Transformations in hallucinosis and the receptivity of the analyst

Abstract

Bion describes transformation in hallucinosis (TH) as a psychic defence present in elusive psychotic scenarios in which there is a total adherence to concrete reality: as the hallucinatory activity which physiologically infiltrates perception and allows us to know reality, setting it off against a background of familiarity; and then, surprisingly, as the ideal state of mind towards which the analyst has to move in order to intuit the facts of the analysis. When hallucinosis is followed by 'awakening', the analyst gains understanding from the experience and goes through a transformation that will inevitably be transmitted to the analytic field and to the patient. In this paper I illustrate Bion's concept and underline its eminently intersubjective nature. Then I differentiate it from two other technical devices: reverie, which unlike hallucinosis does not imply the persistence of a feeling of the real, and Ferro's transformation in dreaming, i.e., purposeful listening to everything that is said in the analysis as if it were the telling of a dream. Finally, I try to demonstrate the practical utility of the concept of transformation in hallucinosis in order to read the complex dynamics of a clinical vignette. Though not well known (only two references in English in the PEP archive), TH proves to be remarkably versatile and productive for thinking about psychoanalytic theory, technique and clinical work.

Residues in the analyst of the patient's symbiotic connection at a somatic level: unrepresented states in the patient and analyst

“…Damage to the infant's cortical functioning if the mother's reflective function is missing in the first year of life is noted by Perry (1997) and Schore (2001) as also a factor, and may need unusual levels of symbiosis. Civitarese's (2015) paper and the careful critiques that follow it by Hinz (2015) and Sandler (2015) open up important horizons in the rather over-used term 'reverie' to describe the analyst's state of mind when listening to the patient. The re-enactment of the ending as a repetition for Horace of the rejection of a depressed mother and the dramatic presentation of the severed arm might be better understood as representational achievements where before there was an absence of representation.…”

“…Civitarese states: hallucinosis becomes the deepest probe for exploring transpersonal or interpsychic unconscious emotional reality ... as long as one can get out of it again! What the patient cannot do, and which the analyst must succeed in doing is to wake from the hallucinosis (Civitarese 2015(Civitarese , pp. 1104(Civitarese -1105 My awakening to the hallucination of the shared body unlocked the dissociation in me of the primitive bodily matrix in our work.…”

Bion and the sublime: The origins of an aesthetic paradigm

“…Paintings inspired by the sublime often portray an observer in the moment in which he opens himself to the spectacle that instils a feeling of dismay, one which can descend into "consternation [ekplexis], surprise [thaumaston], even terror [phobos]" (Guidorizzi, 1991, p. 14). 12 On these subjects, which presage interesting developments in psychoanalytic technique but are too broad to be addressed here, see Civitarese, 2014. The aesthetic of the sublime is in itself an aesthetic of immanence, of the here and now, of the experience that is neither separate nor independent from the event, but which on the contrary is consubstantial with it. What is thus represented is the infinitesimal moment of emotional fall.…”

“…On these subjects, which presage interesting developments in psychoanalytic technique but are too broad to be addressed here, see Civitarese, .…”

Prendersi cura. Sul senso dell'esperienza psicoanalitica [Taking Care: On the Meaning of Psychoanalytic Experience]

“…This is not greatly different from Bion's invitation to see the patient's “hallucinations” when he says we need to make a radical rejection of material reality and allow transformations in hallucinosis of the analyst to be a real and appropriate principle of technique (Civitarese, , in press ). Images and ideas which seem entirely fortuitous and at odds with the reality of events, which in reality are the product of the work of the unconscious, surprise us, make us curious, and help us to make contact with psychic reality and the suffering of the patient.…”