THE THEORY OF THE BASIC ASSUMPTION OF INCOHESION: AGGREGATION/MASSIFICATION OR (BA) I:A/M

Presented in honour of Dr Estela Welldon as a friend and colleague, and in acknowledgement of her contributions to forensic psychotherapy and group analysis for people who suffer from extreme anxieties associated with confused sex and gender identifications and choices, sado-masochism and criminality, this article integrates Bionian and Foulkesian perspectives in group analysis by conceptualizing a fourth basic assumption in the unconscious life of social systems. The basic assumption of Incohesion: Aggregation/Massification or (ba) I:A/M is derived from a relational rather than an instinctual metapsychology, and assumes that helplessness and the fear of annihilation precede the emergence of envy, thus emphasizing the importance of traumatogenic processes. Traumatized people with crustacean and amoeboid defences/protections against the fear of annihilation are likely to personify aggregation and massification processes, respectively. This theory can be applied in the group treatments of our most disturbed patients, and in understanding the dynamics of traumatized social systems, ranging from families to organizations and even societies.