Regression and Formlessness in the Work of Winnicott and Bion

This paper focuses on a convergence of late Bion's (1970) and late Winnicott's (1969a, b) discovery and technique. Both authors describe a special state of mind which adds formlessness, un-differentiation to regression as a major mechanism of psychic change. Bion describes this state mainly in the analyst, while Winnicott focuses on this state of mind in the patient. The combination of both approaches brings us in contact with an essential phenomenon of psychoanalysis which seems difficult to reach and contain without the psychoanalytic frame and in which both analyst and patient play a complementary role.