Containment in Psychoanalysis and Psychosocial Research: Understanding Conceptual Translation

This article critically retraces the passage of W.R. Bion’s concept of ‘containment’ from the clinic to the psychosocial domain. In doing so, it lays emphasis on the extent to which psychosocial applications of psychoanalytically derived concepts, such as containment, are fruitful. The central tension in any such transposition stems not only from the high level of complexity that characterizes the social, but also the extent to which such a transposition demands certain conceptual revisions, as well as careful methodological reflection. With these considerations in mind, this article explores the tension between, on one hand, ‘being true’ to the original conceptual and theoretical contours of containment, and, on the other hand, a concept of social containment that is capable of doing justice to the complexity and richness of social experience.