Bion's 'protomental system' and psychosomatic illness in general practice.

The work of Wilfred Bion, developing the psychoanalytic theories of Freud and Klein on the origins of anxiety in childhood, includes the hypothesis of a protomental system. This he defined as a matrix in the human organism in which physical and mental are at first undifferentiated. His postulate is that this system which equips human beings for life in a group is in conflict with their needs as individuals. The view of the world mediated by basic assumptions, relatively mindless, functioning by unconscious common consent, has a close association with psychosomatic illness. But individuals feel the need for a working relationship with others, where thought can be applied to problems before taking action. Within the family--a special case of a work group--the continuing experience by the infant of parental containment of its anxieties, through a process of projection and introjection, develops its capacity for thinking about frustration rather than evading it. The hypothesis is, that without this experience, frustration may lead to basic assumption mentality and psychosomatic illness rather than emotionality and thought. These ideas have been found useful in general practice as in the five cases described.