title: As-if: the phenomenon of not learning.
abstract: In this paper I discuss a clinical problem presented by those patients who, instead of using analysis as an emotional learning experience, invest all their energies in keeping it in a static condition. Using the material of four patients, I illustrate how they have an underlying state of disintegration which is contained in a precarious enclosure. The patients experience great difficulty in facing this situation and preventing further disintegration. I describe a particular type of splitting, which I call 'slicing', by which they achieve an arrest of further disintegrative processes, and for which they need the continuous existence of a useless analysis. I link this situation with Bion's concept of 'minus K'.
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Malcolm
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010553:Personality Development; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011573:Psychoanalytic Interpretation; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy / Q000379:methods; D011936:Reality Testing