Introduction

Policy decisions made in the present are typically based only on considerations of short‐range consequences. However, a number of arguments can be made for attending to the long‐range consequences of policies, especially if they have implications for collective survival. Here, my intention is to articulate a way of contemplating the future that is instrumental to any long‐term goal. The approach taken is based upon the idea of promoting the strategic position of the next time period or generation. It is argued that this strategic principle should be accorded priority in all policy decisions with any bearing upon it.     

Perverse thought

Based on Bion's work on the 'psychotic and non-psychotic parts of the personality', the author hypothesises the existence of a special type of thought disorder known as 'perverse thought'. First the author presents an overview of the major contributions to the concept of perversion that have a bearing on 'perverse thought'. These include Freud's splitting and disavowal concepts, Klein's projective identification concept, Bion's - K link and Meltzer's transference perversion. Then, by means of a case study and some vignettes, the author illustrates how this thought disorder is configured within the analytic process. The author focuses on three main aspects of this pathology: the specific modality of projective identification in a perverse scheme, the lie and some important clinical events that reveal an attack against knowledge through the formation of the - K link. Perverse thought is an important resistance mechanism in the analytic process. Its clarification is essential, given that its main objective is to attack the knowledge process, and therefore truth, in order to pervert the analytic relationship.