Waking Dream Thought as a Foundational Concept for Understanding Mental Functioning and Clinical Practice

In this work, the author examines the Post-Bionian view of psychoanalysis, exploring the concept of "Waking dream thought" and its relevance for theory and practice. Attention is paid to the differences between classical psychoanalysis and the approach proposed by Wilfred Bion and terms such as container and contained (♀♂), β-elements, α-elements, α-function. In the course of the work, the author discusses the concept of continuous dream activity as basic to the psyche, which produces night and day dreams to transform raw experience (β-elements) into processed experience (α-elements) unique to each psyche, consisting of visual, auditory, olfactory impressions, and images; while during sleep we encounter dreaming, during wakefulness we encounter waking dream thought. Analysing contemporary Post-Bionian theories, in particular Antonino Ferro's Post-Bionian field theory based on the concept of waking dream thought, the author provides practical material from both psychoanalytic literature and his own practice, reflecting the significance of this concept. As a result, this work proposes the idea that the task of psychoanalysis, based on the material examined, is to develop the α-function, to expand the container (♀) and, as a consequence, to increase the amount of the contained (♂).