Bion's Grid
Bion's Grid
Bion's Grid
Marilyn Charles
Abstract: The author explicates the principles underlying Bions Grid in a way that
makes them useful for the clinician. The grid represents an attempt to provide a tool by
which we might better understand the abstract rules and principles that facilitate under-
standing1 in the analytic process. Bion believed that content often obscures meaning
unless we can move beyond the ostensible meaning in our attempts to understand the
complexity of a statement and the uses to which it is being put. For Bion, the grid itself
was not so important as the attempt to increase ones powers of observation, intuition,
interpretation, and transformation. A clinical illustration is provided in which the grid
provides a useful means for facilitating these endeavours.
Key Words: Bion; grid; Klein; myth; truth; lies
Bion (1992) suggests that it is through the unconscious that our most
important processing occurs. This deeper level of processing enables us
to take in and metabolize the facts of our experience, rather than think-
ing about them through the relatively less efficient rational mode (Charles,
2002). To this end, he encourages us to renounce memory or desire, so
that we might better observe what is actually occurring within the hour
(Bion, 1967). For Bion (1965), understanding is a function of transfor-
mations of experience, through which meaning is deduced via the inter-
play of intuition and reason. It is largely in the realm of metaphor (which
Bion refers to primarily as myth or visual models) that these com-
plex meanings are most productively passed along and digested. Whether
these are personal myths (such as dreams) or more publicly shared myths,
Bion (1963) felt that myths provide a condensed statement of complex
phenomena in a way that facilitates both understanding and communica-
tion. For Bion, the tower of Babel story is one exemplar of a wider range
of myths, including the story of Oedipus, that warn against the pursuit of
knowledge. These myths provide a succinct statement of psycho-analytic
theories which are relevant in aiding the analyst both to perceive growth
and to achieve interpretations that illuminate aspects of the patients prob-
lems that belong to growth (1963, p. 63).
Bions metaphors are quite striking in terms of revealing his views
of the processes by which growth in understanding occurs. Much as the
analytic session presumes an interchange of meanings through which
these meanings become clarified and elaborated, Bions metaphors, such
as container/contained and PS D (denoting the recursive nature
of the relationship between the paranoid-schizoid and depressive posi-
tions), carry similar presumptions. In each of these examples, it is the
relationship between the elements that is crucial for any real understand-
ing of the parts.
Even in his choice of a formalized abstract system, Bion affirms the
importance of relationshipprocess over contentthis time in the in-
terplay between the abstract and concrete as they become, alternately,
container and contained (Bion, 1962). The concrete gives foundational
meaning, whereas the abstract provides rules for utilizing that knowl-
edge. For Bion (1970), intuition is the vehicle whereby the analyst re-
alizes the products of nonsensuous experience. In this way, it serves
the somewhat paradoxical function of containing our more intangible
experiences. The move toward verbalizing these experiences further
contains them in a medium through which they can be more explicitly
communicated, via the word. As we abstract the essential meanings from
the experience, we devise categories by which to order and organize
BIONS GRID 431
them. In this way, the intangible, but in its own way concrete, intuition
is translated into a concrete abstraction: the word.
Through this interplay between intuition (based on the facts of our
experience) and abstraction (providing a means for organizing these
facts), we derive greater perspective from which we might move beyond
what is currently known in a derivative sense, to what might become
known, in the sense of understanding. Bions grid represents one such
attempt to provide tools, in the form of abstract rules and principles,
whereby the concrete facts of experience might be usefully transformed.
The grid is not only a tool, but also represents, symbolically, how we
process insights: how we unconsciously process new ideas, correlate
them with already established ones, and confront the catastrophic change
that emerges on the frontier between the new and the old (Grotstein, 2000,
p. 300).
For Bion, the most constructive mode of representing these truths
within the analytic session is in the form of myth. Myth enables us to
communicate with one another about essential truths in a form that fa-
cilitates our ability to keep the various aspects in mind. Unpacking the
myth helps us to appreciate the ramifications of the various elements.
These elements are also found in the personal myths that make up the
content of the psychoanalytic session.
Bion (1963) details these elements most particularly in Elements of
Psycho-Analysis, in which the first element described is that of container
and contained. This is a dynamic relationship that cannot be understood
without reference to both aspects. It is also a relationship that changes:
whatever is contained comes to be defined in such a way that it creates
an opening (or container) for containment of some new idea or an old
idea awaiting further elaboration. Whatever may be seen as a container
from one perspective will also be seen to be contained from another.
The second element described is the relationship between processes
of fragmentation and integration. This is depicted as PS D, repre-
senting the recursive relationship between the paranoid-schizoid and de-
pressive positions outlined by Klein (1946), which is a dynamic one, in
that each changes the other. For Bion (1962), these changes are reac-
tions precipitated by the discovery of the relationship between the ele-
ments: what Poincare (1952) describes as the selected fact:
If a new result is to have any value, it must unite elements long since known,
but till then scattered and seemingly foreign to each other, and suddenly
introduce order where the appearance of disorder reigned. Then it enables
us to see at a glance each of these elements in the place it occupies in the
432 CHARLES
whole. Not only is the new fact valuable on its own account, but it alone
gives value to the old facts it unites . . . The only facts worthy of our atten-
tion are those which introduce order into this complexity and so make it
accessible to us. (In Bion, 1962, p. 72)
THE GRID
A A1 A2 A6
-elements
B B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 . . . Bn
-elements
C C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 . . . Cn
Dream Thoughts
Dreams, Myths
D D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 . . . Dn
Pre-conception
E E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 . . . En
Conception
F F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 . . . Fn
Concept
G G2
Scientific
Deductive
System
H
Algebraic
Calculus
BIONS GRID 435
this axis, the uses to which statements are being put remain constant,
while the terms themselves vary, becoming increasingly more complex
and abstract. In row A, we find the beta ( ) elements. These are thoughts
at their most basic level, basic sense impressions that have the quality
of concrete objects. In row B, we find alpha ( ) elements, the most basic
products of thinking, which become elements that can be used in the
formation of dreams and waking thoughts. In row C we find dream
thoughts, which depend on the prior existence of - and -elements
(which are hypothesized but not actually observed). The dream thoughts
are communicated by the manifest material in dreams and are also the
elements found in myth. In row D we find the preconception, which Bion
links to a state of expectation, in which the mind is adapted toward re-
ceiving a restricted range of phenomena. When a pre-conception is joined
with a realization, this results in the conception, found in row E. This
represents the concretization of the pre-conception, and can also become
a preconception for the realization of further conceptions. In row F we
find concepts, which are further refined and validated conceptions. It is
at this level that Bion places psychoanalytic theories or facts associated
with other logical or scientific formulations. These three rows (D, E, and
F) represent an essential aspect of the analytic process, in which obser-
vation (the realization) becomes integrated with previous awareness
(pre-conception or conception) in such a way that the previous knowl-
edge does not preclude new awareness, but rather facilitates it.
In row G we find the scientific deductive system, defined as
This would be the realm of Psychoanalytic Theory, per se, if there were
such a unified structure. Finally, in row H, we find calculi: scientific
deductive systems that are represented by an algebraic calculus, accord-
ing to formal rules. In this type of system, the signs have no properties
or inherent meanings, but only affirm the relationships expressed by the
rules of combination. This was Bions intent in moving to a formalized,
abstract system: to express the rules governing the elements of psycho-
analysis in such a way that they could be seen and discussed by col-
leagues without becoming lost in the richness of content that tends to
obscure similarities of form and function.
436 CHARLES
gardless of its elegance or complexity, any theory can be used for both
evasive and constructive ends.
Just as it is important to be able to consider the value of a given state-
ment in terms of its complexity (vertical axis), it is also important to be
able to consider it in terms of the purpose for which it is being used
(horizontal axis). Is it an attempt at definition, a negation of meaning, a
notation of meaning, or an active attempt to discern meaning? For ex-
ample, in a recent session, a patient said: I dont know. I didnt know
what he meant by this statement, in this particular instance, as it has
meant various things in the past, including: 1 do not want to know and
am actively erasing the meaning from my mind or I know that there
is some meaning here, but it is slipping away even as I try to find it, or
I am unable to tell you that right now or I do not want to tell you that
right now. At various levels, these statements intersect and intercon-
nect, and yet each has a particular flavor that indicates the stance the
patient is taking toward knowing whatever is eluding him/us in the
moment. This is one instance where an awareness of grid categories can
help us to explore these possible nuances of meaning, thereby helping
the patient to explore his or her own meanings. To the extent that this
opens up the possibility of greater enquiry on the part of the patient, we
are increasing the possibility of self-knowledge and furthering the psy-
choanalytic endeavor.
TRANSFORMATIONS
is characteristic, to the relationship with the analyst (p. 19). In this type
of transformation there is little change. The invariance highlights the
essential patterns inherent in the phenomenon, which facilitates inter-
pretation and insight. Bion terms this type of transformation a rigid
motion transformation, and contrasts it with projective transformations,
in which the phantasy is discharged as an action, and the divergence in
points of view between the patient and the analyst do not permit pro-
ductive discussion. In this way, Bion is describing projective transfor-
mation as an action that precludes thinking rather than facilitating it
(therefore an A6 or B6 phenomenon). This type of transformation tends
to be linked to primary process material. The idiosyncrasy and person-
alization and lack of reliable referents in terms of space and time make
it difficult for the analyst to have reliable reference points within the
material. In this way, evasion is facilitated.
Bion stresses that the grid is not a tool for use in sessions. My under-
standing of this is that he was concerned that the grid might be used as
a tool for obfuscation, for distancing ones self from the experience at
hand, rather than as a means for increasing ones powers of observa-
tion, intuition, interpretation, and transformation. And so, he cautions
us not to use the grid as a barrier to the ongoing moment within the ses-
sion. However, used respectfully in the service of growth rather than
evasion, familiarity with the grid brings its principles inevitably and
ineluctably into our work. In my work with David, for example, it often
feels as though we are in the midst of a treacherous sea of slippery waves
that alternately reveal and obscure whatever truths we are both seek-
ing and avoiding. He finds it tremendously difficult, at times, to hold
on to whatever he might be saying: the sense diminishes and then dis-
appears. I dont know, he says, and I must ask whether this statement
was true in the moment, as the awareness began to disappear, or whether
it had been a lie that had then made the statement become true. The
question, therefore, became a matter of how much volition there had been
in the moment, in this disappearance of meaning he had effected.
This brings us to the crucial issue of lies versus falsity. The use to
which a statement is being put is an important determinant of this dis-
tinction (Bion makes this distinction more explicit in his later writings.
See, for example, de Ferreira, 2001). It matters very much whether the
440 CHARLES
The capacity to lie presumes that the truth is known sufficiently to con-
sciously avoid it. Falsity, on the other hand, is a function of not know-
ing the truth: an inherent aspect of our human dilemma.
With David, I wonder (quite actively at times) whether we are in the
realm of false statements or lies, and how we might distinguish between
the two. This would seem to be an essential dilemma for David. How
can he know aspects of himself that he finds so distasteful that they have
become virtually unknowable, especially in the face of his determined
efforts over the years to divorce himself from the self that he would rather
not know? Davids father had been assaultive and abrasive, prone to fits
of rage in which he would attack mercilessly anyone in his path. Sur-
vival depended on trying to stay out of the path of the rage, and yet David,
as the oldest son, had also felt at times impelled to stand in the path of
the rage lest it fall on his younger brother or mother. He learned to pre-
tend that it did not matter; that it did not penetrate; that it did not hurt. If
he could deny the experience, he could also deny his wounds. If he could
deny his wounds, he could deny the rage that welled up in him, threat-
ening to make him like his father.
David pretends to have no rage. He comes in with extraordinary equi-
librium and aplomb. He inquires into my well-beingmy health, how
my day is goingeven though he knows I will not reply. As we encoun-
ter this portion of our daily ritual, he continues unruffledaside from
his smile, which lets me know that he has noted my silence, and has
attributed meanings to it, and has also noted my notation of these facts
before us. He chronicles the facts: Ok, he says, youre not going to
answer; Ok, so weve done that one, lets move along here; Ok, so now
Ill say something. As he guides himself through the process, he seems
to be hoping to coax himself into being able to talk about those things
that do matter, but encounters an acute, intense, and overwhelming block
as he attempts to do so.
On one day, in particular, we found ourselves faced with this dilemma
of the lie. He had said I dont know, and I asked him whether this was
BIONS GRID 441
A statement may be made not to mislead but to fill the function of evoca-
tion. Thus a lying report may be evocative or provocative, accusatory or
defensive, to name only a few of the more obvious uses. In such a case cate-
gory 2 is not the correct category because the statement is intended to lead
to emotional upheaval. In short, the lying statement is not category 2 but
category 6. Its nature must be indicated by some usage such as minus L ( L)
or minus K ( K).2 (Bion, 1970, p. 97)
against () Love (L), Hate (H), Knowing (K), or Ultimate Reality (O).
BIONS GRID 443
References