British Object Relations
October 25, 2024 @ 1:45 pm - 3:15 pm, Classroom Three
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Third Year Adult Psychoanalytic Training (APT)
2024-25, Fall Term — Fridays, 1:45-3:15pm
Matthew Brooks, LICSW, FIPA
View Whole Syllabus
October 25, 2024 — Symbol formation, Bion’s functions, and representation
[45 pages]
As we turn towards Bion, we encounter the centrality of the concept of representation. This refers to the transformation of raw, primary experience into represented form: either symbol (allowing for thought) or signal affect (allowing for action). Freud and Klein noted that much of our early experience is unmentalized, that is to say, not (yet) symbolized. This paper examines the nature of unmentalized experience and the processes of symbolization, in pathology and health, and in the developing infant as well as ongoing life. Mitrani also outlines the protective mechanisms that can emerge when trauma disrupts symbolizing processes, with significant implications for analysis.
Mitrani, J.L. (1995). Toward An Understanding Of Unmentalized Experience. Psychoanal Q., 64:68-112.
