Thinking Here and Now –
Conversation with Innovators in Psychotherapy (zoom)
Aner Govrin and Sharon Ziv-Beiman hosting
A conversation with
Annie Reiner
In Routledge Introductions to Contemporary Psychoanalysis
January 29th, 2023, 10:30 am (LA Time), 12:30 pm (New York Time), 6:30 pm (UK time), (8:30 pm Israel).
Annie Reiner's "W.R. Bion's Theories of Mind – A Contemporary Introduction" contains the very best of Bion's theories. Reiner presents Bion, one of the greatest thinkers in psychoanalysis, in an accessible, original way without compromising their complexity. "There are many books about Bion" writes Thomas Ogden on Reiner's book "This one is different: it captures what is revolutionary about Bion's thinking freshly and clearly. Reiner, a student of Bion in the 1970's, is now one of the foremost Bion scholars".
What is unique about this book is that Reiner did not want to repeat what Bion had already said but focused on some of the mysteries to which Bion drew our attention, including the transcendent, enigmatic, infinire reality he called "O". Reiner addresses the relationship between O and Bion's earlier theories like beta and alpha elements. She argues that some of the earlier theories help us see O in a different light, and O reveals a new perspective on the importance of these earlier ideas to psychoanalytic work.
Reiner provides clinical examples of many obscure concepts Bion has developed from her own work with patients.
In this conversation, Aner Govrin and Sharon Ziv-Beiman will discuss with Annie Reiner her acquaintance with Bion during the 70s, touching subjects such as :
"No-Thing"
The selected fact
Thoughts without a thinker,
"O".
We will also probe on the possibility of the therapist abandoning memory and desire to facilitate receptivity to the waking dream state of O.
Annie Reiner, Ph.D. Psy.D., LCSW
Annie Reiner is a senior faculty member and training analyst at The Psychoanalytic Center of California (PCC) in Los Angeles. Her work was greatly influenced by Wilfred Bion, with whom she studied in the 1970's. She lectures throughout the world, is published in numerous journals and anthologies, and is the author of three psychoanalytic books, including—The Quest for Conscience and The Birth of the Mind (Karnac 2009), and Bion and Being: Passion and the Creative Mind (Karnac 2012), which James Grotstein (2012) said ranked Dr. Reiner “… high among Bion scholars.” Her most recent book is entitled, Bion’s Theories of Mind: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge, 2022). Dr. Reiner is also a painter and playwright and the author of a book of short stories, four books of poems, and six children's books which she also illustrated. She maintains a psychoanalytic practice in Beverly Hills, California.