Psychoanalysis and Anxiety: From Knowing to Being

245 Pages·2018·1.341 MB·English

by  Chris Mawson

“This is that rare thing that is a pleasure to discover – a text which manages to
present important philosophical ideas in ways which are both challenging and
accessible, and which in the process illuminates a signifi cant area of clinical practice.
Chris Mawson has written a remarkably lucid and scholarly book which off ers
a much-needed bridge between psychoanalytic and existential formulations
of anxiety. It will be required reading for anyone interested in contemporary
psychoanalytic or existential therapy, not least because of its rigorous account of
the common roots of both in the ancient world, and the engaging way in which it
traces these infl uences down the centuries to the present day. This is a fi nely-crafted
book which shines with veracity and knowledge – a joy to read and a valuable
resource for all practitioners, regardless of their theoretical orientation, who are
concerned to engage as fully as possible with those who consult with them.
Some of the material presented here will be familiar to existential therapists, but
the comparisons between the work of, in particular, Heidegger and Bion provide
enlightening and compelling new contributions to an understanding of the irreducible
fact of anxiety which unifi es both the psychoanalytic and existential communities.
Mawson’s work promises to stimulate and provoke practitioners in equal measure.
A ground-breaking book which deserves the widest possible readership.”
—Professor Simon du Plock, Metanoia Institute &
Middlesex University, Editor, Existential Analysis
“Chris Mawson off ers us a fascinating set of ideas that clarify and develop some of
the fundamental theories of Klein and Bion. For example, he attempts to illuminate
the meaning of Bion’s otherwise obscure recommendation to suspend memory
and desire. He discusses the role of ‘intuition’ in understanding and responding
to the patient, and the value of attending to ‘the world of the drama of internal
relations’. In each case he brings a thoughtful and refreshing perspective to these
areas, thereby enriching our clinical and theoretical perspectives.”
—Dr Michael Feldman, British Psychoanalytical Society and
The Institute of Psychoanalysis
“When Chris Mawson and I met for the fi rst time in 2016, he brought me
the book ‘Transformations’ because of a question Bion asks on page 148 about
‘how to pass from “knowing” phenomena to “being” that which is “real”’ – a
question which was just a puzzle for me at that time. In the meantime, Chris
Mawson has written a book which is dedicated to the legacy which is contained
in this very question. It is an excellent book because its author is – as the
Editor of the collected works of Bion – best suited not only for elucidating the
shift of Bion’s thinking expressed in this question, but also, what is much more,
for exploring and elaborating the consequences of this shift for psychoanalytic
practice, especially for a new understanding of the analytic relationship (as a
‘being with’) and a new ‘indicative’ form of interpretation (which stems from
‘being informed-from-being’).
This book is also a model example for the rare capability of a psychoanalyst to
feel free to look beyond their own psychoanalytic garden fence (namely towards
existential philosophy for one thing and towards the fi eld of drama for the other),
but not as an end in itself, but as a necessary means for unfolding and answering
Bion’s question in its deepness and complexity. What Chris Mawson has won by
doing so he defi nes as ‘inspirations’. I am happy that some of my daseinsanalytic
ideas were able to work in this way too.”
—Alice Holzhey-Kunz, Ph. D., President of the Society for
Hermeneutic Anthropology and Daseinsanalysis, Zürich
PSYCHOANALYSIS AND ANXIETY:
FROM KNOWING TO BEING
Psychoanalysis and Anxiety: From Knowing to Being combines psychoanalytic, existential
and dramaturgical perspectives on the study of anxiety.
The book explores the implications for psychoanalysis of including a con-
sideration of the being of the patient, and of the analyst. The central principle
throughout is that the psychoanalytic and the existential belong together since
it is the irreducible fact of anxiety that unifi es them. It is in relation to anxiety
that we are helped by other human beings to bear what is, and what we are.
Divided into four parts, the book begins with the distinction made in antiquity
between anxiety and fear, before discussing its treatment by philosophers such as
Heidegger, who regarded anxiety as the mood most disclosive of our being, and
Kierkegaard, who distinguished between fear and angst. The book then explores
how anxiety has been understood by major psychoanalytic theorists, including Freud,
Klein, Winnicott and Bion, before a third part discusses how key principles of drama
relate to therapeutic practice and theory, including a re-evaluation of the concept
of catharsis, as well as Brecht’s concept of making strange the familiar. The pursuit
of insightful knowledge in psychoanalysis is reconsidered in the book’s concluding
section, with a shift of emphasis from psychoanalytic interpretations as statements of
knowing to interpretive activity as a continuous process of becoming informed .
This insightful and wide-ranging volume will fascinate practising psycho-
analysts and psychotherapists, anyone working in mental health, as well as scholars
of philosophy and theatre.
Chris Mawson is a Training and Supervising Analyst of the British Psychoanalytical
Society and works in private practice as a psychoanalyst. He is Editor of The Complete
Works of W. R. Bion (2014), with Francesca Bion as Consulting Editor.

PSYCHOANALYSIS
AND ANXIETY: FROM
KNOWING TO BEING
Chris Mawson
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Chris Mawson
The right of Chris Mawson to be identifi ed as the author has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Mawson, Chris, 1953- author.
Title: Psychoanalysis and anxiety / Chris Mawson.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019. |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifi ers: LCCN 2018048262 (print) | LCCN 2018050415 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780429055812 (Master eBook) | ISBN 9780367152246
(hardback) | ISBN 9780367152277 (pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Anxiety. | Psychoanalysis.
Classifi cation: LCC BF575.A6 (ebook) | LCC BF575.A6 M34 2019
(print) | DDC 152.4/6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018048262
ISBN: 978-0-367-15224-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-15227-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-05581-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
No writer, including Dante, sees more clearly than
Shakespeare does the impassable fi ssure between knowing
and being.
R. Allen Shoaf, L ucretius and Shakespeare on the Nature of Things
For Eileen and Bob, my mother and father

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements xi
About the author xiii
Foreword by Ronald Britton xiv
Introduction xviii
PART I
Anxiety: from the ancient world to
ontological philosophy 1
1 Anxiety: antiquity towards modernity 3
2 Heidegger: care and the anxiety of being 17
PART II
Anxiety and psychoanalysis: Freud, Klein, Bion
and Winnicott 33
3 Anxiety, communication and the mind: Freud’s work of
the specifi c action 35
4 Melanie Klein: the primary projective process and two
forms of anxiety 43
5 W. R. Bion: the theory of a container to transform anxiety 58
6 D. W. Winnicott and the being of the patient in analysis 69