ABSTRACT
W. R. Bion's reversal of the designation to somapsychotic has the advantage of being a reminder that the nature of the problem is likely to be an underlying thought disorder in the realm of the emotions. Bion initially described the state of mindlessness as "protomental", meaning that the infant does not know what the feeling it is suffering from is, whether it is in the mind or in the body. Perhaps it is a pain that might develop into a depressive illness, a somatic one or even a psychosomatic one–it is "protomental". The nature of the thought disorder Bion described as being an inability to think symbolically. Bion went on to work out a theory of psychotic illness in which the primary failure was that the defence against depressive emotional pain was so drastic that it involved the destruction of the capacity to think.
