In 1968, Wilfred Bion and Albert Mason emigrated to Los Angeles at the invitation of a group of young analysts to teach and train local clinicians in the British object relations tradition. They were joined by Susanna Isaacs Elmhirst for a period. London Kleinians in Los Angeles is a colorful account of the early days of psychoanalysis in LA, punctuated by in-person presentations from the leading Kleinians of the day, including Hanna Segal, Herbert Rosenfeld, Donald Meltzer, and Wilfred Bion himself. Their unpublished lectures from the 1960s and 1970s appear in Part I. Part II features seminal papers by the founding fathers of the Psychoanalytic Center of California (PCC): James Gooch, James Grotstein, Arthur Malin, and Albert Mason, the group's leading spokesperson. PCC continues to function as a vital center of psychoanalytic training and education in the British object relations tradition. The unearthing of four unpublished contributions from four founding Kleinians is an incredible find for psychoanalysis and this book is highly recommended to all professionals and trainees in the field. Those with an interest in the history of psychoanalysis will find much to excite them.

In 1984 the Psychoanalytic Center of California (PCC) was established as a direct outcome of the work of Albert Mason, Wilfred Bion, and the visiting analysts who influenced the thinking and practice of receptive Los Angeles analysts of the day. Contemporary Object Relations in Los Angeles reflects the work of current PCC analysts who have carried forward the Kleinian tradition in a variety of ways. They form a tribute to Dr Albert Mason and his influence on the development of post-Kleinian and Bionian thinking in the United States. The contributions reflect a wide range of interests and ways of exploring current psychoanalytic thought. They include a comparison of the concepts of Winnicott, Klein, and Bion; an account of the application of infant observation; a description of the gradual dismantling of a patient's manic personality organization; detailed accounts of individual analyses: the journey from psychotherapy to a full analytic treatment; the musical aspects of communication between analyst and patient; and the history, meaning, and current perspective of interpretation in analysis. This lively collection will enhance the practice of clinicians and inspire trainees on their own clinical journey.

This book includes material from Michael Eigen’s celebrated and long-running seminar series, to explore some of the classic and contemporary key concepts in psychoanalytic theory and practice. Drawing on the work of Winnicott, Bion and Lacan, Eigen explores key psychoanalytic themes which have risen to prominence over the last decade such as the place of politics in psychoanalysis, life, death and psychic deadness, and the role of lies and deception in the consulting room and our world. With over 50 years of experience in leading seminars and working psychoanalytically, Eigen's work is essential reading for all psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists.

Dr James Grotstein (1925-2015) was the foremost Bion scholar, and one of the most noted and honoured psychoanalysts in the world. His prolific writings and generous encouragement to other analysts has had an enormous impact. He was among the first to examine Bion's most controversial concept - O - in particular the mystical aspects of O. The title of this book, Of Things Invisible To Mortal Sight: A Celebration of the Work of James S. Grotstein, inspired by a line from Milton's Paradise Lost (Book III), reflects Grotstein's decades-long examination of the most profound aspects of the human mind. Dr James Grotstein's erudition and depth of understanding made him one of the most revered psychoanalysts throughout the psychoanalytic world. He was well known and appreciated for his prolific writings, so it was only fitting to honour him through writing, and the fifteen articles in Of Things Invisible To Mortal Sight are written by esteemed analysts from Italy, Brazil, Argentina, Israel, and throughout the United States.

Introducing the Clinical Work of Wilfred Bion takes a fresh approach to this much revered analyst, focusing on the unique contributions to be found in his analytical and supervisorial work and developing of received Kleinian theory. Starting from his childhood in India and his schooldays, through his experience in the Great War and later life, this book considers the way in which Bion’s personal experience informed his later work as an analyst. Aguayo looks at how Bion’s loyalty to Kleinian theory, especially in his work on psychosis, and how the subsequent in-fighting rife within the psychoanalytic community impacted his approach. Aguayo also considers the epistemological work done by Bion in the early 1960s while President of the British Psychoanalytical Society, as well as his seminars from Los Angeles and Buenos Aires. The book concludes by proposing that the spate of recently published Clinical Seminars, fresh with new clinical examples from Bion’s analytic and supervisory work, now represent a potential for a ‘new wave’ of interest among analysts and scholars alike. Aguayo also engages the work of important contemporary specialists in Bion studies, such as: Ron Britton, Giuseppe Civitarese, James Grotstein, Robert Hinshelwood, Betty Joseph, John Steiner and Rudi Vermote. As Bion’s clinical work continues to inform contemporary psychoanalysts, this book will be essential reading to all analysts interested in Bion’s work and the legacy it holds in contemporary psychoanalysis.

This book is organized as a handbook, a "beginning", to elucidate general principles on how the psychoanalyst or psychoanalytically informed psychotherapist may optimally provide and maintain the setting for the psychoanalysis, and ultimately intervene with interpretations.

Written by pioneering analyst and creative thinker, James Grotstein, A Beam of Intense Darkness offers a thorough overview and illuminating insight into the often-complex work of W. R. Bion. This psychoanalytic classic sees Grotstein introduce over 30 key Bionian theories, comprehensively explaining them to the reader before offering his own insight and commentary. Grotstein first encountered Bion as his analysand and, later, as his friend. This book offers a level of insight only possible through such a close relationship, and offers a dialogue between Bion and Grotstein as they delve into the inner workings of the human psyche. Throughout, Grotstein offers his own original thoughts on topics such as projective transidentification, transcendent position and the truth drive. With a new introduction from Nicola Abel-Hirsch, this book is an essential read for anyone interested in Bion’s work and legacy.

Mentoring intersects memoir as 31 illustrious psychotherapist share the origins of their professional ambitions and, mixing authority with levity, selectively describe their professional odysseys. Martin A. Schulman reflects on his “deformative years” in the European Jewish culture of the Bronx. Sebastiano Santostefano remembers his youth in the less predictable crucible of rurarl Sicily, where his father and grandfather, functioning as village therapists, mediated family disputes. He divides his recollections into cycles of which his integrative approach to work with children is the intellectual climax. Jeffrey Seinfeld, who spent much of his adolescence in “special rehabilitation facilities for acting-out youth” (i.e. reform schools), regards his own psychotherapy as a form of salvation and the practice of psychotherapy as a calling. Martha Stark expresses the passion she sought and the engagement she found when she reconciled her strengths of heart and mind as a psychoanalyst in the title for her contribution: “If You Love Your Job, You’ll Never Work Another Day in Your Life.” Among Joseph Reppen’s other recruits are Maria Bergmann, Morris Eagle, Althea Horner, and Ruth Lax—sources all of career counsel, professional confessional, and high-brow gossip.

Wilfred Bion described "O" as "the unknowable and the unreachable ultimate truth". In this fascinating collection, a range of authors offer their own theoretical, clinical and artistic approaches to exploring this enduring but mysterious idea. Drawn from contributions from the 8th International Bion Conference in 2014, the book examines how "O" can be experienced in all aspects of internal and external reality and within all relationships, from an individual relating to the mother to their emotional relationship with their self. It features insights into "O" drawn from the area of faith as well as its manifestations in clinical practice, while also included is a chapter exploring the links between Bion’s ideas and those of Winnicott, Lacan, Green and Freud. Featuring contributions from some of the world’s leading Bion scholars, this will be essential reading for any psychoanalyst interested in exploring the concept of "O", as well as scholars in philosophy and theology.

Winner of the 2010 Sigourney Award! How has Hanna Segal influenced psychoanalysis today? Jean-Michel Quinodoz provides the reader with a comprehensive overview of Segal's life, her clinical and theoretical work, and her contribution to psychoanalysis over the past sixty years by combining actual biographical and conceptual interviews with Hanna Segal herself or with colleagues who have listened to Segal in various contexts. Listening to Hanna Segal explores both Segal's personal and professional histories, and the interaction between the two. The book opens with an autobiographical account of Segal's life, from her birth in Poland to her analysis with Melanie Klein in London where she became the youngest member of the British Psychoanalytical Society. Quinodoz goes on to explain Segal's contributions in various fields of psychoanalysis including: the psychoanalytic treatment of psychotic patients the introduction of the "symbolic equation" aesthetics and the creative impulse the analysis of elderly patients introducing the work of Melanie Klein. Quinodoz concludes by examining Segal's most recent contribution to psychoanalysis - exploring nuclear terror, psychotic anxieties, and group phenomena. Throughout the interviews Segal speaks of her close relationships with prominent colleagues such as Klein, Rosenfeld, and Bion, making this book both a valuable contribution to the history of psychoanalysis and an indication of the evolution of psychoanalytic ideas over the past six decades. This clear summary of Hanna Segal's life and her contribution to psychoanalysis will be an essential guide to anyone studying Segal and her contemporaries.