title: Bion's thinking about groups: a study of influence and originality.
abstract: One of Bion's least-acknowledged contributions to psychoanalytic theory is his study of the relationship between the mind of the individual (the ability to think), the mentalities of groups of which the individual is a member, and the individual's bodily states. Bion's early work on group therapy evolved into a study of the interplay between mind and bodily instincts associated with being a member of a group, and became the impetus for his theory of thinking. On the foundation of Bion's ideas concerning this interaction among the thinking of the individual, group mentality, and the psyche-soma, the author presents his thoughts on the ways in which group mentality is recognizable in the analysis of individuals.
authors: Personal and Supervising Analyst of the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California, and is a member of the Centre for the Advanced Study of the Psychoses. He practices psychoanalysis in Berkeley, California.
authors: John A
authors: JA
authors: Schneider
mesh_terms: D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D007323:Instinct; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group; D012933:Social Identification; D013850:Thinking
keywords: Freud; Melanie Klein; W. R. Bion; Wilfred Trotter; alpha and beta elements; basic assumption mentality; group psychology; groupishness; herd instinct; projective identification; protomental states; psyche-soma; thinking