Dennis Flynn, 'Bion in clinical work: on the "correlation" and disruption of knowing'

I describe in this paper how knowing ('K' in Bion) comes from direct emotional experience, and 'the function of correlation' is to link intrapsychically internal meaning, then in an interpersonal way to produce a 'common emotional view'. The 'correlation' of 'K' can be severely disrupted by concretely experienced events where the chain through symbolic links to unconscious meaning is broken. Material from two psychoanalytic cases is discussed, one with disruptions over a period of time in a patient within the normal range, and another a disruption within one session in a more fragmented and damaged patient. 'Curiosity' guided by life instincts underlies the 'correlation' of 'K' in the search for emotional 'truth', and Bion's concepts of 'α-function', 'containment' and the operation of 'bizarre objects' are discussed. Finally I discuss Bion's view that without 'correlation' of experience, 'space' and 'time' become 'shrunk, exhausted and split', leaving the patient confronted by bizarre experiences or 'nameless dread'.