Are You Thinking of Reading Bion?
Study and Case Consultation with Eileen Keller

Bion's works on thinking and on states of mind are wonderfully useful in clinical work, though sometimes hard to grasp in isolation. In this group we will investigate the foundations of his thinking, laid out in "Second Thoughts," a collection of papers published during his early years as a psychoanalyst. In this group of papers, Bion first articulates his understanding of the basis for attacks on reality through primitive "de-linking" defensive activity. We will use close reading of these early papers, alternating with case presentation by group members, to build an understanding of his seminal ideas about the psychotic and non-psychotic parts of the personality, attacks on linking, the psychic meaning of arrogance, and his theory of thinking.

"I have been studying and teaching Bion in the context of his contemporaries, Melanie Klein, D.W. Winnicott, and Herbert Rosenfeld for twenty years. I continue to discover meaning anew in every group reading Bion together. I hope you will join me in this on-going endeavor to deepen clinical practice through the study of theory."

Dates and Time: Thursdays 12:30 - 1:45.
16 sessions from March 4- June 17, 2010

Location: 5435 College AV #201, Oakland
Cost is $50 per session, payable monthly. Class limited to six.

Contact Dr. Keller at kellerphd@gmail.com or 510-654-2420