Do I Dare Disturb the Universe: A Memorial to W. R. Bion

689 Pages·1990·31.299 MB·English

by  James S. Grotstein

THE GRID
Defini-
tory
HYPO- Nota- Atten-
theses $ tion tion Inquiry Action ...
1 2 3 4 5 6 n.
A
Al A2 A6
%-elements
B B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 ...B n
uclements
C
Dream Thoughts C1 C2 C3 C4 (25 C6 ...C n
Dreams, Myths
D Dl D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 ... Dn
Preconception
E El E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 ...E n
Conception
F F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 ...F n
Concept
G
G2
Scientific
Deductive System
H
Algebraic
Calculus
Other titles in the Maresfield Library by W. R. Bion
Attention & Interpretation
Elements of Psychoanalysis
Learning from Experience
Second Thoughts
Transformations
of related interest:
Grinberg, L. et al: Introduction to the work of Bion
Klein, M. et al: New Directions in Psychoanalysis
"And indeed there will be time
To wonder, 'Do I dare?' and, 'Do I dare?'
. . .
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute
will reverse."*
*T.S.E liot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," The Wmte Landand Orher Poems. 1930, New
York: Harcourt Brace and Co.
CONTRIBUTORS
Frank Philips
Richard Alexander
Bernard Bail
Susanna Isaacs-Elmhirst
Betty Joseph
Albert Mason
Frederick Kurth
Herbert Rosenfeld
Frances Tustin
.
Richard J Rosenthal
A.B. Bahia
Alfred Silver
Andre Green
Leon Grinberg
James Grotstein
Eliot Jaques
Melvin R. Lansky
Ignacio Matte Blanco
Donald Meltzer
Roger Money-Kyrle
Michael Paul
Hanna Segal
Hans A. Thorner
Robert H. Gosling
Martha Harris
Margaret J. Rioch
J.O. Wisdom
Robert J. Langs
Sidney Klein
Isabel Menzies Lyth
W.C lifford Scott
DO I DARE DISTURB THE UNIVERSE?
A MEMORIAL TO W.R. BION
edited by
James S..Grotstein
K A R N A C
LONDON NEW YORK
First published in 1981 by Caesura Press
Reprinted in 1983 with corrections by
H. Karnac (Books) Ltd.
6 Pembroke Buildings
London N W 10 6RE
Reprinted 1988, 1993, 2003
O 198 1 by Caesura Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A C.I.P. for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 0 946439 0 l X
www.karnacbooks.com
Printed & bound by Antony Rowe Ltd, Eastbourne
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
James Grotstein Wilfred R. Bion: the Man, the Psychoanalyst,
the Mystic. A Perspective on His Life and
Work 1
Frank Philips A Personal Reminiscence: Bion, Evidence
of the Man 3 7
CLINICAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Richard Alexander On the Analyst's 'Sleep' During the
Psychoanalytic Session 45
Bernard W. Bail To Practice One's Art 59
Susanna Isaacs-Elmhirst Bion and Babies 83
Betty Joseph Toward the Experiencing of Psychic Pain 93
Sydney Klein Autistic Phenomena in Neurotic Patients 103
Frederick Kurth Using Bion's Grid as a Laboratory Instrument:
A Demonstration 115
Albert Mason The Suffocating Super-Ego: Psychotic Break
and Claustrophobia 139
Herbert Rosenfeld On the Psychology and Treatment of
Psychotic Patients (Historical and
Comparative Reflections) 167
Frances Tustin Psychological Birth and Psychological
Catastrophe 181
Richard J. Rosenthal Raskolnikov's Transgression and the
Confusion Between Destructiveness and
Creativity
THEORETICAL CONTRIBUTIONS
A.B. Bahia New Theories: Their Influence and
Effect on Psychoanalytic Technique
Alfred Silver A Psychosemiotic Model: An Inter-
disciplinary Search for a Common
Structural Basis for Psychoanalysis,
Symbol-Formation, and the Semiotic
.
of Charles S Peirce 269
Andre Green Negation and Contradiction 317
Leon Grinberg The 'Oedipus' as a Resistance Against the
'Oedipus' in the Psychoanalytic Practice
James Grotstein Who Is the Dreamer Who Dreams the
Dream and Who is the Dreamer Who
Understands It? [Revised]
Elliott Jaques The Aims of Psycho-Analytic Treatment
Melvin R. Lansky Philosophical Issues in Bion's Thought
Robert Langs Some Communicative Properties of the
Bipersonal Field
Ignacio Matte Blanco Reflecting With Bion
Donald Meltzer A Note on Bion's Concept 'Reversal of
Alpha Function'
Roger Money-Kyrle Cognitive Development
Michael Paul A Mental Atlas of the Process of
Psychological Birth
W. Clifford M. Scott The Development of the Analysands' and
Analysts' Enthusiasm for the Process of
Psychoanalysis
Hanna Segal The Function of Dreams
Hans A. Thorner Notes on the Desire for Knowledge
J.O. Wisdom Metapsychology After Forty Years
CONTRIBUTIONS ON GROUPS
Editor's Note
Robert H. Gosling A Study of Very Small Groups
Martha Harris The Individual in the Group: On Learning
to Work With the Psycho-Analytic Method
Isabel Menzies Lyth Bion's Contribution to Thinking About
Groups
Margaret J. Rioch The Influence of Wilfred Bion and the
A.K. Rice Group Relations Conferences
Publications by Wilfred R. Bion
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I should like to acknowledge my gratitude to the late Dr. Bion and to Mrs. Bion for their
cooperation in the preparation of this work. It began as a Festschrift to celebrate his
eightieth birthday, but he died before it could be published. I am indebted, of course, to
all the contributors because of their enthusiasm and their cooperation with my editorial
requests. I should like to acknowledge my gratitude to Dr. Joseph Sandler, past editor of
The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, for his kind permission to re-publish the
late Mr. Roger Money-Kyrle's article, "Cognitive Development," and the late Dr. A.B.
Bahia's article, "New Theories: Their Influence and Effect on Psychoanalytic Technique."
I am ~ndebleda s well to Mf. 'l'hernas '1.3, Hayley, the eurrent stlitsi sf Thelnter7iatiuiiiil
Journal of Psycho-Analysis, for his gracious permission to re-publish Dr. Sidney Klein's
article, "Autistic Phenomena in Neurotic Patients," and Mrs. Isabel Menzies Lyth's
paper, "Bion's Contribution to Thinking About Groups." I am also in the debt of
Dr. Dinora Pines, Editor of The Bulletin of the British Psycho-Analytic Society for her
permission to re-publish Mrs. Menzies Lyth's article.
Because of the long gestation period in the development of the Festschrift, I
granted permission to some of the contributors to pre-publish their articles elsewhere.
They are as follows: a) Dr. Robert Langs, who pre-published his "Some Communicative
Properties of the Bipersonal Field" in The International Journal of Psychoanalytic Psycho-
therapy, Volume 7, 1978, and in The Listening Process, 1978, both books published in
New York by Jason Aronson; b) Dr. Donald Meltzer, who pre-published his "A Note on
Bion's Concept 'Reversal of Alpha Function,'" in The Kleinian Development, Part 111:
The Clinical Significance of the Work of Bion, Perthshire: Clunie Press, 1978; and c) Dr.
Susanna Isaacs, who pre-published her "Bion and Babies" in the Annals ofPsychoanalysis,
Volume VIII, New York International Universities Press, 1980; d) and I, the editor of this
volume, who pre-published a somewhat shorter version of "Who Is the Dreamer Who
Dreams the Dream and Who Is the Dreamer Who Understands It?" in Contemporary
Psychoanalysis, Volume 1 5, 1979, edited by Dr. Arthur Feiner, New York. I am grateful
to the publishers of these pre-publications for offering "foster homes" for those articles
until their publicational mother was able to welcome them home again.
My gratitude extends in full measure to my wife and children who have borne the
brunt of my labor of love, and to my secretary, Ms. Cheryl Cole, for her laborious efforts.