Bion and binocular vision

The author describes his contact with Bion over a twenty-year period, from Bion's supervision of his control case in London in 1960 to the period fr o m 1968 to 1978 when they were both working in Los Angeles. He outlines Bion 's views on the use of 'instinct' and intuition inpatient observation, the depressive position inpatient and analyst, and memory and desire as impedim ents to knowledge of 'ultimate reality'. Some case material is presented, i llustrating how Bion's ideas, particularly concerning attacks on linking, i nformed the course of the treatment. The author then discusses Freud's, Kle in's and Bion's approaches to the problem of resistance, Bion's expansion o f some of Klein's ideas, his definitions of psychosis and his formulation c oncerning thoughts that develop before thinking. The author then argues how essential it is for the analyst to differentiate between primitive project ions from the patient that are pl e-vel bal attempts to communicate a state of mind and those that are an expression of hostility or control. He then discusses the importance of understanding idealising projections and differ entiating these fr om a healthy positive transference He concludes by chara cterising Bion's way of working in terms of his humility, his courage and, fundamentally his use of his intuitive binocular mind.