CATASTROPHE, OBJECTS AND REPRESENTATION: THREE LEVELS OF INTERPRETATION

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Abstract
This paper discusses the under‐used ideas of Esther Bick. In recapitulating briefly her discoveries, I have tried to show that in effect she was attempting to reach a third layer of experiencing in the unconscious; a neonatal struggle for containment which underlies Klein's descriptive level of object‐relations involved in primitive defence mechanisms in the infant, and Freud's further developed layer of repression and symbolization (and representation). With a brief piece of clinical material I indicate how each layer is linked to the others. This layering model helps, conceptually, to define interpretative choices. It remains, however, for further debate to decide how to choose which layer(s) for interpretation.

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