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life cycle, art, philosophy, mathematics, religion — to all that changes over time, both living and inert. It can be applied so broadly, and on such a vast scale, that the concept practically surrenders itself to common sense. Bion’s primary application for his model was for psychoanalysis as a discipline observing ongoing growth and evolution of mental and emotional life. It is a model in four dimensions, that is, a model based on constant flow, evolution, and growth of the processes and functions of the mind. As such, it re-orients psychoanalytic observation away from searching for over-simplified, two-dimensional snapshots of drive derivatives, unconscious phantasies, interpretations etc. in the clinical encounter. This fundamental adjustment of observational vertex reflects Bion’s evolution as a psychoanalytic clinician and theorist. From this perspective, the theory of transformations subtends Bion’s entire approach to the mind and psychoanalysis. As such, it functions as a hub linked with the theories of function, thinking, container–contained, PS↔D, the emotional links L (love), H (hate) and K (knowledge), the Grid’s depiction of the genesis and function of thought, the basic Kleinian mechanisms of projective identification and the PS (Paranoid-Schizoid) and D (Depressive) positions, the Freudian concepts of the reality and pleasure principles, and more. (See also separate entries CONTAINMENT:CONTAINER-CONTAINED, PROJECTIVE IDENTIFICATION, OBJECT RELATIONS THEORIES, THE UNCONSCIOUS, EGO PSYCHOLOGY) II. Dc. Transformations and the Theory of Thinking Thinking as conceived by Bion shares structural similarities with the model of transformations. In its most general form, thinking comes into being in order to manage pre- mental, emotionally imbued states. These emotion-based, pre-mental elements undergo transformation into mental elements that the mind may manage and use through thinking. Ultimately, the mind produces meaning in great measure to contain primary emotional experiences. Bion wrote, “in my theory ... an emotional experience is transformed ... to make dream thought, unconscious waking thinking and storage in the mind (memory) possible” (Bion 1962b, IV, p. 321). Bion used the term “transformed” in its colloquial sense, as this citation from 1962 precedes the developed theory of transformations. This supports the inference that Bion abstracted the theory of transformations from the theory of thinking (for example, Bion 1962b, p. 296; pp. 327-331). Outlining the theory of thinking briefly demonstrates its structural relationship with the overall model of transformations. Bion’s theory of thinking begins with the symbol “β-element” — which has no relation with the sign β used in the theory of transformations. β-elements represent pre- mental phenomena usually associated with sense perception and interoceptive somatic registration, and which includes registration of sensations of primary emotion. Bion likened the β-element to sense impressions analogous to physical sense impressions. He proposed the sign “α-function” to represent the processes of transformation in which those psychic sense impressions become mental phenomena. The term “α-elements” represents the product of transformations through α-function, and the sign α-elements represents the first mental elements available to the primitive mind (again, the sign “α” has no relationship with its use
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