"Bion’s concept of the "container and the contained" has become one of his most well-known and used ideas – to the point that it has become taken for granted ("saturated," in Bion’s terms). Duncan Cartwright has given this concept new life, expands upon it, and integrates it with much of Bion’s other work in innovative ways. The results are exciting. The author has expertly balanced profound and extensive scholarship with sound reasoning and with a reader-friendly style. A number of works on Bion have been published recently; this one is in my opinion one of the finest and most useful." – James Grotstein, Training and Supervising Analyst, Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Institute, USA "This is a challenging book in relation to the conceptualisation of the container-contained configuration but one that is extremely useful in developing an understanding of the dynamics and psychic processes inherent in the analytic relationship." – Journal of Analytical Psychology, Vol. 55, 2010 "Bion’s concept of the "container and the contained" has become one of his most well-known and used ideas – to the point that it has become taken for granted ("saturated," in Bion’s terms). Duncan Cartwright has given this concept new life, expands upon it, and integrates it with much of Bion’s other work in innovative ways. The results are exciting. The author has expertly balanced profound and extensive scholarship with sound reasoning and with a reader-friendly style. A number of works on Bion have been published recently; this one is in my opinion one of the finest and most useful." – James Grotstein, Training and Supervising Analyst, Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Institute, USA "This is a challenging book in relation to the conceptualisation of the container-contained configuration but one that is extremely useful in developing an understanding of the dynamics and psychic processes inherent in the analytic relationship." – Journal of Analytical Psychology, Vol. 55, 2010 "...this book impresses with its scholastic rigour and integration of psychoanalytic literature from diverse theoretical models. While firmly post-Kleinian (Meltzer, Bick, Tustin, Steiner, Ferro et al. are constant referents), Cartwright assimilates intersubjective psychoanalysis, Fonagy’s work on mentalization, and even Matte-Blanco’s bi-logical theory of psychic functioning, in this inspired elaboration of Bion’s work. Containing States of Mind is an impressive contribution to the psychoanalytic field and one against which subsequent books on the topic will be measured." - Gavin Ivey, Psycho-analytic Psychotherapy in South Africa, Vol. 18 No. 2 2010