2019/10/02 by Thomas H. Ogden · 2 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research #Psychoanalysis and Social Critique #Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
paper · doi:10.1080/00332828.2019.1656928
crossref issued 2019/10/02 · crossref published 2019/10/02 · crossref published-print 2019/10/02 · openalex publication_date 2019/10/02 · crossref published-online 2019/10/16 · crossref created 2019/10/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref deposited 2026/02/12 · crossref indexed 2026/07/31 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
The author discusses differences between what he calls epistemological psychoanalysis (having to do with knowing and understanding), for which Freud and Klein are principal authors, and ontological psychoanalysis (having to do with being and becoming), for which Winnicott and Bion are principal architects. Winnicott shifts the focus of psychoanalysis from the symbolic meaning of play to the experience of playing, and Bion shifts the focus from the symbolic meaning of dreams to the experience of dreaming in all of its forms. Epistemological psychoanalysis principally involves the work of arriving at understandings of unconscious meaning; by contrast, the goal of ontological psychoanalysis is that of allowing the patient the experience of creatively discovering meaning for himself, and in that state of being, becoming more fully alive.