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On Jung and Bion (with mutual benefit and without harm to either)

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Abstract

This article examines the theories of C.G. Jung and W.R. Bion. Their comparison is based on the identification of a paradigm common to the two authors, emerging especially after Bion’s formulation of O. From this common paradigm emerges the possibility of usefully comparing, both in an epistemological and clinical sense, several specific aspects of the two theories that, although they do not exhaust the similarities, seem particularly relevant. Among these aspects they are: the role of the numinous/religious, O, the collective Read more

Rêverie and amplification, gateways to the unconscious

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Abstract

Many similarities can be observed between Jung’s theory and that of Bion, as their ideas converge on several central themes of their theoretical-clinical thinking: archetype and pre-conception, psychoid and protomental, anima and alpha function, alchemical recipiens and container, synchronicity and constant conjunction, amplification and rêverie (Manica, 2014). In this paper, we wanted to deepen our understanding of the last pair of concepts and demonstrate that there is a substantial affinity between the two. Amplification and rêverie can be considered gateways to the unconscious, rather than mere techniques: these are modes of immersion and creation of that space of analysis that Ogden defines as the <>. The analytic third stands in dialectical tension with analyst and analysand, and both are deeply involved in a relationship in which the affinities tend to become more evident, moving forward to realise the Self, according to Jung, or the transformation in O, according to Bion.
In Bion’s transformation in O, the rêverie plays a central role, as it allows the beta elements originating from O to be converted into Read more