Working within the traditions of Bion, Turquet, Foulkes and Pines, and drawing on concepts and data from psychoanalysis, group analysis and sociology, this volume develops Earl Hopper's new theory of the fourth basic assumption in the unconscious life of groups and group-like social systems. Located within a social, cultural and political transgenerational context, Incohesion: Aggregation/Massification or (ba) I:A/M (an acronym for 'I AM' an assertion of personal identity when identity is under threat) is based on the fear of annihilation stemming from traumatic experience. With full respect for the constraints of the social unconscious, Earl Hopper applies his theory of Incohesion to the treatment of 'difficult' patients in group analysis. The personification of aggregation and massification patients with crustacean, contact-shunning and amoeboid, merger-hungry characteristics respectively is illustrated with detailed clinical vignettes from heterogeneous groups, including drug addicts, victims of incest and sexual abuse, and child survivors of the Shoah. Concluding with critical commentaries by senior British and American group analysts and psychoanalysts, this volume will make essential reading for both analysts and their students.Working within the traditions of Bion, Turquet, Foulkes and Pines, and drawing on concepts and data from psychoanalysis, group analysis and sociology, this volume develops Earl Hopper's new theory of the fourth basic assumption in the unconscious life of groups and group-like social systems. Located within a social, cultural and political transgenerational context, Incohesion: Aggregation/Massification or (ba) I:A/M (an acronym for 'I AM' an assertion of personal identity when identity is under threat) is based on the fear of annihilation stemming from traumatic experience. With full respect for the constraints of the social unconscious, Earl Hopper applies his theory of Incohesion to the treatment of 'difficult' patients in group analysis. The personification of aggregation and massification patients with crustacean, contact-shunning and amoeboid, merger-hungry characteristics respectively is illustrated with detailed clinical vignettes from heterogeneous groups, including drug addicts, victims of incest and sexual abuse, and child survivors of the Shoah. Concluding with critical commentaries by senior British and American group analysts and psychoanalysts, this volume will make essential reading for both analysts and their students.CONTENTSForeword, Malcolm Pines, Institute of Group Analysis, London. Acknowledgements. Introduction. 1. The Theory of Cohesion Proposed by Bion and Turquet, and Modified by Others. 2. The Fear of Annihilation and Traumatic Experience. 3. The Fourth Basic Assumption: Incohesion: Aggregation/Massification or (ba) I:A/M. 4. The Personification of Incohesion: Aggregation/Massification. 5. The Treatment of Difficult Patients in Clinical Group Analysis: The Personification of Aggregation by Pandoro. 6. The Personification of Massification by Pandora. 7. An Illustration of Incohesion: Aggregation/Massification in the Extreme: A Group of Child Survivors of the Shoah. 8. Summary, Invited Critical Commentaries, Discussion and Suggestions for Further Research and Applications: Richard M. Billow, Howard Kibel, Malcolm Pines, Bennett Roth, Jill Savege Scharff and David E. Scharff, Victor L. Schermer, Walter Stone. Appendix I: Some Conceptual Distinctions about Social Formations from Sociology and Social Psychology. Appendix II: Encapsulation as a Defence against the Fear of Annihilation. References. Subject Index. Author Index.
