Books / Psychodynamic & attachment
Learning from Experience
In Learning from Experience (1962), Wilfred R. Bion presents a psychoanalytic theory of emotional experience and thinking, using concepts including alpha-function, reverie and containment.
Book details
Author of listed edition: Wilfred R. Bion
Edition: First published in 1962
Publisher: William Heinemann Medical Books
Edition year: 1962
Language and origin: English (United Kingdom)
Form and genre: Clinical & Theoretical Monograph
Level: Advanced
Historical era: 1960–1979 · Humanistic, Cognitive & Systemic Turn
Covers: Container-contained (♀♂); Alpha-function and beta-elements; Maternal reverie; Theory of thinking and K-link
APA 7th reference: Bion, W. R. (1962). Learning from experience. William Heinemann Medical Books.
What it is
Published in London in 1962, Learning from Experience is a theoretical psychoanalytic work by Wilfred R. Bion. It develops ideas about emotional experience and the capacity to think.
What it covers
Bion uses terms including alpha-function, alpha-elements, beta-elements, reverie and container-contained to describe his account of thinking and emotional experience. These are concepts within his theory, not directly established biological processes.
Clinical and theoretical context
A later paper by Thomas Ogden discusses Bion’s concept of containing alongside Winnicott’s concept of holding. These descriptions are clinical interpretations and do not establish a single mechanism of development or treatment.
Reading this record
This entry draws on a specialist library description, a bibliography and a journal record. The full book was not reviewed. The ISBN previously listed belongs to a different book and has been removed.
Paired academic and clinical scholarship
Paired work: On Holding and Containing, Being and Dreaming (Thomas H. Ogden, 2004)
Reference: Ogden, T. H. (2004). On holding and containing, being and dreaming. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 85(6), 1349–1364.
A later clinical and theoretical paper compares Winnicott’s account of holding with Bion’s account of containing; it is not an independent test of either model.
Sources and inspection notes
Melanie Klein Trust. Learning from experience.
Supports: Specialist description identifies Bion, the 1962 Heinemann publication and the main theoretical terms; the full text was not checked.
Karnac Books. W. R. Bion bibliography, part 1.
Supports: Bibliography records the 1962 William Heinemann Medical Books first publication and later reprints.
Supports: Journal record for a later theoretical comparison of holding and containing; full text not checked.