On the Value of ‘Late Bion’ to Analytic Theory and Practice

Most colleagues will no doubt agree that Bion's theory of thinking has become an integral part of the truncus communis of psychoanalytic theory. It is among the theories responsible for shifting the focus of psychoanalysis from the content of unconscious manifestations to their actual psychic processing. It opened new treatment perspectives, especially in the treatment of severe pathology. However, Bion's later work, with its focus on ‘O’ and its recommendation of a clinical attitude of ‘no memory, no desire, no coherence, no understanding’ has evoked many mixed reactions, ranging from criticisms of the theory for its foolishness to idolatry. In what follows I will take the position that Bion's later work provides an important contribution theory and practice and that is possible to use in combination two models that are outlined in the ‘early’ and the ‘late’ Bion to produce a dual track model of psychic change.

There is a tendency to link the major change in Bion's thinking to his move from London to California, thus attributing it to external factors and diminishing its essence and power. My impression is that it is the other way around, that it was Bion's new insights that led him to decide to change his life-environment so that he could start from scratch and focus on his writing. The change in Bion's point of view took place at the end of Transformations (Bion, 1965), and was elaborated in Attention and Interpretation (Bion, 1970). Both works were written while Bion was still in London. Bion did not develop any new theoretical work after these two books, but he expressed his new way of seeing in three projects that he worked on in parallel. One of the projects was the books on psychoanalysis that were later published together in A Memoir of the Future (Bion, 1991). In line with his new insights, Bion used the form of a fictional drama because he hoped that a living language and content would transform each other. His seminars and lectures and