ABSTRACT
Bion’s sensitivity to the undercurrents of emotion and projection in groups meant that he was able to sense moments when he was being used by the group to perform a particular role—“manipulated so as to be playing a part, no matter how difficult to recognize, in somebody else’s phantasy”. (1961, p. 149) This awareness of unconscious group dynamics allowed him to spot both the group state of mind—attention or distraction—and the dominant mode of interaction. For example, he knew the group mentality was dominated by distraction and dependency when he sensed that group members expected him to solve every problem for them and to provide all necessary “nourishment, material and spiritual, and protection”, (1961, p. 147) regardless of whether or not it was his role to lead. On such occasions, he felt that they saw him as a kind of god-like, fantasy figure: “I had become a kind of group deity; […] questions were directed to me as one who knew the answers without need to resort to work …” (1961, p. 148) The final phrase is crucial: “without need to resort to work”. What is the work Bion refers to here? What is it that this all-knowing group deity does not have to do to be able to solve the group’s problems—does not have to “resort to” because he or she just knows? What is the work that group members do not want to do for themselves?
