[...] Bion realized that tensions evolve as the group assigns itself certain group fantasies. The group fragments, divides into subgroups, pairs-off, or acts overly dependent in order to evacuate painful anxieties (relinquishing all individual thinking to the collective group self).
Very interesting! Here it is a more complete summary of Bion:
Come follow, follow, follow ,follow, follow , follow me!
Whither shall I follow, follow, follow,
Whither shall I follow, follow thee?
To the greenwood, to the greenwood,
To the greenwood, greenwood tree! In this well-known old song, an English canon composed by John Hilton in 1652, we are encouraged to follow an invisible leader. But before we decide to do so, we ask him "whither shall I follow? Whither shall I follow thee?" The answer sounds tempting: "to the greenwood tree..." So,... off we go!... Or perhaps not?
Bion's Theory of Thinking -- "Container-Contained"The theory or the "model" at the base of author's reflections is Bion's model "container-contained", also called his "theory of thinking". The relationship between container and contained is central to Bion's thinking seeing it as basic, a ubiquitous pattern of relationships which, as it were, biologically pre-programmed. In other words, it is one of nature's key patterns. It is at one and the same time: the model of conception (penis-in-vagina), gestation (embryo-in-uterus), alimentation (nipple-in-mouth) and elimination (faeces-in-colon). This fundamental pattern -- 'one thing inside another', as Bion simply calls it -- in its many variations and permutations, forms the model for all human somatopsychological experience from the very beginning of life. Bion posits a "place" or an "object", which he calls the "container", whose purpose is to take up a "something" which needs to be contained. Through this process both container and that-which-is-to-be-contained are transformed, and something new, a "third" element comes into being. From this biological pattern, Bion develops his model of the origin of the ability to think, which, for him, is a precondition for his central developmental concept, "learning from experience", which is the process he describes as the mental metabolizing of experiences, perceptions and fantasies, both conscious and unconscious. Bion's starting point is what he refers to as the "proto-mental", the somato-psychic level of experiences, consisting of emotional entities "in the raw", which to he gives the name "beta elements". According to Bion, these bits of raw sense data are, as it were, "looking for", or "in search of" a place where they can grow and be transformed into thoughts, dreams ideas, myths, etc. For in Bion's theory of thinking, (very much along Platonic lines) all thoughts exist a priori to their being actually thought; that is to say, they are simply 'there' in some potential space/time, independent of there being a thinker to think them. Bion's image of thoughts simply being "there" without having found a thinker to think them yet, is reminiscent of Luigi Pirandello's drama "Six Characters in Search of an Author." They, too, these six characters "exist" ostensibly a priori to an author's mind having created them, and their search can be thought of as being analogous to the "searching" of thoughts for a mind, for a thinker to think them.
When these "thoughts without a thinker" find such a "nesting place" in the mind of a "host" (mother, therapist, consultant, supervisor, leader etc.) so to speak, they can then be transformed into so-called "alpha elements" through the state of mind which Bion has named "reverie", and the process which he has called "alpha function." He emphasizes, however, that he neither knows what alpha-function is or how it functions, he just knows that it does! What he does describe in great detail is the indispensable requirement for the successful functioning of this transformation, negative capability. It all depends, he says, on the presence of "negative capability", i.e. the capability to take in without judging and without explanation, the ability just to "be with one's experience", to tolerate uncertainty, mystery and doubt without any "irritable grasping for facts and reason." When the containing object (the psyche of the container) takes up the contained (i.e. the projected, the not-understood, the painful, needy, as yet uncontained, unthinkable beta elements) from the subject, it must be capable of carrying out this metabolic, disentangling process within itself, in order to be able to feed it back to the subject in small, digestible doses, so that it can now be metabolised by the subject and used for mental growth, rather than being simply expelled, "spat out" again as mentally indigestible. Negative capability, which enables the object to "dream" (reverie) upon, to ponder and reflect upon these projected parts, requires a state of mind which Bion calls "patience" and which gradually changes into a state of mind which he calls "certainty" when the "to-be-contained" has been understood, detoxicated and re-presented to the subject. Following Freud's dictum "where Id was, Ego shall be", one could restate Bion's postulate as "where beta elements are, they shall be transformed into alpha-elements", that is to say, transformed into dreamable dreams and thinkable thoughts through the workings of alpha-function. This, then, is the process which, according to Bion, has to take place in every mother, in every therapist, consultant or supervisor, in every leader if he or she has the intention of being helpful to his/her "baby" (patient, client, supervisee, client system, team, staff, organisation, company, nation or people), and to the extent to which the necessity of performing a containing function for those who are to follow his or her lead is both recognised and possible.
Bion's theory of group dynamics, basic assumptions and leadership It is one of Bion's central tenets of group life, that people who come together to form a group -- regardless of its ostensible purpose -- are basically always and predominantly concerned with the survival of the group as a group as such, no matter what. At the unconscious, "proto-mental" level, group formation takes place in at least three basic forms -- which Bion has dubbed "basic assumptions".
- The whole group remains dependent on a leader for its well-being (basic assumption Dependency -- baD)
- The group chooses a pair whose task it is to create a new "something" (person, idea, structure) which is seen to have a messianic function and makes the group believe that it will thereby be safe from disintegration and destruction (basic assumption Pairing -- baP)
- A kind of group leadership is formed which is seen as guaranteeing the survival of the group by making sure that potential enemies are either fought against or fled from (basic assumption fight/flight – baF)
A basic assumption group, instead of orientating itself according to the task at hand and its requirements, instead of tackling them and creating appropriate structures to get the work done, runs the danger of becoming more and more absorbed by the basic assumption structure and its dynamic, clinging to it until the task and its requirements can hardly be discerned, or even disappears completely. The main focus of attention is on maintaining the illusion that the that the group will survive no matter what, and that the fear of its being destroyed or eliminated is being or has been effectively thwarted.
The work group and its leadership The work group, by comparison, chooses its leadership according to, and is characterised by, a task-oriented relationship to reality and the job to be done, making the capacity to do work and achieve productive results possible. Therefore, one of the main goals of quality leadership is to keep the group functioning in a work group mode as much as possible in every work situation. When a the group manages to do so successfully, the result is apparent immediately. For instance, I am sure you are all familiar with the kind of atmosphere, say, in a kindergarten or pre-school group, where a clear sign that productive and satisfying work is being done can be observed as expressed in that soft background hum of calm activity and a certain sense of satisfaction in the air. Similarly, we all know well the unpleasant feeling of being in a group which is unable to work, although every single member of the group might quite justifiably claim that, as an individual, he or she is trying hard to work effectively. Surely, this means that the group is unconsciously holding on to one of the basic assumptions, and, for whatever reasons, (i.e. rivalry, envy, laziness, fear of the task itself or fear of failing) is not capable of installing and maintaining competent work group leadership, leadership authorised by the group to be effective in getting the group to work at its task.