The Negative Grid: Development of the Lie Resulting in a System of Self-Deception

Abstract

When a lie and a subsequent system of self-deception are overlooked in an
unconscious collusion between the psychoanalyst and analysand, the analytic
work can appear to be progressing, while the continued development of
the self-deception ultimately leads to the destruction or collapse of both the
analytic work and the growth that was assumed to be present. An expanded
version of Bion’s Grid that includes the Negative Grid was formulated in an
attempt to provide psychoanalysts with a means to contemplate and discuss
the development of the lie and system of self-deception. A clinical example is
used to show that the lie or field of self-deception is formed in a developmental
sequence similar to that of truthful thought but different in the ultimate
outcome of its continued development.