ABSTRACT
When W.R. Bion was working with individuals in group therapy before and during World War II, he discovered that groups had a tendency to function at a more primitive level than did individuals. Individual decisions were characterized by symbols, thought, assessments and choice. The mother-child relationship can be considered a model of the relationship between the analyst and the analysand. Both need each other in order to develop and become what they need to be. When Freud re-constructed the Oedipus myth in his interpretation as a central model for describing psychic space, there were also violent destructive attacks taking place on the cosmopolitan spirit emanating from Freud's fin-de-siecle Vienna. The attempt of dream work to express emotional content through images may be the best analogy to the work performed by the alpha function. The alpha function is specifically human. When it is working perfectly it transforms all sensory data into mental representations.
