Bion Revisited Group Dynamics and Group Psychotherapy

Sutherland, J. D.; Trist, Eric; Murray, Hugh; Trist, Beulah

doi:10.9783/9781512819748-007

Cited by 19 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…It lacks an answer to a critical question: why are the relations with the group as formidable to adults as the relations with the breast are to infants? As Sutherland (1992) maintains, 'To state that the individual's groupishness is an inherent property in his makeup as a social animal has not really carried forward our understanding of its nature and origin. y Much as Bion has contributed, we are left with what seem to be the crucial questions about groups unanswered.…”

Section: The Causal Accountmentioning

confidence: 97%

The psycho-discursive origins of moral panics: Attempting a new theoretical synthesis

Ailon

2011

Psychoanal Cult Soc

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This paper attempts a new theoretical synthesis for studying 'moral panics'. Its proposed model ties together Bion's psychoanalytic theory of the development of collective emotions with Foucault's discourse theory, particularly his account of the role of the moral code in the cultivation of subjectivity. This psychodiscursive model posits that moral panics are a collective emotional reaction to subjectively strenuous moral requirements and expectations produced by a particular type of discursive strain or discontinuity. Its central premise is that the Kleinian object relations that Bion saw as central to understanding collective emotions develop in relation to Foucault's notion of a socially sanctioned "moral self" -to "self" as an object of moral knowledge.

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Section: The Causal Accountmentioning

confidence: 97%

The psycho-discursive origins of moral panics: Attempting a new theoretical synthesis

Ailon

2011

Psychoanal Cult Soc

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“…Furthermore, sometimes our strictures against acting out might come to the same thing. Sutherland (1985) suggested, for instance, that Bion's austerity may in fact have been depriving: what may appear from one point of emphasis as exemplary abstinence (from instinctual gratification) appears from another as the re-enactment of deprivation, probably, in this case, Bion's own (Carvalho 1992). Of course, errors may be committed in either direction.…”

Section: Can't Cope/won't Copementioning

confidence: 99%

Psychic Retreats Revisited: Binding Primitive Destructiveness, or Securing the Object? A Matter of Emphasis?

Carvalho

2002

Brit J Psychotherapy

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This paper argues that a potent cause of impasse in analysis/psychotherapy is the fear of annihilation by uncontained affect, and that the ‘retreat’(Steiner 1993) to which the patient has recourse is often prompted by such anxiety rather than by paranoid‐schizoid or depressive anxiety. Such retreats are marked by defensive attempts to occupy the object, to abolish separation, and to avoid emotional links that are feared will bring on the overwhelming affect related to attachment failures from the past. Thus, analysis itself is perceived unconsciously to be the disaster against which the patient is likely to implement an impasse. This approach offers an alternative to the concept of retreat as described by Steiner (ibid.), but is not intended to replace it. Either model may be indicated clinically in different circumstances. The author introduces the theories of Armando Ferrari and Ignacio Matte Blanco, both consonant with Ogden's theory of the autistic‐contiguous position and offering alternative explanations for the clinical phenomena. The technical implications of these considerations are then discussed in relation to some of the clinical material from Steiner's (2000) paper, ‘Containment, enactment and communication’.

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“…Usually Bion's theory about the individual's reactions to group stimuli is interpreted as a methatheory or a general theory about the group and processes of the group. So do (for different reasons), Sutherland ( 1985), Bridger (1985), Gustafson & Cooper (1985), Brown (1985), Khaleelee & Miller (1985). Schemer (1985), however, use the term "metatheory" with the meaning "metapsychology": "Some day we may recognize that Bion was the tint to recognize the biogenetic components inherent in group life" (p. 149).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prediction of valency and productivity: An empirical study of longterm group psychotherapy

Sjöberg

1993

Scandinavian J Psychology

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With reference to W. R. Bion's theory about individual's reactions to group stimuli the main hypothesis was formulated thus: individual's Valency (V) and Productivity (W) undergo changes in certain (definable) directions under the influence of longterm group psychotherapy. The main hypothesis was refined into seven sub-hypotheses. These were measured by four projective tests: Reaction Group Situation Test (RGST), Self Perceptual Q-sort (SPQ), Q-SORT(overt) and Q-SORT(covert). 48.0% of the total number of modalities, 120 out of 252, developed in a predicted and eligible direction. 29.0%, 74 modalities out of 252, remained unchanged whereas 23.0%, 58 modalities out of 252, developed in an opposite to predicted and non-eligible direction. Group members' Productivity (W) developed most of all the modalities in a predicted (eligible) direction. Group members' Valency and Productivity pattern (VP) changed least of all the modalities. The group members Valency (V) for the basic assumption Dependency (baD) developed most of all the modalities in an opposite to predicted, i.e. non-eligible direction.

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Bion Revisited Group Dynamics and Group Psychotherapy

Cited by 19 publications

References 0 publications

The psycho-discursive origins of moral panics: Attempting a new theoretical synthesis

The psycho-discursive origins of moral panics: Attempting a new theoretical synthesis

Psychic Retreats Revisited: Binding Primitive Destructiveness, or Securing the Object? A Matter of Emphasis?

Prediction of valency and productivity: An empirical study of longterm group psychotherapy

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