ABSTRACT
A vitalist strand permeates Carl Jung’s entire opus, beginning with his assertion in his Zofingia lectures as a student that “a pre-existent vital principle is necessary to explain the world of organic phenomena”. In 1913, just before the onset of World War I, Jung began to have a series of visions that became the foundation of a prolonged self-experimentation, and his subsequent conceptualisation of almost all of his theories, including the psychoid concept. Bion’s proto-mental concept is firmly grounded in his early career, in his World War I experience as a tank commander near the front line, his subsequent employment at the Tavistock Clinic, and his group work. In the 1930s, the Tavistock Clinic also represented a school of psychotherapy dedicated to an integrative practice combining both Jung and S. Freud. Development out of the proto-mental matrix occurs when the group perceives the need for a less magical form of thinking, and emotions become expressible in psychological terms.
