
• Index