Primitive Mental States: A Psychoanalytic Exploration of the Origins of Meaning edited by Jane Van Buren and Shelley Alhanati London:  Routledge, 2010,  228 pp.

The book, and much of the current thinking behind the idea of primitive mental states, evolved in the context of the training programs at the Psychoanalytic Center of California (PCC)—of which the late Jane Van Buren was one of the longstanding members, together with founders James Grotstein, James Gooch, and some others who were analyzed by Bion in California. This institute was one of the first American groups to join the International Psychoanalytical Association, independently of the American Psychoanalytic Association. The PCC has graduated many analysts who have a distinctive approach toward very early infant experiences. The book's co-editor, Shelley Alhanati, has edited two previous books: Primitive Mental States I and Primitive Mental States II, both now out of print.

The term primitive mental states is difficult to define in positive terms. Impressionistic analogies, such as the phenomenological parallel with autism, are frequently used. The editors are more cautious in this regard, preferring to single out what seems to be absent in the clinical manifestations of primitive mental states.