Chapter I. Experiences in Groups

‘Experiences in Groups’ is the work of three different periods in Bion's life: military psychiatric, in wartime, age 40, (preview), civilian psychiatric in peacetime (experiences) age 50, and psycho-analytic (re-view), age 60. Never task- or result-oriented, the key word is always ‘experience’, later to be formalized as the basis of ‘learning from experience’ as against ‘learning about’ things, and finally formulated as ‘transformations in O’ and ‘becoming O’. The military psychiatrist who had to form a training wing for the rehabilitation of neurotic soldiers saw his task as one of restoring these men to integration in a disciplined community from a state of subjugation to the ‘helplessness’ of neurosis. His thesis was that the restoration of discipline as an internal fact required participation in an external discipline, which in its turn depended on two factors: (1) the presence of the enemy and (2) ‘the presence of an officer who, being experienced, knows some of his own failings, respects the integrity of his men, and is not afraid of either their good will or their hostility’.

It is of interest to note Bion's emphasis on the qualities of the person in responsibility, for at no point in this little paper does he minimize for the sake of the appearance of modesty the impact of his personality on this group of 300-400 men. And he seems able to do this without immodesty by virtue of this assumption: ‘being experienced, etc’. While at no point does he enlarge on this extraordinary assumption that ‘experience’ produces these valuable qualities of self knowledge, respect for others and fearlessness in the face of others' emotions, one can only suppose that he already had in his mind a quite idiosyncratic usage for the word.

But what of this ‘presence of the enemy’? It is characteristic of Bion's playfulness that he should use ambiguity to allow the reader both to misconstrue his meaning and to remain puzzled and uncertain for some time before clarification arrives. It