ABSTRACT
The Grid has become an essential part of psychoanalysis, and its role has to be examined in the light of Bion's encouragement of individual contributions to its application. In essence, this "instrument" created by Bion is a notation—a type of symbolic representation. Symbolic representations such as the alphabet, numerical notations, Euclid's elements, and the symbols for measuring space, time and temperature have, throughout history, contributed to the development of science. Of great importance, is Mendeleev's classification of the chemical elements. In psychoanalysis, the person who perhaps contributed most to the development of notations was Dr. Herman Rorschach, who elaborated the well-known Rorschach Test (1921) to help in the identification of the structure of an individual's personality. This test was further developed by a Brazilian psychoanalyst, Dr. Alcyon Bahia, who, in 1949, designed a graphic representation of the test. Working with the Grid, individually or in a group, with no memory and desire, helps to achieve a mental stability and scientific scrutiny.
