Rosa Beatriz Pontes de Miranda Ferreira
(with the co-operation of Diva Deiss de Farias)
The importance Bion attached to the Grid - the device he created to aid psychoanalysts in the solution of some of the difficulties arising in the psychoanalytical practice - is very clear throughout his work. Its relevance for psycho-analysis rests, among other things, on the help and encouragement it provides to analysts everywhere, for Bion himself invites us to follow our own paths.
Mostly through Bion's own words, this paper discusses the Grid, emphasising some of its aspects, namely: the development of column two and row C; the importance of the minus (-) sign; and the characteristics of rows G and H. We also examine how the application of the Grid can evoke the study of Transformations (1965). We conclude by affirming, as so many others have done before, that Bion's Grid has indeed played an important role in the development of modern science.
The Grid has become an essential part of psycho-analysis and its role has to be examined in the light of Bion's encouragement of individual contributions to its application. Also important is to look at it in the light of recent proposals to modify some of its aspects.
In essence, this "instrument" created by Bion is a notation, that is, a type of symbolic representation. Symbolic representations, have, throughout history, contributed to the development of science. We deal, in our daily life, with a series of such notations: the alphabet, numerical notations, Euclid's elements, and the symbols for measuring space, time and temperature. Of equal importance, albeit less generally known, is Mendeleyev's classification of the chemical elements (Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleyev, 1834-1907).
In psycho-analysis, the person that perhaps most contributed to the development of notations was Dr. Herman Rorschach, who elaborated a test - the well-known Rorschach Test (1942) - the aim of which was to help in the identification of the structure of an individual's personality. This test was further developed by a Brazilian psycho-analyst, Dr. Alcyon Baher Bahia, who, in 1949, designed a graphic representation of the test, based on psycho-dynamics.
Before we embark in our examination of the 1963 version of Bion's Grid, it is important to remember that since 1962, in Learning From Experience, he had already been sketching a notation system. Thus in that work he says, for example, that "if psycho-analytic theory were rationally organized it should be possible to refer to both these factors by symbols which were part of a system of reference that was applied uniformly and universally. The Kleinian theory of projective identification would be referred to by initials and a page and paragraph reference. Similarly, Freud's view of 'attention' would be replaced by a reference. This can in fact be done, though clumsily, by reference to page and line of a standard edition even now." (Learning from Experience, ch. 13, item 2, p. 38).
Further on in the same chapter, he speaks of purposes: "A record of sessions that showed succinctly the progress of the analysis by representing the theories employed would thus serve a purpose that was more than an aid to the analyst's memory." (Ibid., ch.13, item 6, p.40).
We are concerned here with the uses of the Grid put forward by Bion in work previous to Notes on Memory and Desire (1967). We begin with The Grid, paper written in October 1963, where Bion writes: "This paper is to introduce a method I have found useful in thinking about problems that arise in the course of psycho-analytical practice... My subject does not belong directly to the sphere of work done in analytic situations or throw much light on how to record sessions. Yet, it has a bearing on the work of the session because the procedures I am about to advocate do help to keep the analyst's intuition in training, so to speak, and do help in impressing the work of the sessions on the memory. Later, perhaps, it might help in developing a method of written recording analogous to that enjoyed by the mathematician who can record his findings and use the record for communication and further work on his findings even in the absence of the object. (The Grid,1963, p.1).
It is interesting to note that, in Elements of Psycho-Analysis ( 1963, p.1) where Bion develops virtually the whole structure of the grid, already in the first chapter he refers to categories C3, D3, E3, G3 and G4 and in chapter VI, of the same book, he refers to categories D6, E6, F6, G6 and H6. We mention this because the structure of the grid printed in the cover of the book does not include categories G and H. It would seem, therefore, that this structure is that of the original grid (earlier 1963). Indeed, in the later books, Bion justifies not using categories G and H and in these, with reference to category G, only G2 remains.
In Elements of Psycho-analysis (ch.20, pp. 99, 101,103) Bion asserts: "Suppose that at the end of the day's work the analyst wishes to review some aspect of his work about which he is doubtful. Assume further that the preoccupation centres on some phrase of the patient's. Recalling the session, the context of the statement, the patient's intonation, the analyst can place the statement in a category which, in the light of after knowledge, he thinks is correct". (We must remember once more that Notes on Memory and Desire was written much later). ... (In A) I have proposed uses for the Grid closely associated with actual analytic experiences. The Grid may, however, be used profitably as a kind of "analytical make-believe" in which the experimental element is much less dominant . Such an imaginative exercise is closer to the activity of the musician who practises scales and exercises, not directly related to any piece of music but to the elements of which any piece of music is composed. (idem, p.101, italics in the original)... Correct interpretation, therefore, will depend on the analyst's being able, by virtue of the grid, to observe that two statements verbally identical are psycho-analytically different... Incidentally, the whole of the preceding discussion can be taken as an example of the use of the grid for an exercise designed to develop intuition and the capacity for clinical discrimination" (idem, p. 103).
In Transformations Bion speaks of the 'O' that is an emotional experience and of the impression of O gained by the patients, either Tp or Tp. The affirmations made by the patient are transformed by the analyst, his/her mental process being represented by Ta to create a vision of Ta from which the analyst deduces the Tp. In his words: "The grid (in Elements of Psycho-Analysis) affords a method of escape from the implications of 'form' through resort to signs for abstract categories (the various grid compartments) to represent the content of T and T" (ch. 2, p. 12).
In the Commentary, of Second Thoughts , Bion refers to his previous work, saying: "(This sort of experience led me) to try a number of experiments in note taking, including some, perhaps the most convincing, which were intentionally subjective reports on my feelings about the day's work". He also tried "a card index served to find references to patients so that I might scrutinize the material quickly if I should wish to be reminded of his or her psycho-analytical history. This I thought helpful - once or twice " (Second Thoughts, p. 123). But, "finally, I abandoned note taking altogether" ... "One reason, (relevant in this immediate context) was my growing awareness that the most evocative notes were those in which I came nearest to a representation of a sensory image; ... The notes did not make it possible to remain conscious of the past but to evoke expectations of the future. Using the grid I have tentatively constructed for this purpose, the statements made in my notes are better categorized as C4 than as C3 " (Ibid, pp. 123, 124).
At a talk about the Grid, given in Buenos Aires (1968) he discusses how it can contribute to the development of our thought processes. Moreover, he also says, that, although the Grid is supported by theories, in itself, it is not a theory, but a useful instrument, not to be used in the course of clinical work. It is particularly useful when the analyst is working by himself/herself, not subjected to the presence of another who might make critical comments about his or her task, and when he/she is his/her own supervisor.
In The Grid, a talk given in Los Angeles in 1971, Bion says:..."It is assumed that... there are invariants present in the psycho-analytic experience and in the theoretical formulation. On the correctness of this assumption the genuineness of the psycho-analysis depends. I have described elsewhere that under projection a round pond and an avenue of trees on the ground can be represented by an ellipse and two converging lines on a piece of paper. In short, there are invariants in these two factually different objects - the pond and trees, and the drawing. What are the invariants if one object is the fountains of Rome and the other the score of a piece of music by Respighi? ...What are the rules which have to be obeyed if the analysand can reasonably be expected to understand the analyst and vice versa? ... I cannot, even if I wanted to, answer these questions. Nor, as far as I know, can the Grid. But I have found, and think that others might likewise find, that the Grid could serve to provide a mental climbing frame on which the psycho-analyst could exercise his mental muscles. Even its defects could be turned to advantage. (Two Papers: The Grid and Caesura, p. 37). ...Nevertheless, its use has made it easier for me to preserve a critical and yet informative, illuminating, attitude to my work. In this respect it has, as far as I am concerned, served a useful purpose which has made me think that others might find it profitable to invent and apply a grid system of their own; (idem, p. 12) ... The more the Grid, or something more effective, is studied, the clearer will it become that the psycho-analyst will not only have to develop his power to intuit but he will need to keep it in good repair in the way, analogously, that the eye surgeon must keep the small muscles of his hands in perfect order (idem, p. 18) ... The Grid is to be used in the process of this period of preparation, not as a substitute for observation or psycho-analysis but as a prelude to it" (idem, p.39).
In Cogitations, in a passage that was transferred from tape, Bion says: "I am inclined to think that I would have to use the Grid itself at some point in this book - The Dream, book I, of a Memoir of the Future) - as an effort of formulating or re-forming or showing the relationships of one aspect of it to another, with a kind of arrangement by which all these relationships were shown in a form that was different from that of the narrative of the book itself. It would display the way in which the logical or rational connections of one part with another could be formulated - although, of course, rational formulation is not necessarily an adequate formulation for something that is not really rational at all." (Cogitations, p. 357).
In The Grid, (1963) Bion describes the axes: "It will be seen that there are two axes, one vertical marked A-H, the other horizontal which is numbered 1,2,3,... to n. The vertical axis is genetic and is divided roughly into phases of sophistication. The meaning is roughly indicated by the terms I have used. They are borrowed from philosophy and elsewhere but must not be taken to have the meaning with which they are already invested in their rigorous employment in the discipline from which they are borrowed; they must be regarded as intended ultimately to have a meaning appropriate to psycho-analysis.
...The horizontal axis relates to 'uses' to which the elements in the genetic axis are put. I have annotated the numbers in an imprecise manner similar to that with which I have used terms to annotate the vertical axis." (The Grid, mimeo, p. 2).
...The Grid is intended to aid the analyst in categorization of statements. It is not a theory, though psycho-analytical theories have been used to construct it, but has the status of an instrument. A word or two is necessary to explain my use of the term statement.
...By statement I mean anything from an inarticulate grunt to quite elaborate constructions such as this paper itself. A single word is a statement, a gesture or grimace is a statement; in short, it is any event that is part of communication between analyst and analysand, or any personality and itself (idem, p. 3).
...The (existing) columns have been used by me and I do not think they should be lightly discarded. They were devised primarily with what I have called a K link in mind but their usefulness is unimpaired for L and H. I may explain that K is intended to denote the domain of learning from experience, L to denote the domain of love in all its aspects and H the domain of hate. " (idem, p.3).
In Elements of Psycho-analysis, ... "analytic interpretations can be seen to be theories held by the analyst about the models and theories the patient has of the analyst." (Elements of Psycho-analysis, ch. 5, p. 17).
Column 1
In The Grid (mimeo, 1963): "Column 1 is subtitled a definitory hypothesis. ...Statements, to which this category is appropriate, mark that elements previously regarded as unrelated are believed to be constantly conjoined, and to have coherence. A statement in this column should be considered to have significance but not meaning". ...From the fact that the definitory statement does not refer to an earlier conjunction springs the objection sometimes made that a definition is negative. ( The Grid, mimeo, p. 3, emphasis in the original).
In Elements of Psycho-Analysis: "Roughly such interpretations take the form that the patient is showing by his associations that he is, say, depressed. In so far as it is a definitory hypothesis it is by way of saying 'This, that you, the patient, are now experiencing is what I, and, in my opinion, most people, would call depression'. In so far as it is to define for the patient what the analyst means by definition there can be no argument about it because the only valid criticism would be if the statement could be shown to be absurd because self-contradictory" (Elements of Psycho-Analysis, ch.5, pp.17,18).
In the 1971 talk about The Grid, given in Los Angeles: "... The first column is for definitory hypotheses, however primitive, however sophisticated - as expressed by the row in which it is thought fit to place it or them. About these it may be worth observing that they always presuppose a negative element, that is to say, if I say this paper is about the Grid that is what it is about, not cookery or measurement etc. Equally, however erroneous my claim may be, however obvious it is to someone else that it is about measurement (or cookery or anything else) their formulation is not relevant to this discussion or any discussion for which the definition has been formulated by the protagonist. Its falsity or otherwise is a function of its relationship to other elements in the scheme" (Two Papers: The Grid and Caesura, p. 10, italics in the original).
Column 2
In The Grid (mimeo, 1963): "Column 2 is to categorize the 'use' to which a statement, of whatever kind it may be and however untrue in the context, is put with the intention of preventing a statement, however true in the context, that would involve modification in the personality and its outlook. I have arbitrarily used the sign to emphasize the close relationship of this 'use' to phenomena known to analysts as expressions of 'resistance' " ( The Grid, mimeo, p. 3).
In Elements of Psycho-Analysis: "Statements representing the realization in such a way that the analyst's anxiety that the situation is unknown and correspondingly dangerous to him, is denied by an interpretation intended to prove to himself and the patient that this is not so" ( Elements of Psycho-Analysis, ch.5, p.18).
In the 1971 talk about The Grid, given in Los Angeles: ... "My original idea was that it would supply a series of categories for palpably false statements, preferably known both to the analysand and the analyst to be false, but it was soon evident that it would be necessary to consider what the lie was to be used for and it was evident at once that 'lie' was a question-begging and possibly misleading term". ..."To leave the problem for the time being, it is simplest to consider column 2 as relating to elements known to the analysand to be false, but enshrining statements valuable against the inception of any development in his personality involving catastrophic change. At this unsatisfactory point the discussion must, for the present, be left "(Two Papers: The Grid and Caesura, pp. 10,11).
Column 3
In The Grid (mimeo, 1963): "Column 3 contains the categories of statements which are used to record a fact. Such statements are fulfilling the function described by Freud as notation and memory" ( The Grid, mimeo, p. 3).
In Elements of Psycho-Analysis: "Statements that are representations of present and past realizations. An example of such a statement would be a brief summary reminding the patient of something that the analyst believes took place on a previous occasion. This corresponds to the function Freud denotes by the term notation" (Elements of Psycho-Analysis, ch. 5, p.18, italics in the original).
Column 4
In The Grid (mimeo, 1963): "Column 4 represents the 'use' described by Freud in Two Principles of Mental Functioning, as the function of attention." ..."Statements properly regarded as appropriate to Column 4 relate to constant conjunctions that have been previously experienced and the 'use' represented by Column 4 categories differs in this respect from the 'use' represented by Column 1." ( The Grid, mimeo, p. 4).
In Elements of Psycho-Analysis: "Statements representing a scientific deductive system in so far as such a system can be expressed in ordinary conversational English. Such a statement has affinities with 3 above in that it may be regarded as representing a realization from which it has been derived. But essentially its function is similar to that of attention as described by Freud. It is the statement one expects to follow an analyst's cliché. 'I would like to draw your attention to...' It is similar to 5 below, but more passive and receptive, corresponding to reverie. It is a theoretical formulation, expressed with as much scientific rigour as the circumstances of analytical practice permit, whose function is to probe the environment. In this respect it has affinities with the pre-conception. It is essential to discrimination. One of its functions is receptiveness to the selected fact. (By selected fact I mean that by which coherence and meaning is given to facts already known but whose relatedness has not hitherto been seen.)" (Elements of Psycho-Analysis, ch. 5, p.19, italics in the original).
Column 5
In The Grid (mimeo, 1963), Bion says: "Column 5, particular the gloss 'Oedipus' requires some explanation. In so far as it represents a 'use' similar to Column 4 it may be regarded as redundant. ... A criticism of Oedipus, implicit in the story, is the obstinacy with which he pursues his inquiry. This aspect of curiosity may seem unimportant to the philosopher of science but it is of significance clinically and therefore worth including with Columns 3 and 4 as representing something that is more than a difference of intensity just as 4 (attention) is more than an intense 3 (notation)". ( The Grid, mimeo, p. 4).
In Elements of Psycho-Analysis: "Similar to 1,2,3 and 4 as far as formulation is concerned - all are formulated by an identical representation, or, in other words, the interpretation can be verbally identical in each case - but it is a theory used to investigate the unknown." ..." The primary object is to obtain material for satisfaction of the impulses of inquiry in patient and analyst." (Elements of Psycho-Analysis, ch.5, p. 19).
In the 1971 talk about The Grid, given in Los Angeles, Bion says that "columns 3 - 5 may be conveniently regarded as a spectrum of attention ranging from memory and desire to floating, general attention to a further extreme of particularity." (Two Papers: The Grid and Caesura, pp. 11,12).
Column 6
In The Grid (mimeo, 1963), he writes: The last column which I have annotated 'action' also requires comment. It refers to those phenomena that resemble motor discharge intended to unburden 'the mental apparatus of accretions of stimuli'. To qualify for inclusion in this category the action should be an expression of a theory that is readily detectable - otherwise it cannot be described as a 'use' of a theory." ( The Grid, mimeo, p. 4).
In Elements of Psycho-Analysis: "In this, the last category that I propose to distinguish, the statement, though still embodied in a representation identical with those employed in all the other statements, is used as an operator." "...Functions of interpretations that fall in this category, and therefore the interpretations in this one of their aspects, are analogous to actions in other forms of human endeavour. For the analyst the transition that comes nearest to that of decision and translation of thought into action is the transition from thought to verbal formulations of category 6." (Elements of Psycho-Analysis, ch.5, pp. 19,20).
In the 1971 Los Angeles talk, Bion says: "Column 6 is intended to categorize thoughts which are closely related to, or are transformations into, action." ..."I wished to find some category in which I could place acting out." (Two Papers: The Grid and Caesura, p.12).
Beta and Alpha Elements
In The Grid (mimeo, 1963), Bion thus describes these elements: "The first two rows of the genetic axis may be discussed together: -elements and -elements are intended to denote objects that are unknown and therefore may not even exist. By speaking of elements, -elements and -functions I intend to make it possible to discuss something, or to talk about it, or think about it before knowing what it is. At the risk of suggesting a meaning, when I wish the sign to represent something of which the meaning is to be an open question, to be answered by the analyst from his own experience, I must explain that the term '-element' is to cover phenomena which may not reasonably be regarded as thoughts at all. " ..."Ideally any meaning that the term accumulates should derive from analytic practice and from analytic practice alone. Much the same is true of the -element except that this term should cover phenomena that are reasonably considered to be thoughts. I would regard them as elements which make it possible for the individual to have what Freud described as dream thoughts." (The Grid, mimeo, p. 4).
In Elements of Psycho-Analysis: "-elements - This term represents the earliest matrix from which thoughts can be supposed to arise. It partakes of the quality of inanimate object and psychic object without any form of distinction between the two. Thoughts are things, things are thoughts; and they have personality.
-elements - This term represents the outcome of work done by -function on sense impressions. They are not objects in the world of external reality but are products of work done on the sensa believed to relate to such realities." (Elements of Psycho-Analysis, ch.6, p.22).
In Learning from Experience Bion uses the theory of functions. He writes: "Function is the name for the mental activity proper to a number of factors operating in consort. 'Factor' is the name for a mental activity operating in consort with other mental activities to constitute a function." And later: "The function I am about to discuss for its intrinsic importance also serves to illustrate the use to which a theory of functions can be put. I call this function an alpha-function so that I may talk about it without being restricted, as I would be if I used a more meaningful term, by an existing penumbra of associations. " (Learning from Experience, ch. 1 pp. 1, 2)
Further on in the same book, in chapter III, item 1, he says: "An emotional experience occurring in sleep, which I choose for reasons that will presently appear, does not differ from the emotional experience occurring during waking life in that the perceptions of the emotional experience have in both instances to be worked upon by alpha-function before they can be used for dream thoughts." (idem, p.6).
In the Brazilian Lectures, São Paulo, 1973, (pp.66,67) Bion answers to a question saying: "-elements are a way of talking about matters which are not thought at all; -elements are a way of talking about elements which, hypothetically are supposed to be part of thought. The poet Donne has written 'the blood spoke in her cheek'... as if her body thought! This expresses exactly for me that intervening stage which in the Grid is portrayed on paper as a line separating "-elements from -elements. Note that I am not saying that is either or , but the line separating the two which is represented by the poet's words."
In the 1971 Los Angeles talk, Bion says: "-element - ... It has been considered useful to include two rows for and elements neither of which are real or observable. The -element row is for the categorization of elements, like an unpremeditated blow which is related to, but is not, thought." (Two Papers: The Grid and Caesura, p.9).
And in the 1963 The Grid, (mimeo, p. 4) "I must explain that the term -element is to cover phenomena which may not reasonably be regarded as thoughts at all."
Row C
In the 1963 The Grid, (mimeo, p. 4): "Row C includes dreams and other possible organized systems of dream thoughts. Myth is to be included together with organized structures that are primitive forms of model."
In Elements of Psycho-Analysis, (1963): "Dream-thoughts. These depend on the prior existence of and elements; otherwise they require no elaboration beyond that which they have received in classical psycho-analytical theory." (Elements of Psycho-Analysis, ch. 6, p. 23).
In the Commentary, in Second Thoughts, referring to the accounts he has given just previous to this passage, he says: "The need to 'illustrate' the theme means that an attempt is made to represent the experience in terms of sensuous experience - C category terms. Description in such terms avoids the danger of manipulation of jargon but it introduces dangers which are as great though different. First the terms cannot represent the psycho-analytic experience which they purport to describe, but only a sensuous experience of physical fact supposedly analogous to the mental experience. 18-20 is a transformation (see W.R. Bion, Transformations) of an emotional experience into a verbal formulation of a sensuous experience (19)"(Second Thoughts, p.130). ..."I have regarded C category elements as being the stuff from which the scientific use of models derives. One advantage of the model is that it does not commit the psycho-analyst to the formal rigidity of a theory, but presents him with a tool which he can discard when it has served his purpose" (Idem, p. 141).
In The Grid, (talk in Buenos Aires, 1968) "For example, if the patient says he had a dream, but that he cannot remember it, this would constitute what we would normally consider an example of the (difficulties of category C). However, I also believe that, especially with a certain kind of patients, it is convenient to take into account the possibility that they did have a dream but that the problem is not their inability to remember it, but the fact that the dream clearly happened in terms of physical sensations and visual sensations."
In the 1971 Los Angeles talk, Bion says: "...row C is intended for categories of thought which are often expressible in terms of sensuous, usually visual, images such as those appearing in dreams, myths, narratives, hallucinations." (Two Papers: The Grid and Caesura, p. 9).
Row D
In the 1963 The Grid, (mimeo, p. 5): "All rows except the first are to represent categories of statements that are unsaturated, that is capable of accumulating meaning. "
In Elements of Psycho-Analysis: "The pre-conception - This corresponds to a state of expectation. It is a state of mind adapted to receive a restricted range of phenomena. An early occurrence might be an infant's expectation of the breast. The mating of pre-conception and realization brings into being the conception. " (Elements of Psycho-Analysis, p. 23).
Row E
In Elements of Psycho-Analysis: (pp. 23,24) "The conception - The conception may be regarded as a variable that has been replaced by a constant. If we represent the pre-conception by () with () as the unsaturated element, then from the realization with which the pre-conception mates there is derived that which replaces () by a constant. The conception can however be employed as a pre-conception in that it can express an expectation. The mating of () with the realization satisfies the expectation but enlarges the capacity of () for further saturation."
Row F
In Elements of Psycho-Analysis,(1963), "The concept is derived from the conception by a process designed to render it free of those elements that would unfit it to be a tool in the elucidation or expression of truth." (Elements of Psycho-Analysis, ch.6, p. 24).
In the Los Angeles The Grid, 1971: "Row F is intended to represent a category for statements, formulations which already exist. In it can be placed psycho-analytical theories, scientific by non-analytical theories, so called laws of nature and other constructs already accepted by various disciplines as being at least temporarily acceptable as genuine attempts to formulate scientific observations." (Two Papers: The Grid and Caesura, p. 10).
Row G
In the 1963 The Grid, Bion says: "As I have said elsewhere I do not think it likely that in analytic practice an analyst would discover anything that would pass muster, by any rigorous standard of accepted scientific method, for inclusion in rows G and H. Nevertheless, I think it important that these categories should exist although it involves the paradox of employing or appearing to employ rigorous standards loosely. One reason for such categories lies in the fact that statements which, under analytic scrutiny turn out to be loose statements, are often employed by scientists and philosophers as if they were rigorous. " (The Grid, mimeo, 1963, p. 5).
And in Elements of Psycho-Analysis, (1963): "The scientific deductive system. In this context the term 'scientific deductive system' means a combination of concepts in hypotheses and systems of hypotheses so that they are logically related to each other. The logical relation of one concept with another and of one hypothesis with another enhances the meaning of each concept and hypothesis thus linked and expresses a meaning that the concepts and hypotheses and links do not individually possess. In this respect the meaning of the whole may be said to be greater than the meaning of the sum of its parts." (Elements of Psycho-Analysis, ch. 6, p. 24).
In the Los Angeles The Grid, 1971, he says: " ...but it may be as well to anticipate comment on rows G and H. These rows can hardly be said to have any approximation in reality. G is supposed to await the development of psycho-analytic deductive systems and H the equivalent of algebraic systems. It is to be hoped, as always, that they will not be prematurely developed, for pre-mature development can become as tiresome an obstacle to progress as post-maturity - blindness to what might already be seen to be available for practising or theoretical psycho-analysts." (Two Papers: The Grid and Caesura, p. 9).
Row H
In Elements of Psycho-Analysis, (1963): "Calculi - The scientific deductive system may be represented by an algebraic calculus. In the algebraic calculus a number of signs are brought together according to certain rules of combination." (Elements of Psycho-Analysis, ch. 6, p. 24).
We must recall that, when Bion discussed the definitory hypothesis, he emphasized that "Any definitory hypothesis ... has always been recognized to have a negative function. It must always imply that something is; equally it implies that something is not. It is therefore open to the recipient to infer one or other according to his temper. If the personality is incapable of tolerating frustration there seems to be no reason why he should not develop on the assumption that the definitory hypothesis means that something is. ... But suppose that the inability to tolerate frustration is 'excessive': the personality may react against the statement, seeing only its negative implications and, in the extreme case, refusing to allow the statement, to him a 'no-thing' even to exist. The attempt then is to annihilate the statement in its function of definitory hypothesis." (Attention and Interpretation, ch. 2, p. 16).
In the figure representing The Grid, in the cell referring to the definitory hypotheses, there are, therefore, three subdivisions:
It is possible to indicate the negative aspects of the definitory hypotheses by creating another kind of Grid, using co-ordinate axes. In this case, we would have an abscissa with both a negative and a positive value (+1, -1). (Figure 4).
Let us consider, for example, the expression "We will leave at sunrise". In its meaning as a definitory hypothesis about the time of our departure, it is indisputable. But this same expression may indicate the fantasy of a patient who will be meeting his girlfriend next day. In this case, the statement is questionable. (Figures 3 and 4).
In so far as Column 2 is concerned, it is evident that a distinction must be made between a statement that is a lie, and a false statement. The false statement refers more to an incapacity of human beings, in this case, both the analyst's and the patient's, to trust their own ability to actually know the truth, and the affirmation of the liar, who must be certain of his knowledge of the truth to ensure that he will not trip on it , blindly and by accident.
It would also be possible to subdivide Column 2 into two or three cells: the false and the liar, both of whom can also be looked at from two different angles: the one who knows the truth, and the one who is afraid to know the truth in case it leads to disaster. According to Bion, if we were to use the co-ordinate axes, Row 2 would cease to exist, becoming, therefore, -2. This would imply a more general change in the location of the columns (for example, Row 3 would be in cell 2 and so on) (Figures 3 and 4).
The close relation between column 3, 4 and 5 (Figure 3) should be emphasized. We have already referred to Column 5, but would like to call attention to the fact that Bion made a distinction between obstination and curiosity. In the 1963 The Grid Column 5 is described as "Oedipus" and in subsequent Grids, this is changed to "Inquiry". On these bases, we came to the conclusion that it should be subdivided, since there is a difference between obstination and inquiry. It is also important to note that there is a distinction between curiosity in the sense of inquiry (a scientific effort) and curiosity in the sense of arrogance, as described by Bion in Second Thoughts (ch.7, p. 86, On Arrogance), stupidity, curiosity and arrogance being signs of impending disaster. In the clinical practice, we observe patients who may display either an attitude of arrogance or one of questioning, and this also applies to the analyst himself/herself. It is possible, therefore, to divide the cell or place a minus sign (-5) in the co-ordinate axes.
Column 6 can also be divided. We quote Bion (Elements of Psycho-Analysis, ch. 5, p. 18). "(This last category) is used as an operator. The intention is primarily that the communication will enable the patient to effect solutions of his problems of development. (The patient of course can use it to effect solutions of his problems rather than solutions of his problems of development... ... For the analyst, the transition that comes nearest to that of decision and translation of thought into action, is the transition from thought to verbal formulations of category 6."
Moreover, Column 6 can also be used to classify "phenomena that resemble motor discharge intended to unburden 'the mental apparatus of accretions of , stimuli'." (The Grid, 1963, p. 4) According to what we said, the action, if representing development, is placed in the positive abscissa and if representing a discharge, remains as -6. (Figures 3 and 4).
Let us now discuss the genetic axis. We have already made a reference to the -element , but here, we would like to quote once more the excerpt from the Brazilian Lectures, where Bion refers to these elements: "-elements are a way of talking about matters which are not thought at all; -elements are a way of talking about elements which, hypothetically are supposed to be part of thought. The poet Donne has written 'the blood spoke in her cheek'... as if her body thought! This expresses exactly for me that intervening stage which in the Grid is portrayed on paper as a line separating "-elements from -elements. Note that I am not saying that is either Beta or alpha, but the line separating the two which is represented by the poet's words." (Brazilian Lectures, 1, São Paulo, 1973). In Figure 3 we have added this line.
In Figure 4, where we drew the geometric co-ordinates, we preferred to consider the -element as positive, taking into consideration Bion's definition of this element, in which he says: "This term represents the earliest matrix from which thoughts can be supposed to arise." (Elements of Psycho-Analysis, ch.6, p.22).
With regard to category C, in the Los Angeles The Grid (1971), Bion suggests that: "This category will certainly require extension as psycho-analytic experience accumulates; even now it deserves a 'grid' of its own to expand it suitably for psycho-analytic use."
IV.1 The clinical material
(omitted here)
I classified the patient's statements in A6 and E2, and later, in the second session, in A4 and E4. In four of the statements, two are and as the use, one is 2 and the other 6.
1. Why is she coming to see someone she wants to attack?
2. Why so much pre-verbal communication?
It seems that I am a good person to come to because I am so bad, so inferior that this gives her the security that she can do better than me? However, although I ask myself what she is doing here, why is there only aggression and negation?
I also registered E2 and E4. In E2, although denying our relationship she is able to express an idea of why people go to analysis: because she expects to get some help. The analysis will help her in her relation with her husband.
I also registered E4. I notice that she talks to me about her father, about the depression, about the separation from her mother, about the different reaction of her children, and the husband's position in their lives. In sum, she talks to me about her family. Apparently, she is not speaking of feelings, but this is not true. She is not just speaking of her family, but, because her family means something to her, she is calling my attention to this fact. In the Grid, E4 is a development.
We would suggest that the signs G and H be maintained in the genetic axis. They will not be final products of the verbalization of an interpretation, since, as Bion points out, for the communication to be felt by the patient it needs to go from the sophistication of category H to category C, that is in a visual image.
Our way of working develops unattached to theories (although these theories exist within us, in our fund of knowledge) and is carried out in a state of "hallucinosis" (without memory, desire or understanding). Knowing, also, that the material the patient gives us, even when it seems familiar to us, relates to something that is unknown both to the patient and to ourselves, we must work patiently, until there appears a specific fact, a common denominator, or the perception of a contradiction, which we can then communicate to the patient, thus obtaining perhaps a few more associations; then, still patiently, we must continue until a intuition may lead us to the perception of a model of what is being thought in the analytical relationship. We have, then, a certain security that will eventually and finally take us to verbalization. We believe that this whole process (in a state of conscious "hallucinosis") corresponds to a Deductive Scientific System. Therefore, we go through G, H, and finally C. If we were to place this interpretation, as we verbalize it to the patient, in the grid, we would register neither G nor H. However, if, experimentally, we want to play the game, as Bion says, corresponding or not to what actually occurred, we will be exercising ourselves and discussing these matters. A type of exercise that can be carried out by one person alone or in a group. Which would be the scientific conclusion we reached that took us to C?
It is essential that we should refer to some theories and the use of mathematics in Bion's work, such as the functions and factors in Learning from Experience, chapter 1. F() functioning as a constant, due to its situation as an unknown quantity, and the factors being able to be replaced by theories and conceptions of a fixed value. The theory of functions makes it easier to bring together the realization with the deductive system representing it. For the use of the term "realization" Bion quotes Semple and Kneebone in Algebraic Projective Geometry. When Bion talks about the deductive scientific system he quotes Braithwaite in Scientific Explanation. Elements and are used in the same way unknown quantities are used in algebraic calculations. The term Vertex is used as a substitute for point-of-view. There are also several references to point, line, direction and orientation. In physics, Bion describes category C as being something like infra and ultrasensorial areas. Many other mathematical concepts are frequently mentioned by Bion. We have selected a passage from Attention and Interpretation (Ultimate Reality) that illustrates his thought about the 'mathematics' needed for psycho-analysis: "The realities with which psycho-analysis deals, for example fear, panic, love, anxiety, passion, have no sensuous background, though there is a sensuous background (respiratory rate, pain, touch, etc.) that is often identified with them and then treated, supposedly scientifically. What is required is not a base for psycho-analysis and its theories but a science that is not restricted by its genesis in knowledge and sensuous background. It must be a science of at-one-ment. It must have a mathematics of at-one-ment, not identification. There can be no geometry of 'similar', 'identical', 'equal'; only of analogy."
Also referring to algebraic calculi, Bion said that, maybe one day, mathematics could be a great help for psycho-analysis, if it was permitted, when using this type of calculi, to arrive at the genesis of the calculus itself through an inverse path . In Second Thoughts (Theory of Thinking, p. 113) Bion affirms that "Mathematical elements, namely straight lines, points, circles and something corresponding to what later becomes known by the names of numbers, derive from realizations of two-ness as in breast and infant, two eyes, two feet and so on."
Moreover, as already described by the author of this paper in previous work, "Bion raises the hypothesis that Euclid's Theorem and Freud's discovery of the Oedipus Complex, together with Oedipus' Myth and Sophocles' version, are similar in that both intend to find solutions for the conflicts and problems which are, simultaneously, a manifestation and a tentative solution.
Oedipus' myth in itself involves the issue of the knowledge in which a question is raised, asking for a reply. Which was the question proposed by the Sphinx? Bion emphasizes 'its' (i.e. the Sphinx') question. Tradition says that the question was: ' what is it that walks on four feet in the morning, on two feet by midday and on three by early evening?' And the answer was: 'Human beings, because they crawl on all fours when babies, they walk on their two feet most of their life, and they use a stick in old age.' Bion suggests that this answer should be revaluated. To support his argument he refers to a proposition called 'Pons Asinorum' (1.5) from Euclid's first book. Bion says we are used to relate the term isosceles triangle to the mathematical sense of the term, that is, a triangle having two sides equal. (indeed, Euclid's proposition refers to the isosceles triangle as a triangle having two sides equal). But the Greek term may be translated as 'a thing with three knees having legs equal', and knees, in primitive Greek literature, is frequently associated with genitalia. If we consider Euclid's proposition 1.47, also called Pythagoras' Theorem, (of which the popular name would be The Bride's Theorem, according to Heath's The Thirteen Books of Euclid's Elements, p. 417, also quoted in Transformations, p. 78). This name was originally used for the rectangular triangle having 3,4,5' sides. Plutarch gives a fanciful and oedipal description of it: the perpendicular would be the male, the basis the female, and the hypotenuse the offspring of the two... In the 3, 4, 5 triangle, the first, 3 is the first odd number and is perfect; 4 is the square of the even side 2, whilst 5 is partially similar to the father and partially to the mother, being the sum of 3 plus 2. And why are we interested in all this? Much could be said about Bion's hypotheses, for example, when we speak of the Oedipal current that extends from the primordial evolution to the most advanced calculi. He suggests, for instance, that thanks to the elaboration of scientific methods, we are learning more, but, simultaneously, calculi are being produced which are impregnated with the impulse to escape from Oedipal material and archaic reminiscence. Can the calculus, once realized, produce an equipment able to adequately investigate the problem that gave origin to the calculus in the first place? Can the calculus, that represents an attempt at abstraction as an escape from an Oedipal situation, be elaborated to explore this situation? Is there already a type of calculus that does exactly that? Can the Oedipus' conflict be solved by a mathematical experiment? Then, the inner world would be explored by a calculus that would be interested in its origin."
Still from Cogitations (p. 378) we would like to mention the following passage: "In psycho-analysis it is assumed that a theory is false if it does not seem to minister to the 'good' of the majority of mankind. And it is a commonplace idea of good. The whole idea of 'cure', of therapeutic activity, remains unscrutinized. It is largely determined by the expectations of the patient though this is questioned in good analysis (as I know it). But in nuclear physics a theory is considered to be good if it aids the construction of a bomb that destroys Hiroshima. Too much of the thinking about psycho-analysis precludes the possibility of regarding as good a theory that would destroy the individual or the group. Yet there will never be a scientific scrutiny of analytic theories until it includes critical appraisal of a theory that by its very soundness could lead to a destruction of mental stability, e.g. a theory that increased memory and desire to a point where they rendered sanity impossible."
(Please note that this outline has been prepared in lieu of a bibliography)
There is much more continuity between intra-uterine life and earliest infancy than the impressive caesura of the act of birth allows us to believe.
Freud S. (1926) Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety
Caesura is a pause in the interior of a long sentence, after an accentuated syllable. In music, it is also an element of rhythm.
Bion's work is extensive. I will condense the different Caesuras.
1
1- (1943) Bion and Rickman Intra-group Tensions in Therapy
2- (1946) The Leaderless Group Project
3- (1948) Experiences in Group I-VII
4- (1948) Psychiatry at a Time of Crisis
2
1- (1950) The Imaginary Twin
2- (1952) Group Dynamics: a Review
3
1- (1953) Notes on the Theory of Schizophrenia
2- (1955) Development of Schizophrenia Thought
3- (1955) Differentiation of the Psychotic from the Non-Psychotic Personalities
4- (1956) On Hallucination
5- (1957) On Arrogance
6- (1957) Attacks on Linking
4
1- (1961) A Theory of Thinking
2- (1962) Learning from Experience
3- (1963) The Grid
4- (1963) Elements of Psycho-Analysis
5- (1965) Transformations
5
1- (1966) Catastrophic Changes
2- (1967) Commentary in Second Thoughts
3- (1967) Notes on Memory and Desire
4- (1970) Attention and Interpretation
6
I will classify the papers below according to the presentation forms:
Conversation with Bion
1- (1973) Bion in São Paulo
2- (1974) Bion in Rio de Janeiro
3- (1974) Bion in São Paulo
4- (1976) Four Discussions with Bion (Los Angeles)
5- (1977) Bion in New York
6- (1978) Bion in São Paulo
Conferences
1- (1967-1968) Bion with Argentineans
2- (1971) The Grid (Los Angeles)
3- (1975) Caesura (Los Angeles)
4- (1975) Conferences in Brasilia
5- (1976) Evidence (paper)
6- (1976) Borderline Personality Disorders:
I - Emotional Turbulence
II - Addendum: On a Quotation from Freud
7- (1979) Making the Best of a Bad Job (paper)
Interviews with Bion
1 - (1974) Interview by Rio Colleges
2 - (1978) An Interview with W.R. Bion - John S. Peck
Seminars with Bion (Bion preferred to call Clinical Seminars, rather than Supervision)
1- (1967-1968) Bion with Argentineans
2- (1973) Bion in São Paulo
3- (1974) Bion in Rio de Janeiro
4- (1974) Bion in São Paulo
5- (1975) Bion in Brasilia
6- (1978) Bion in São Paulo
7
The trilogy
1- (1975) A Memoir of the Future I - The Dream
2- (1977) A Memoir of the Future II - The Past Presented
3- (1979) A Memoir of the Future III - The Dawn of Oblivion
8
1- (1981) A Key to A Memoir of the Future - Compiled by W.R. Bion and F. Bion
2- (1982) The Long Week-end (1897-1919) (Part of a Life)
3- (1985) All my Sins Remembered
4- (1987) Clinical Seminars and Four Papers
5- (1992) Cogitations
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