In Bion’s Emotional Links, Judy K. Eekhoff explores emotion as a bridge between unrepresented and represented states, highlighting the importance of both internal emotional and external relationships in the development of the mind. Informed by Bion’s focus on analytic technique, Eekhoff includes clinical vignettes from her own work with patients who have endured trauma. She explores somatic processes and how effective analysis can break down unhealthy defence mechanisms employed by individuals which often leads to a perpetual cycle of retraumatising the self. Eekhoff shows how, through an understanding of dreams as a representation of the inner self and hope as a means of finding and retaining one’s sense of self, barriers can be broken down to free patients from a cycle of dread and dissociation. She places the individuality of the analyst at the forefront of their vital work, eschewing a dogmatic approach while carefully nurturing and respecting traditional psychoanalytic theories. Through this important work, readers will be equipped with the tools to recognize symbiotic relationships, both those in the patient’s personal life and in the relationship between analyst and analysand.
