ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by summarising the core ideas of "Attacks on linking". It then considers the paper in the light of some of his later concepts. The chapter discusses Bion's technique at the time as reflected in the clinical material of the paper, and discusses the relation between the obstructive object and omnipotent phantasy in psychosis which is prominent in the paper. This will lead us to Bion's view of the relation of the psychotic with the infinite and O, and his interesting idea about the difference between a sane and an insane psychotic. It also discusses the way in which the phenomenon of attacks on linking differs in relation to transformations in O and in K, concluding with a more personal point of view on attacks on linking from perspective of a model of psychic functioning mainly based on Bion's work. Although overwhelmingly new and far-reaching, the text under discussion dates from very beginning of Bion's theoretical corpus.
