Concept
Reverie
In Bion's usage, the mother's calm, receptive state of mind that lets her take in what her infant projects into her, whether love or terror, and make sense of it through her own alpha function. It is the mother's side of container–contained, and analysts have taken it as a model for the analyst's open, dreamlike attention to the patient.
- Broader concept
- Container–contained
- Introduced by
- Wilfred Bion
- Key works
- 5
introduced by
- Wilfred Bion 1962
developed by
- Thomas H. Ogden 1997 Ogden extended Bion's maternal reverie into a clinical method. He treats the analyst's apparently stray thoughts, daydreams, feelings and bodily sensations during the session as a way into the analytic third, to be used in forming interpretations.
gave rise to
- Dreaming oneself into existence 2005 The analyst's reverie is the main way in which they take part in dreaming the patient's undreamt dreams.
- Talking-as-dreaming 2007 Talking-as-dreaming carries the loose, associative quality of the analyst's reverie into the spoken exchange between analyst and patient.