The Clinical Thinking of W. R. Bion in Brazil

Reviews / Votes

'This is an extraordinary book. These encounters with Bion and his interlocutors, followed by a rich panoply of commentaries, are thrilling, moving, sometimes funny, occasionally dangerous and deeply wise.'

Anne Alvarez, author of The Thinking Heart (Routledge, 2012)

'Levine, de Mattos Brito and Junqueiro de Mattos have given us an invaluable gift - an additional collection of seminars, accompanied by perceptive commentaries, which take us into the heart of Bion's clinical thinking, providing us with another vertex from which to observe the complexity of his thinking. Bion does not agree to take on the role of the one who knows, but rather takes us on an excursion through his mind, in the attempt to listen and find words for the ineffable emotional experience. Bion allows himself to be stimulated by the material presented to him, guided by his faith in the psychoanalytic method. If we agree to surrender to this way of listening, we too can be suddenly struck and moved by a new thought that dawns on us. Bion illustrates his way of working, always deeply aware of the immense difficulty in being an analyst, in finding "a language which conveys what you want it to convey, and at the same time, which the patient could understand", struggling against the perpetual "pressure to become insensitive, to grow a crust".'

Avner Bergstein, Israel Psychoanalytic Society; author of Bion and Meltzer's Expeditions into Unmapped Mental Life (Routledge, 2018)

'It is impossible not to be enthusiastic about this book. These fully recorded events offer readers the opportunity to follow Bion, as he expresses his ideas across 13 supervisions during his four visits to Brazil. Bion's comments reflect his evolving interest in working with the undifferentiated layers of the mind and the application of his intuitive approach. Additional layers of thought are added by the accompanying commentaries of senior Brazilian psychoanalysts, along with a precious Introduction by Nicola Abel-Hirsch.'

Joao Carlos Braga, Full Member, Supervisor, and Training Analyst at Sao Paulo's Brazilian Psychoanalytic Society and Psychoanalytic Group of Curitiba.