Psychoanalysis with Wilfred R. Bion: Contemporary Approaches, Actuality and the Future of Psychoanalytic Practice

Description

Psychoanalysis with Wilfred R. Bion is the product of François Lévy’s efforts over a period of twenty years to represent clearly the classical elements and the innovatory propositions of the thought and work of Bion, who offers both new and modified ways of practising and thinking about the psychoanalytic experience. Bion’s thought, methodical and intuitive, gave rise to profound modifications in the approach to the psychology of groups, clinical work with psychoses, and the conception of the genesis of thought. Some of his original notions – psychic growth, processes of thinking, transformations, alpha function, maternal reverie – constitute valuable tools for rethinking psychoanalytic practice. This book places Bion’s thought within a filiation that is faithful to those of Sigmund Freud and Melanie Klein. It shows the parallels that exist between Bion’s formalisations and those of Lacan. It also lays emphasis on the mechanisms of thought arising from the negative (André Green), from logic (Lewis Carroll), from causalist philosophy (David Hume), from literature (Milton, Blanchot) and from the physical sciences (Stephen Hawking). Finally, Lévy underlines the importance of placing individuals within the collective from which they have originated. Psychoanalysis with Wilfred R. Bion will appeal to psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists looking to draw on the ideas of one of the most important and influential figures in the history of psychoanalysis. Acknowledgements viii The Grid 1 Overture: taking the trouble to get into the book 3 1 Changes of perspective 12 2 Hostile and friendly life 33 3 Emotional experience and alpha-function 49 4 The negative at work 67 5 The genesis and development of thought 81 6 The rejection of causation 104 7 Transformations, or reality in analysis 123 8 Group and psychoanalysis, survival or destruction? 140 Conclusion 164 References 169 Index 174