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II. Dd. Transformations, the Grid, and Lateral Communication With his “Grid” Bion aimed to deepen the theory of thinking (for example, Bion 1963a, V, pp. 93-114; 1963b, V, pp. 101-114). The series of rows and columns depict transformations of thought components and their functions, including functions intended to prevent thinking. Its rows present the phylogenetic evolution of thinking, from the primitive pre-mental, or β- element, to a highly evolved system of thought Bion termed “Algebraic Calculus”. Its columns outline the evolution of functions that elements of thought may serve, from a “statement”, which may itself represent an initial emotional experience, or a Truth, in the first column, to the final function of action, in the sixth. One of the Grid’s most significant features is column 2, which represents the primary defensive function of dissembling and even destroying truth, when truth itself is perceived as threatening self-destruction (see below “Transformations and Emotional Truth”). Bion emphasized that an analyst should not use or recall the Grid while doing clinical work, because this forces the analyst’s retreat from immediate emotional engagement within the clinical moment. Rather, he hoped the Grid would help analysts consider the events of sessions in retrospect, while in a state of what he called “meditative review”, which would also help develop analytic intuition (Bion 1963a, V, p. 83). Additionally, one of Bion’s greatest hopes was that the Grid might help improve communication between analysts about clinical material by bringing consistency and clarity to descriptions of clinically observed transformations in mental functioning. He called this lateral communication (for example, 1970, VI, p. 293). II. De. Transformations and the Psychoanalytic Situation The theory of transformations serves as “a method of critical approach to psychoanalytic practice and not [as] new psychoanalytic theories” (Bion 1965, V, p. 131). The difference is crucial. By “psychoanalytic theories”, Bion refers specifically to elements of metapsychology pertaining to the clinical situation, for example, the Oedipus complex, projective identification, and others. By contrast, the theory of transformations addresses ways in which the analyst observes the clinical situation: “the theory of transformations is inapplicable to any situation in which observation is not an essential. Observation is to be made and recorded in a form suitable for working with but inimical to wayward and undisciplined fabrications” (Bion 1970, VI, p. 161; italics in original). He also wrote, “For my purpose it is convenient to regard psycho-analysis as belonging to the group of transformations” (Bion 1965, V, p. 129). From this vertex, the analyst aims to observe ongoing evolution of emotional experiences and psychic reality of patients and themselves, especially within the immediate clinical relationship. He wrote, “The theory of transformations is intended to illuminate a chain of phenomena in which the understanding of one link, or aspect of it, helps in the understanding of others. The emphasis of this enquiry is on the nature of the transformation in a psycho- analytic session” (p. 156). Bion also wrote that with the “term ‘transformation’ ... I am concerned with a function of the personality”, which demonstrates a large-scale use of the concept (Bion 1965, V, p. 137). In both cases, this form of observation requires that the analyst
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