Complex psychoanalysis in Bion's work

spectral models, caesuras and heterogeneous symmetries

Abstract

The author seeks to highlight the complexity present in Bion's work which, in his opinion, introduces complex thinking into current psychoanalysis. Three concepts that would be essential for the definition of psychoanalytic complexity are addressed. They are: spectral model, caesuras and heterogeneous symmetries. The first has been present since 1948, in his works on groups. There, Bion refers to the narcissism<> social-ism spectrum that will be contrasted, in the present work, with the evolutionary models (>), frequently used in psychoanalysis. Here, the necessary difference between morals and complex ethics is already essential. The caesuras, a paradox that simultaneously includes cut and continuity, on the other hand, are described as inherent to spectral models and represented by the well-known double arrows of Bion's texts. The caesuras are expressed as movements between the poles of the spectrum, without connotations of evolution or involution, progression or regression. The contrast would be here with the notion of shibboleth, applied by the author in different works. Bion, at the end of his text entitled Caesura, defines it as a link, a relationship, a between, which in Buber's words, cited by Bion, are more important than the related objects. In the analytical link, this idea would be represented by the notion that it is not the analyst who receives his analysand, but rather psychoanalysis that receives both. Heterogeneous symmetries, as the author refers, would be the poles of the spectrum, analyst and analysand, for example, [...]