Attention and Interpretation

In Attention and Interpretation, Bion (1970) contrasts the difference between two kinds of patients or states of mind: those who can and those who cannot stand to remain in contact with an anxiety-producing or frustrating reality long enough to tolerate and think about what, if anything, can be done about it, rather than react by trying to evade, deny or distort the perception of the source of their frustration or displeasure. In so doing, he is amplifying and exploring Freud’s (1911) two principles of mental functioning from a clinical vertex that investigates the vicissitudes of frustration tolerance. This inevitably leads to questions and considerations of existential Experience, psychic representation and…