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Here I present a close re-reading and creative expansion of Richard Rusbridger's (2004) clinical work with a patient who reported a dream of a hybrid woman. Building on W. R. Bion's reading of the Oedipus myth and Melanie Klein's theory of the combined parent figure, and drawing on imagery ancient and modern, I re-interpret the patient's dream as an encounter with the Sphinx. Why does this enigmatic figure, threatening annihilation, emerge at this particular threshold in the patient's analysis? To explore this question, I return to Sophocles' Oedipus the King and offer a new translation of the exchange between Tiresias and Oedipus as they debate the king's famous victory over the monster. Where (and when) do we meet the Sphinx today? What form does the ancient monster take in modern life? In this paper, I ask us to consider what it means to meet the Sphinx—and how we might respond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the meaning of a patient's hallucinatory experiences in the course of a five times a week analysis. I will locate my understanding within the context of André Green's ideas on the role of the framing structure and the negative hallucination in the structuring of the mind. The understanding of the transference and countertransference was crucial in the creation of meaning and enabling the transformations that took place in the analytic process. Through a detailed analysis of a clinical example the author examines Bion's distinction between hysterical hallucinations and psychotic hallucinations and formulates her own hypothesis about the distinctions between the two. The paper suggests that whilst psychotic hallucinations express a conflict between life and death, in the hysterical hallucination it is between love and hate. The paper also contains some reflections on the dramatic nature of the analytic encounter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the case of a patient on the autistic spectrum (ASD) and proposes a theoretical and technical model which seeks to illustrate the characteristics of the relational and intersubjective perspective in psychoanalysis. Along a complementary axis this perspective combines the knowledge which psychoanalytic research, starting from Kanner and Asperger, has developed through the studies by among others Tustin and Meltzer. The model is conceived from the vertex of a psychoanalysis which seeks to deal with disorganized and unrepresentable states of mind. Important is the personality of the analyst, who must be prepared to experience nothingness, meaninglessness and the chaos of a contiguous-autistic (CA) position. We can then consider a wider oscillation in the field in addition to PS↔D, namely CA↔PS↔D. Disorganized states of mind exist that result from a cumulative trauma which occured very early on, during the pre-natal or at least pre-verbal and pre-representational stages of psychic development. Such states then become the effect of a basic deficit that the analytic field can oneirically transform into trauma which, through reciprocity, micro-attunements, the encounter with the analyst's negative capability and rêverie, can then evolve into a traumatic experience which can finally be subjected to symbolic alphabetization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Translations of summary This interdisciplinary article takes a philosophical approach to The Interpretation of Dreams, connecting Freud to one of the few philosophers with whom he sometimes identified - Immanuel Kant. It aims to show that Freud's theory of dreams has more in common with Bion's later thoughts on dreaming than is usually recognized. Distinguishing, via a discussion of Kant, between the conflicting 'epistemological' and 'anthropological' aspects of The Interpretation of Dreams, it shows that one specific contradiction in the book - concerning the relation between dream-work and waking thought - can be understood in terms of the tension between these conflicting aspects. Freud reaches the explicit conclusion that the dream-work and waking thought differ from each other absolutely; but the implicit conclusion of The Interpretation of Dreams is quite the opposite. This article argues that the explicit conclusion is the result of the epistemological aspects of the book; the implicit conclusion, which brings Freud much closer to Bion, the result of the anthropological approach. Bringing philosophy and psychoanalysis together this paper thus argues for an interpretation of The Interpretation of Dreams that is in some ways at odds with the standard view of the book, while also suggesting that aspects of Kant's 'anthropological' works might legitimately be seen as a precursor of psychoanalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Translations of summary Ignacio Matte Blanco (1908-1995) left very few specific indications about the applications of his theoretical notions to his interpretative style. The author shows how he uses Matte Blanco to formulate some of his own interpretations. The first part of the paper uses clinical vignettes to illustrate some of Matte-Blanco's concepts. Their theoretical vocabulary is thus made explicit. Then two psychoanalytic sessions are discussed at greater length, together with one from a therapy, so that the use of Matte-Blanco's notions can be seen clearly, allowing for a fresh perspective on areas of psychoanalytic theory, particularly dreams, psychopathology viewed according to the proportions of asymmetrical and symmetrical functioning in the patient's bi-logical mental system, the multidimensionality of the unconscious, the structural unconscious, the emotion-thought relationship, projective identification, resistance, and negative therapeutic reaction. The practical consequences of all this are elaborated, particularly the ensuing possibility of 'thinking with the patient' in the session. This enables the patient to introject a form of mental functioning in which the asymmetrical mode is not invaded by the symmetric mode (a parallel can be seen here with the Bionian concept of dialogue between the psychotic and non-psychotic parts of the mind). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Translations of summary Dreams about the analytic session feature a manifest content in which the analytic setting is subject to distortion while the analyst appears undisguised. Such dreams are a consistent yet infrequent occurrence in most analyses. Their specificity consists in never reproducing the material conditions of the analysis as such. This paper puts forward the following hypothesis: dreams about the session relate to some aspects of the analyst's activity. In this sense, such dreams are indicative of the transference neurosis, prefiguring transference resistances to the analytic elaboration of key conflicts. The parts taken by the patient and by the analyst are discussed in terms of their ability to signal a deepening of the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's insights on the paper entitled, "Transformations in hallucinosis and the receptivity of the analyst," by G. Civitarese. Topics discussed by the author include Civitarese's interest to the works of psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion, the use by Civitarese to the terms "psychic transformations" and "transformations in hallucinosis," and the difference and kinship between dreams and hallucinations.

Bion describes transformation in hallucinosis ( TH) as a psychic defence present in elusive psychotic scenarios in which there is a total adherence to concrete reality: as the hallucinatory activity which physiologically infiltrates perception and allows us to know reality, setting it off against a background of familiarity; and then, surprisingly, as the ideal state of mind towards which the analyst has to move in order to intuit the facts of the analysis. When hallucinosis is followed by 'awakening', the analyst gains understanding from the experience and goes through a transformation that will inevitably be transmitted to the analytic field and to the patient. In this paper I illustrate Bion's concept and underline its eminently intersubjective nature. Then I differentiate it from two other technical devices: reverie, which unlike hallucinosis does not imply the persistence of a feeling of the real, and Ferro's transformation in dreaming, i.e. purposeful listening to everything that is said in the analysis as if it were the telling of a dream. Finally, I try to demonstrate the practical utility of the concept of transformation in hallucinosis in order to read the complex dynamics of a clinical vignette. Though not well known (only two references in English in the PEP archive), TH proves to be remarkably versatile and productive for thinking about psychoanalytic theory, technique and clinical work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at comparing Freud's and Bion's conceptual models on dreams and dreaming. Beyond both authors' shared disposition vis-à-vis problems posed by knowledge, a critical gap opens regarding their differing clinical practices. It is hypothesized that their ideas do not belong to irreconcilable paradigms, but that there are continuities besides discontinuities more frequently highlighted between Freudian statements on psychic functioning - described in his theory on dreams - and Bion's findings in his development of both the original theory and the connections between dreaming and thinking. Firstly, Freud's and Bion's epistemological sources are examined as well as their creative use and historical environment. Then certain general theoretical and clinical issues are considered concerning their theories on dreams, the evolution of their ideas and corresponding clinical contexts. In a third section, their confluences and dissimilarities are dealt with, including clinical vignettes belonging to the authors to illustrate their interpretative modes of working. This is meant to show both an implicit theoretical-clinical complementarity and the fact that, though their routes bifurcate about the function of dreams, there remain connecting paths. Lastly, the final remarks review certain issues that have frequently been controversial between these lines of thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]