Appendix: A Note on Bion's Concept “Reversal of Alpha-Function”*

When a new theory is proposed in psycho-analysis it can be said to undertake two functions: one is to organize the clinical phenomena that have already been observed in a more aesthetic (beautiful?) way; the other is to provide a tool of observation that will open to view previously invisible phenomena of the consulting room. Wilfred Bion, beginning with his papers on schizophrenia, sought to amplify the model of the mind which we employ in psycho-analysis so that processes of thinking and disturbances in this capacity could be investigated. The first systematic presentation of this effort, ‘Learning from Experience’ (Heinemann, London, 1962) formulated an ‘empty’ concept of alpha-function by means of which the ‘sense impressions of emotional experiences’ were converted into elements to be used in various ways: as building-blocks for dream thoughts; which in turn could be used for thinking; to be available for storage as memory; and by their continuity to form a ‘contact barrier’ that might separate conscious from unconscious mental processes.

The ‘emptiness’ of this model was stressed over and over by Bion, along with the caution against over-hasty attempts to fill it with clinical meaning. He himself has been almost single-handedly exploring its possible meaning in the series of books which followed, namely ‘Elements of Psycho-analysis’†, ‘Transformations’‡ and ‘Attention and Interpretation’§ It is with a certain trepidation that this paper is offered as a tentative exploration of his fascinating idea that alpha-function can perhaps operate in reverse, cannibalizing the already formed alpha-elements to produce either the beta-screen or perhaps