Table Of ContentSTUDIES IN EXTENDED
METAPSYCHOLOGY
STUDIES IN EXTENDED
METAPSYCHOLOGY
CLINICAL APPLICATIONS OF BION’S IDEAS
Donald Meltzer
with
Mariella Albergamo, Eve Cohen, Alba Greco,
Martha Harris, Susanna Maiello, Giuliana Milana,
Diomira Petrelli, Maria Rhode,
Anna Sabatini Scolmati, and Francesco Scotti
THE HARRIS MELTZER TRUST
First published in 1986 by Clunie Press for The Roland Harris Educational Trust
Reprinted in 2009 by Karnac Books for The Harris Meltzer Trust
This revised edition published in 2018 by The Harris Meltzer Trust
60 New Caledonian Wharf
London SE16 7TW
Copyright © 2018 The Harris Meltzer Trust
Copyright © 2018 Meg Harris Williams for Foreword
The right of Donald Meltzer to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with §§ 77 and 78 of the Copyright
Design and Patent Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A C.I.P. for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 912567 15 7
Edited, designed and produced by The Bourne Studios
www.bournestudios.co.uk
Printed in Great Britain
www.harris-meltzer-trust.org.uk
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii
ABOUT THE AUTHOR ix
FOREWORD
Meg Harris Williams xi
INTRODUCTION xiii
1 Field or phase – a debate on psychoanalytical modes
of thought 1
2 What is an emotional experience? 11
3 A Klein-Bion model for evaluating psychosomatic states 27
4 The protomental apparatus and soma-psychotic
phenomena 33
5 The conceptual distinction between projective identification
(Klein) and container-contained (Bion) 47
6 Clinical use of the concept of vertices: multiplication of
vertices as a method reality of testing; shifting of
vertices as a mode of defence 73
7 The limits of language 79
v
vi CONTENTS
8 Facts and fictions 89
9 An enquiry into lies, their genesis and relation to
hallucination 101
10 Clinical application of Bion’s concept ‘transformations
in hallucinosis’ 115
11 Clinical application of Bion’s concept ‘reversal
of alpha-function’ 129
12 Psychotic illness in early childhood: ten years on from
Explorations in Autism 137
13 A one-year-old goes to day nursery – a parable of
confusing times 155
14 Family patterns and cultural educability 177
15 Concerning the perception of one’s own attributes
and its relation to language development 203
16 On turbulence 221
17 A Swiftean diatribe 227
18 Denouement 243
REFERENCES 255
INDEX 257
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Although the work of genius is solitary, for its ultimate realisation
it must feed the hunger for knowledge (K) of many lesser work-
ers whose combined efforts produce a ‘school’. The non-political
sense of this troublesome term is illustrated in this volume to
which many people of different countries have contributed, in
seminars, personal discussions, supervisions, and by presenting
in public the clinical experiences to which they have applied the
ideas of genius. Of these many it is only possible to acknowledge,
on the title page, some of the latter category to whose courage I
pay respect and to whose generosity I am indebted. In addition
many of my vague notions have been given greater precision by
Martha Harris.
Acknowledgements are also due to the Journal of Child
Psychotherapy where Chapters 5 and 13 were first published.
vii
Morning approached, Eve relates to Adam her troublesome
dream; he likes it not, yet comforts her:
Best image of my self and dearer half,
The trouble of thy thoughts this night in sleep
Affects me equally; nor can I like
This uncouth dream, of evil sprung I fear;
Yet evil whence? In thee can harbour none,
Created pure. But know that in the soul
Are many lesser faculties that serve
Reason as chief; among these Fansie next
Her office holds; of all external things,
Which the five watchful senses represent,
She forms imagination, airy shapes,
Which Reason joining or disjoyning, frames
All what we affirm or what deny, and call
Our knowledge or opinion; then retires
Into her private Cell when Nature rests.
Oft in her absence mimic Fansie wakes
To imitate her; but misjoyning shapes,
Wild work produces oft, and most in dreams,
Ill matching words and deeds long past or late.
... Yet be not sad:
Evil into the mind of God or Man
May come and go, so unapproved ...
John Milton, Paradise Lost, V. 95–118
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Donald Meltzer (1923–2004) was born in New York and stud-
ied medicine at Yale. After practising as a psychiatrist specialising
in children and families, he moved to England to have analysis
with Melanie Klein in the 1950s, and for some years was a train-
ing analyst with the British Society. He worked with both adults
and children, and was innovative in the treatment of autistic chil-
dren; in the treatment of children he worked closely with Esther
Bick and Martha Harris whom he later married. He taught child
psychiatry and psychoanalytic history at the Tavistock Clinic. He
also took a special scholarly interest in art and aesthetics, based
on a lifelong love of art. Meltzer taught widely and regularly in
many countries, in Europe, Scandinavia, and North and South
America, and his books have been published in many languages
and continue to be increasingly influential in the teaching of
psychoanalysis.
His first book, The Psychoanalytical Process, was published by
Heinemann in 1967 and was received with some suspicion (like
all his books) by the psychoanalytic establishment. Subsequent
books were published by Clunie Press for the Roland Harris
Educational Trust which he set up together with Martha Harris
ix
