ABSTRACT
It is impossible for me to do justice to the subject: to describe the model of mental functioning that is at the back of my mind when I am working, in the time at our disposal. I would have to explain Klein’s concept of the transition between the paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions, my work on the changes of the symbolic processes in this transition, Bion’s work on the transformation of beta into alpha elements and Rosenfeld’s discussion of the Kleinian view of narcissism. I shall have to take for granted that you have some idea about the theoretical background.
