Relational levels of the "container-contained'' in group therapy

The cornerstone of W. R. Bion's theory of individual and group development is that thinking is a primary emotional need, and it matures in the context of social communication. Bion (1970) formulated the essential relationship between thinking and communicating in terms of the "container-contained" r elationship Bion (1970) described three types of communication, occurring o n different levels of development: commensal, symbiotic, and parasitic. The se patterns involve normal and pathological variations of the container-con tained and call for different expressions of the therapist's subjectivity. In this paper I describe each of these alterations as they apply to group t herapy and to therapeutic activity. I include case examples of how I utiliz e the conceptual framework in my work.