Beta Communication and Osmosis

In this paper I consider a mode of communication occurring with beta elements and the beta screen which I refer to as beta communication. I first clarify Bion’s contradictory descriptions concerning whether beta elements and the beta screen reflect significant pathology or normal personality functioning. I then take up the function of beta elements and the beta screen in communicating sensorial and emotional experience. I examine the role of osmosis in beta communication and distinguish between beta communication and projective identification. Applying Bion’s theory of thinking to clinical material I show how the process of beta communication is distinct from its content. I extend Bion’s view that beta communication content is limited to sensory and emotional experience by offering clinical examples illustrating transmission of thought, perception, and reverie. In ending I show how beta communication enables access to deeply aesthetic variations of O through mystical experience and shared reverie.