Christopher Bollas

1943, USA / United Kingdom

British-American psychoanalyst. Known for the concepts of the transformational object, the unthought known, and the idiom of the self.

Books

  • The Shadow of the Object (1987)

    Bollas introduces the concept of the "unthought known" — knowledge we possess but have never thought — and the transformational object that shapes the early experience of the self.

  • Being a Character (1992)

    Bollas explores the idiom of the self — each person's unique way of processing experience — and how psychoanalysis allows this singularity to unfold.

  • Forces of Destiny (1989)

    Bollas examines how unconscious "destiny" — the internal logic of the self — guides life choices and each person's personal trajectory.