On Slouching, Evolving, and Transforming: In Appreciation of Nina Coltart’s “Slouching Towards Bethlehem … or Thinking the Unthinkable in Psychoanalysis”

ABSTRACT

In her now-classic paper “Slouching Towards Bethlehem … or Thinking the Unthinkable in Psychoanalysis,” Coltart invites us to consider the process of analytic development as it unfolds in the course of deep analytic work, an unfolding movement she highlights as the gradual evolution from that which is unthinkable toward that which becomes thinkable. In dialogue with Coltart, I discuss how this central theme in her paper captures a process at the heart of psychoanalysis for both the analysand and for the analyst, not only in his or her work with the analysand but as well in the personal evolution and coming-into-being of one’s analytic identity. I offer some reflections on my own development as an analyst to illustrate Coltart’s view on this coming-into-being of both who the analyst is, and yet is always also becoming. Throughout my essay, I underscore Coltart’s deep appreciation of and conversation with Bion, emphasizing their many areas of overlap. Finally, I describe how contemporary work on unrepresented mental states echoes the very same clinical concerns and technical sensibilities that are the heart of Coltart’s paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ Age and Bion’s decision to move to Los Angeles interfered.

² In contemporary terms, we see this as a deeply intersubjective process occurring between analyst and analysand, but this container-contained process operates intrapsychically as well, due in large part to the internalization of alpha function and experience with good objects. As Coltart points out later in her essay, this latter experience fosters the development of faith and the ability to tolerate the unknown.

³ Botella (2014) warns against falling under the shadows of the masters and, paraphrasing Freud’s remark to Rank, suggests instead adopting the attitude “But I am not Freudian, Kleinian, Bionian, Winnicottian … ” (p. 95).

⁴ In “Notes on Memory and Desire” (1967), one sees Bion addressing this very point when he gives a set of instructions and advice on fostering the ability to surrender one’s memory and desire in the session.

⁵ The recent publication of Bion’s complete writings (Mawson, 2014) as well as the publication of previously unknown seminars and supervisions (Aguayo & Malin, 2013) are especially helpful in understanding his widespread influence on contemporary psychoanalysis.

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David G. Power

David G. Power, Ph.D., is a founding director and member of The Boston Group for Psychoanalytic Studies. He is Past President, Supervisory and Teaching Analyst at the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis and an Active Member and on the Faculty of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. He is also an Instructor in Psychology, Department of Psychiatry (part time), Harvard Medical School at Cambridge Health Alliance. He is the coeditor, with Howard Levine, of Engaging Primitive Anxieties of the Emerging Self (Karnac, 2017). He maintains a private practice in psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and supervision in Cambridge, Massachusetts.