Gamma elements as protomental representations: Suggestions for expanding W. R. Bion’s theory of elements

ABSTRACT

W. R. Bion developed various models and theories to describe the formation of mental representations. This article introduces an expansion of the model of alpha and beta elements by a new category, termed “gamma elements”. Despite being transformable, gamma elements are characterized by an excessive feeling of reality, such that the subject must evacuate them. We are dealing here with visions, pseudohallucinations, scenarios in nightmares that are as terrible as they are sensorily charged, flashbacks, or overwhelming physical feelings interspersed with hypochondriacal anxieties. Using the “theory of maternal semiotics” (Kristeva), the author traces how the child’s projectiles, i.e. beta experiences projected into the maternal container, are transformed into alpha and gamma elements. In this respect, gamma elements are more or less precise indicators of the analytic process: they indicate the extent to which the analysand is capable of enduring and transforming frustrating experiences in the here-and-now. The expansion of Bion’s model of elements, therefore, has direct clinical relevance, in that gamma elements can be understood both as imaginative creations and as indications of disorganizing processes.

W.R. Bion a développé différents modèles et théories pour décrire la formation des représentations mentales. L’auteur de cet article propose une extension du modèle des éléments-alpha et bêta, en introduisant une nouvelle catégorie, les « éléments-gamma ». Bien qu’ils soient transformables, les éléments-gamma sont caractérisés par un sentiment de réalité démesuré, à tel point que le sujet doit les évacuer. Nous avons affaire ici à des visions, des pseudo-hallucinations, des scénarios cauchemardesques, qui sont rendus d’autant plus terrifiants qu’ils se présentent comme des reviviscences chargées de sensorialité, ou encore des sensations physiques écrasantes émaillées d’angoisses hypocondriaques. S’appuyant sur la « théorie de la sémiotique maternelle » (Kristeva), l’auteur décrit comment les projections de l’enfant, c’est-à-dire les expériences-bêta projetées dans le contenant maternel, sont transformées en éléments-alpha et gamma. A cet égard, les éléments-gamma constituent des marqueurs plus ou moins précis tout au long du processus analytique: ils indiquent dans quelle mesure l’analysant est capable de supporter et de transformer les expériences de frustration dans l’ici et maintenant. Ainsi, l’extension du modèle des éléments de Bion s’avère pertinente, en prise directe avec la clinique, en ce que les éléments-gamma peuvent être compris à la fois comme des créations imaginatives et des marqueurs de processus désorganisateurs.

W. R. Bion entwickelte verschiedene Modelle und Theorien, um die Formation mentaler Repräsentanzen zu beschreiben. In dem Artikel wird eine Erweiterung des Modells der alpha- und beta-Elemente um eine neue Kategorie vorgestellt, die als gamma-Elemente bezeichnet werden. Diese sind transformierbar, zeichnen sich jedoch durch ein exzessives Wirklichkeitsgefühl aus, so dass das Subjekt diese evakuieren muss. Es handelt sich um Visionen, Pseudohalluzinationen, ebenso schreckliche wie sinnlich aufgeladene Szenarien in Alpträumen, um Flashbacks oder um überwältigende, mit hypochondrischen Ängsten durchsetzte Körpergefühle. Anhand der “Theorie der maternalen Semiose” (Kristeva) wird nachgezeichnet, wie Projektile des Kindes, d.h. in den mütterlichen Container projizierte beta-Erfahrungen, in alpha- und gamma-Elemente verwandelt werden. Gamma-Elemente sind insofern mehr oder weniger präzise Indikatoren für den analytischen Prozess: Sie zeigen an, inwieweit der Analysand in der Lage ist, im Hier und Jetzt frustrierende Erfahrungen zu ertragen und zu transformieren. Insofern hat die Erweiterung der Bion’schen Elementenlehre eine unmittelbare klinische Relevanz, indem gamma-Elemente sowohl als kreative Schöpfungen wie als Hinweise für desorganisierende Prozesse verstanden werden können.

W. R. Bion ha sviluppato diversi modelli e teorie per descrivere il processo attraverso cui si formano le rappresentazioni mentali. Con il presente articolo si vuole espandere il modello basato sugli elementi alfa e beta introducendo una categoria nuova, quella degli “elementi gamma”. Per quanto possano essere trasformati, gli elementi gamma si caratterizzano per un senso di realtà eccessivo, tale da costringere il soggetto a evacuarli. Si tratta di visioni, pesudoallucinazioni, scenari di incubo tanto terribili quanto carichi di sensorialità, flashback, o finanche sopraffacenti sensazioni fisiche permeate di ansie ipocondriache. Utilizzando la “teoria della semiotica materna” (Kristeva), l’Autore descrive il modo in cui i proiettili del bambino—ovvero gli elementi beta proiettati dentro il contenitore materno—vengono trasformati in elementi alfa ed elementi gamma. In questo senso, gli elementi gamma rappresentano degli indicatori piuttosto precisi del processo analitico: essi segnalano difatti sino a che punto il paziente è in grado di sostenere e trasformare le esperienze frustranti nel qui e ora. L’estensione qui proposta del modello bioniano degli elementi implica quindi assai direttamente la dimensione clinica, e ciò nella misura in cui si possono riconoscere negli elementi gamma sia delle creazioni frutto di attività immaginativa sia dei segnali di processi disorganizzanti in corso.

W. R. Bion elaboró diversos modelos y teorías para describir la formación de las representaciones mentales. El presente artículo amplía el modelo de elementos alfa y beta mediante la introducción de una nueva categoría: los “elementos gamma”. Estos últimos, a pesar de ser transformables, se caracterizan por un excesivo sentimiento de realidad, a tal grado que el sujeto debe evacuarlos. Se trata aquí de visiones, seudoalucinaciones y pesadillas aterradoras por estar cargadas de sensorialidad, de flashbacks o de sentimientos físicos abrumadores, entremezclados con angustias hipocondriacas. El autor utiliza la “teoría de la semiótica materna” (Kristeva) para delinear cómo los proyectiles de los niños, es decir, las experiencias beta proyectadas en el continente materno, son transformados en elementos alfa y gamma. A este respecto, los elementos gamma son indicadores más o menos precisos para el proceso analítico: ellos indican en qué medida el analizado es capaz de superar y transformar las experiencias frustrantes en el aquí y el ahora. Por tanto, la ampliación del modelo de los elementos de Bion tiene una importancia clínica directa al entender que los elementos gamma son tanto creaciones imaginativas como indicadores de procesos desorganizadores.

KEYWORDS:

• Bion
• alpha elements
• beta element
• gamma elements
• theory of transformation
• maternal semiotics
• pre-narrative envelopes

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Francesco Corrao (1981, 39 ff.) previously introduced the term “gamma function”, although in relation only to group phenomena. By gamma function, he understood the capacity of group thinking to digest scattered sensory and emotional elements in the group’s analytic field. From this perspective, the gamma function in the group forms a “symmetrical analogue” to the alpha function in the individual structure (see also Gentile 2016). From my perspective, alpha and gamma elements are formed both in the individual structure and in the group. However, the main difference between the definition of gamma elements that Corrao proposes analogous to the “gamma function” and my definition is that, in my opinion, gamma elements are fundamentally differentiated from alpha elements. Alpha, beta and gamma elements each form their separate category.

2 Magnenat (2016) comments that Bion understands the psychosomatic breast as a preliminary model “for referring to an object that is capable of reverie”, and therefore as a “breast with an alpha function”. To that extent, the individual’s psychosomatic unity is rooted in this specific character of the psychosomatic breast. Here Bion is planting the “seed of a psychosomatic theory”. He continues:

The aim of the reverie is, according to Bion (1962b, 36), the psychic containment of the flow of raw emotional and sensory experiences by way of projective identifications, relayed by crying, facial expression and body language. We can assume that the failure of a process of reverie can pave the way for somatizations by deflecting the raw content of the projective identifications in the direction of the body. (Magnenat 2016, 45)

He describes a breast that gives no milk as an “alexithymic breast”; it evades the “reverie”, and the child remains at the mercy of their excitations, which must be evacuated into the body.

3 Lacan (2013, 82) characterizes this “alternating mechanism of expulsion and introjection, of projection and absorption” as “imaginary interplay”.

4 Gergely and Watson (1996) refer here, in the context of the “social biofeedback theory of parental affect-mirroring”, to the mother’s capacity both to mark her affect and to mirror the child’s affect congruently, so that in consequence of this maternal sensitivity the baby can connect their own mirrored affects and develop a more mature layer of affect or a more mature representation of the affects.

5 From a development-psychology viewpoint, Hobson (2004) describes three steps that lead to the capacity for thinking. In the first step, the baby makes contact with other people to interact with them (“stage of intersubjective connectedness”). In the second step, the child begins to understand the attitudes taken by other people to things and events. The essential characteristic of this stage of “secondary intersubjectivity”, which begins at the end of the first year of life, is an event that intervenes between two people about which they communicate. The actual leap into thinking happens in the next few months of life. According to Bruner (1983), language develops out of the shared actions and play of parents and child. So specific play formats are repeated with verbal, slightly varied commentaries. In this way, the child gradually learns to connect play processes and verbal commentaries and to initiate speech themself. In principle, the child replaces vague vocalizations with progressively more complex verbal expressions. To that extent, a “sharing of meaning” (Hobson et al. 2015) occurs in the play between adults and child. Lacan describes this process in terms of a symbolically verbal commentary being tacked on to the child’s imaginary play: language “sticks” to the “imaginary system” (2013, 84). From the Bionian perspective, it could be said that the alpha-casings that wrap a tolerable experience are accorded a visual-imaginary or symbolic-verbal meaning; in this way, both dream images and verbally structured thoughts develop.

6 Bion introduces the concept of the “thing-in-itself” (1962) to describe beta-elements. Darmstädter (2001, 118) criticizes Bion for having misunderstood Kant’s concept of the “Ding an sich”: “According to Kant, human beings can only comprehend phenomena. The thing-in-itself arises by an operation of reason. It is the idea that an ‘objective’ reality exists that represents a ‘correlate of the unity of apperception’”. Bion’s perspective could in any case – at least to some extent – be defended on the basis that beta-elements are only transcendental constructs, and therefore results of an operation of reason. Only their empirical consequences (such as in the form of body pains or acting-out behaviours) can be counted as phenomena. Admittedly, from this perspective alpha elements would also be “things-in-themselves”, and therefore results of an operation of reason and not recognizable as such.

7 Lacan (2013) referred to a “container” and “contained” (“contenant” and “contenu”) – obviously before Bion, who first formulated the concept “container” and “contained” in “Attacks on linking” (1959) (cf. López-Corvo 2003).

8 According to Segal (1957, 1991), the person who is seen in a hallucination, or whose voice is heard or who is sensed in a form of coenaesthesia, is equated with introjects of important caregivers. She refers to “symbolic equations”: if the relationship experience is positive, angels may be hallucinated; negative experiences generate hallucinations of persecutors and so on. The strong feeling of reality arises from the equation of introject and figurative representation, whereby the individual cannot distinguish between the experience of the introject – possibly only emotional, in any case unconsciously represented – and its representation, i.e. between symbolized and symbol.

9 The Schreber case leads into a psychotic gamma universe. Freud (1911) suspects a resisted homosexuality. Others have seen Schreber’s “transgender transformation” as an act of restitution (Lothane 1992; see also Roth 2017). However, Schreber’s hypochondriac fantasies may have consisted of gamma elements. So he felt how his organs were being destroyed: “He lived for a long time without a stomach, without intestines, almost without lungs, with a torn oesophagus, without a bladder, and with shattered ribs” (Freud 1911, 17). “Rays of God” had restored what was destroyed and, during this restitutive rescue, cast as a miracle, Schreber experienced being transformed into a woman:

He has a feeling that enormous numbers of “female nerves” have already passed over into his body, and out of them a new race of men will proceed, through a process of direct impregnation by God. Not until then, it seems, will he be able to die a natural death, and, along with the rest of mankind, will he regain a state of bliss. (1911, 17)

Psychologically, Freud interpreted Schreber’s rays of God as “in reality nothing else than a concrete representation and projection outwards of libidinal cathexes” (1911, 78). Does this description not correspond completely to the definition of a gamma element? The criteria are: (1) concretely represented, (2) externally projected, and (3) libidinally charged. Freud imagined this mechanism as follows: in the course of a “return of repression” (1911, 68) a kind of “breakthrough” of the libido occurs at predisposing points of fixation (Freud 1911, 68: “This irruption takes its start from the point of fixation, and it implies a regression of the libidinal development to that point”). As a result of an “unusually intense wave of libido” (1911, 62), this breakthrough creates typical gamma elements from the experience that takes place from the point of fixation. Daniel Schreber could not have understood the “return of the repressed” in any other way. His disturbing gamma experiences take place, as we would say today, on a “transgender edge”. According to Hansbury (2017, 1010), this involves “a psychic space, a liminal space, a transitional space in which body parts and gendered bits bump up against each other and merge”. Exactly on this edge, which extends in the form of a transitional zone, i.e. forms a kind of creative container, “outlaws” can infiltrate from the world of experiential facts. These may be either alpha representations (“fantasies”) or representations in the gamma register (“embodied fantasies”). If we transpose this model in the light of gamma theory to the Schreber case, then in Schreber’s experience the female nerve centres are factically available for this as gamma representations (like the young homosexual’s “male vagina” in Hansbury’s case example). In this way, Schreber experiences his “queered body” in the register of gamma elements. Hansbury (2017) refers here to a “physio-psychic reality”. Similarly, Schreber’s delusional thoughts – in the form of gamma elements – serve psychic recovery after the breakdown that he had symbolized as “world destruction”.

10 If we imagine elements gathered in a “cloud”, alpha elements appear stabilizing, beta elements destabilizing (“uncertainty cloud”). Veils of gamma elements give the cloud an emotional impact, unfathomability, but also emotional liveliness, which benefits works of art. In a comparison of Bion and Lacan, it could be said that there is an alpha register of the Symbolic (including visual representations), a beta register of the Real (in the sense of the unrepresentable) and a gamma register of the Imaginary, which is reality saturated, i.e. soldered with the Real.

11 The first sense of the Platonic concept of the “chōra” is the maternal space in which everything becomes alive.

12 Accordingly, Hansbury (2017) argues in favour of opening up a space in which the male vaginal can be discovered, mentalized and reintegrated into the self. In a commentary Moss (2017) refers to the third, semiotic function of the interpretation, which the analyst allows to emerge in the shared space.