ABSTRACT
This chapter considers two psychotherapies: one of a child and one of an adolescent. It also considers W. R. Bion's inter-related concepts of maternal reverie and container or contained in relation to the development of thinking. The chapter discusses the Knowledge link which Bion sees as "essentially a function of two objects but it can be considered as a function of one", with the "earliest and most primitive manifestation of Knowledge occurring in the relationship between mother and infant". Bion's concept of container is sometimes equated with Winnicott's idea of holding. However, the concepts have different qualities. The holding environment is "positive and growth promoting". Containment can be positive or negative, although the term is more often used in the positive meaning. Both the container and the contained are active in either integrative or destructive ways. Bion coined the terms 'alpha-elements' and 'beta-elements' to designate fundamental mental experiences. He conceives of humans as endlessly transforming beta-elements into alpha-elements, which he terms alpha-function.
