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1. An emotional experience occurring in sleep, which I choose for reasons that will presently appear, does not differ from the emotional experience occurring during waking life in that the perceptions of the emotional experience have in both instances to be worked upon by alpha-function α功能 before they can be used for dream thoughts 梦思. 在睡眠中发生情绪体验（和清醒时的情绪体验一样）需要经过α功能处理才能用于梦思。这可能意味着α元素是用来加工知觉的，使其适合于做梦时的想法。2. Alpha-function operates on the sense impressions感官印象, whatever they are, and the emotions, whatever they are, of which the patient is aware. In so far as alpha-function is successful, alpha elements are produced and these elements are suited to storage and the requirements of dream thoughts. If alpha-function is disturbed, and therefore inoperative 不起作用, the sense impressions of which the patient is aware and the emotions which he is experiencing remain unchanged. I shall call them beta-elements. In contrast with the alpha-elements the betaelements are not felt to be phenomena, but things-in-themselves 物自身. The emotions likewise同样的 are objects of sense. We are thus presented with a state of mind precisely contrasting with that of the scientist who knows he is concerned with phenomena but has not the same certitude确信 that the phenomena have a counterpart of things in themselves. α功能在来访的意识到的感官印象和情绪上运作，并且，α功能生成的α元素可以被储存和用于梦的联想。相反，β元素不被认为是现象，而是事物本身，类似于柏拉图所说的“洞穴中的影子”。这可能意味着它们更直接地反映现实，而不是被表象所限。things-in-themselves物自身 →
emotions are objects of sense显象（感性）→
phenomena现象（感性＋知性）→
thoughts 本体（思想）
3. Beta-elements are not amenable to use in dream thoughts but are suited for use in projective identification. They are influential in producing acting out. They are objects that can be evacuated or used for a kind of thinking that depends on manipulation of what are felt to be things in themselves as if to substitute such manipulation for 1 [Bion’s first use of the term ‘beta-element’. Ed.] 2 And I use the term “phenomena” to cover what Kant called secondary and primary qualities. The term “things-in-themselves” I hold with Kant to refer to objects that are unknowable to mankind. For example a man may murder his parents and so feel free to love because the anti-sexual internal parents are supposed by this act to have been evacuated. Such an act is intended “to rid the psyche of accretions of stimuli”. Beta-elements are stored but differ from alpha-elements in that they are not so much memories as undigested facts, whereas the alpha-elements have been digested by alpha-function and thus made available for thought. It is important to distinguish between memories and undigested facts – beta-elements. (The use of the terms “digested” and “undigested” will be investigated later.) β元素不能直接用于梦思，但可以在付诸行动的过程中排出。例如，一个人可能会通过投射性认同杀死父母来释放潜藏的情感，然后能够表现出爱意。β元素也可以存储，β储存的是不可消化的事实。而储存的α元素，是经过消化的记忆，可以用作思考。4. If the patient cannot transform his emotional experience into alpha-elements, he cannot dream. Alpha-function transforms sense impressions into alpha-elements which resemble, and may in fact be identical with, the visual images with which we are familiar in dreams, namely, the elements that Freud regards as yielding their latent content when the analyst has interpreted them. Freud showed that one of the functions of a dream is to preserve sleep. Failure of alpha-function means the patient cannot dream and therefore cannot sleep. As alpha-function makes the sense impressions of the emotional experience available for conscious and dream-thought, the patient who cannot dream cannot go to sleep and cannot wake up. Hence the peculiar condition seen clinically when the psychotic patient behaves as if he is in precisely this state.如果无法将情绪转化为α元素，就无法做梦。如果不能做梦，也就无法睡眠，这可能导致精神分裂症的症状。这里运用弗洛伊德的理论解释临床表现，说明了这种理论如何影响患者的日常行为和心理状态。1、α功能的作用
- α功能处理患者的感受和情感，使其成为用于梦思考的材料。
- 如果α功能未能正常工作（即生成的α元素无法发挥作用），患者将无法进行梦思，并且可能无法入睡或清醒。
- β元素是不受意识加工影响的“物自身”，与现象不同，它们被视为更接近现实的存在。
- β元素不能直接用于梦思考，但可以用于投射性认同和付诸行动。例如，通过杀死潜藏的情感来源来释放情感并表现出爱意。
- α元素是经过α功能加工过的、可被意识或梦思考利用的“记忆”。
- β元素是未被加工的事实，更直接反映现实状态但不适宜于分析性思维。
- 未能生成α元素的患者可能无法做梦，从而导致难以入睡或清醒的临床症状。
- α功能在 Freud 的理论中与梦的功能密切相关（如保存睡眠功能），其故障会干扰患者的日常生活表现和心理状态。
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