Bion’s Vertices

What is the place of truth and lies in psychoanalytic discourse? What are the consequences in terms of collusion and communication? How can a ‘lie’ carry a meaning? These questions, and many more, are explored in the inaugural book of the new Contemporary Bion series from Phoenix.

Bion’s Vertices: On Truth and Lies is divided into three parts which investigate the truth/lie domain, emotional change and growth, and creativity in relation to truth and lies, and show its relevance in clinical practice. The wide-ranging discussions include chapters on aesthetic processes in poetry and psychoanalytic thought, knowledge, representation, misunderstandings, chaos, perversions, propaganda, the analyst’s mind, the protective function of lying, and racialisation in relational context. This is a must-read book for all those with an interest in Bion and the application of his theory to contemporary thought and practice.

Preface to the book series - Contemporary Bion Tomasz Fortuna Preface to first edition Paulo Cesar Sandler Introduction Tomasz Fortuna I. Enquiry into the truth/lie domain CHAPTER ONE The forms of things unknown: aesthetic processes in poetry and psychoanalytic thought Margot Waddell CHAPTER TWO Knowledge and its pretenders: Bion's contribution to knowledge and thought David Bell CHAPTER THREE The psychoanalyst's toolbox: an apprentice in the Bion's and Meltzer's ateliers Carlos Tabbia CHAPTER FOUR Representation and truth R. D. Hinshelwood CHAPTER FIVE Bion's two principles of mental functioning Robert Caper II. Change, growth, creativity and their opposites CHAPTER SIX Chaos: destruction or creation? Ron Britton CHAPTER SEVEN Catastrophic Change: container - contained ♀♂, the shape of what we experience and beyond Denis Flynn CHAPTER EIGHT Bion: Lies and Perversion of Truth Dimitris-James Jackson CHAPTER NINE Reaching the ineffable Tomasz Fortuna CHAPTER TEN Thinking about truth, lies and propaganda Antonia Grimalt III. Clinical context/dialogue CHAPTER ELEVEN "Truth shall spring out of the earth": The analyst as gatherer of sense impressions Avner Bergstein CHAPTER TWELVE What might be in so close that as psychoanalysts we miss it? Nicola Abel-Hirsch CHAPTER THIRTEEN The analyst's state of mind and growth in the psychoanalytic process Alberto Hahn CHAPTER FOURTEEN A story that could never be told Monica Horovitz CHAPTER FIFTEEN Truth and lies: perversion of truth and the disruption of passion Judy Eekhoff CHAPTER SIXTEEN A certain praise for lying Roosevelt Cassorla Index,

Acknowledgements 

About the editor and contributors 

Series editor’s preface by Tomasz Fortuna 

Foreword by Joseph Aguayo 

Introduction by Tomasz Fortuna 

Part I - Enquiry into the truth/lie domain

1. “The forms of things unknown”: Aesthetic processes in poetry and psychoanalytic thought
Margot Waddell

2. Knowledge and its pretenders: Bion’s contribution to knowledge and thought
David Bell

3. Representation and truth
R. D. Hinshelwood

4. Bion’s two principles of mental functioning 
Robert Caper

5. A certain praise for lying 
Roosevelt M. S. Cassorla

Part II - Change, growth, creativity, and their opposites

6. Chaos: Destruction or creation?
Ronald Britton

7. Reaching the ineffable: On emotion, intuition, and creativity in psychoanalytic encounter 
Tomasz Fortuna

8. Catastrophic change: Container–contained, the shape of what we experience … and beyond 
Denis Flynn

9. Bion: Lies and perversion of truth 
Dimitris J. Jackson

10. Thinking about truth, lies, and propaganda 
Antònia Grimalt

Part III - Clinical conversations

11. “Truth shall spring out of the earth …”: The analyst as gatherer of sense impressions
Avner Bergstein

12. What might be in so close that as psychoanalysts we miss it? 
Nicola Abel-Hirsch

13. The analyst’s state of mind and growth in the psychoanalytical process
Alberto Hahn

14. A story that could never be told: Transference and truth 
Monica Horovitz

15. Truth and lies: The perversion of truth and the disruption of passion
Judy K. Eekhoff

16. The psychoanalyst’s toolbox: An apprentice in Bion’s and Meltzer’s ateliers
Carlos Tabbia

Afterword
Paulo Cesar Sandler

Index

• Edited by Tomasz Fortuna

'Bion is reputed to have said that the essential aim of psychoanalysis is to introduce the patient to the one person they spend their life with, namely their own self. In this outstanding book, Tomasz Fortuna has assembled a group of eminent psychoanalytic scholars who explore from various vertices the challenges of reaching and bearing such truth and the price we and our patients pay when we falter in this endeavour. Anyone who struggles to be psychoanalytical with their patients (and this should be anyone who chooses to work this way) will benefit greatly from this outstanding collection.'

— Vic Sedlak, past President, British Psychoanalytical Society

'Psychoanalysis owes one of its most profound and original moments to Bion. He conceives the mind as an expanding universe, evolving from its primitive state towards mental growth or mental decline. Bion considers psychoanalysis a powerful and disruptive idea that requires a container to be contained. In this first book of the Contemporary Bion series, the authors, in their distinctive contributions, offer such containment for the reader, in an open attitude, whilst considering Bion’s ideas, which indicates an innovative approach to the theoretical and clinical work of the analyst.'

— Lia Pistiner, Supervising and Training Analyst and Full Member, Argentine Psychoanalytic Society

'Tomasz Fortuna's book, Bion's Vertices: On Truth and Lies, is a deeply thoughtful and remarkably sensitive account of the work of sixteen internationally acclaimed psychoanalysts. Each contributor explores and illustrates Bion's evolving ideas through vivid clinical examples and a range of original, fertile thinking. The chapters collected here possess clear contemporary relevance and will serve as a vital resource for colleagues seeking to engage with key aspects of Bion's thought in diverse contexts and enquiries.'

— Jani Santamaría Linares, Director of A-Santamaría Psychoanalysis Mexico, Training and Supervising Analyst of child, adolescent, and adult psychoanalysis, APsA member

'Bion was, and is, a prophet, to a profession and beyond. “Vertices” are meeting-points of lines – where lines of thought interact, from where different points of view may be found. Like him, the writers in Bion’s Vertices disturb and stretch us, question and dismantle old landmarks, and open us to new ones. Many of them also make the shock of Bion’s poetic and metaphysical modes of conveying his thoughts and findings less discombobulating; they convey the shock of the (still-)new in more soberly symbolic prose. They help us experience the frustrations of being lost, and then, precariously and provisionally, found. They give us a sense of Bion’s emphasis on both discipline and freedom. They celebrate his commitment to truth (and what we learn from lies, self-deceptions, and illusions, with their capacity for transformation), and his unique and radical contribution to our understanding of mind, creativity, and the potential lifelong growth of the self. As editor Tomasz Fortuna writes, they ‘follow the avenues [Bion] opened up for us [in] developing the work of Freud, Klein, mathematicians, philosophers, scientists, and poets.'

— Michael Brearley, Distinguished Fellow, past President, British Psychoanalytical Society