ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights a few of W. R. Bion’s more informal musings, posthumously published in Cogitations. The particular fragments may each be seen as germane to the theory of psycho-analytic technique. The chapter offers detailed clinical examples in the interest of clarification. It describes some of the work of Bion—arguably one of the most celebrated and original of M. Klein’s analysands—perhaps the epigraph, may serve as a welcoming gesture to practicing analysts of any psychoanalytic orientation. Klein’s theory of projective identification as a defense was refined while under trial by Bion. The chapter discusses one more technical issue addressed by Bion, this one related to the use of theory. The theory suggests that what is split off from awareness and projected into the analyst in phantasy are the unbearable or untenable aspects of self-other experience. The chapter attempts to emphasize, through illustration, the incalculable value of Bion’s container-contained model and its pivotal role in promoting psychic growth.
