ABSTRACT
In this chapter I shall be attempting to indicate parallels between Bion’s O and the body-mind relationship – which I have explored on various occasions in the light of my clinical experience – setting out my own variations on several theories of A. B. Ferrari’s which assign a central position to the body as the COO (Ferrari, 2004; Lombardi, 2002). The theoretical and conceptual spheres represented by Bion and Ferrari do, of course, differ, since they are grounded in diverse perspectives, but the two men’s thinking can reveal some interesting points of interaction and, given the fact that Ferrari was a student of Bion’s in Brazil, they can give us an indication of how some of Bion’s theories might be developed.
