ABSTRACT
The pressure, which author calls the representational imperative, originates in internal (e.g., drives) or external (e.g., perceptions) sources, exerts a “demand upon the mind” for psychic work, and ranges from catalytic to traumatic. If kept within optimal bounds, it has the potential to activate capacities for representation, which serve a vital protective role as they create, structure, and organize the mind. It is the creation and linking of representations that will in part determine whether or not any given pressure can be contained within the bounds of what is “optimal” or will exceed those bounds to become “traumatic”. The clinical manifestations of the failure or weakening of representation include the all-too-familiar range of impulsive, eruptive, destructive, and self-destructive feelings and actions with which we, and our patients, are so often confronted. This chapter examines the theoretical structure of the “colourless canvas” and describes some of the clinical implications and challenges that follow from its recognition.
