Coming to Life in the Consulting Room: Toward a New Analytic Sensibility

by Thomas H. Ogden, MD (2020, Routledge)

A Book Review and Discussion with

JoAnn Ponder, PhD

“What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?”

What do you want to be when you grow up? This provocative question is the title of one chapter as well as the theme woven throughout Thomas Ogden’s book, Coming to Life in the Consulting Room: Toward a New Analytic Sensibility. While the question seemingly refers to occupational goals, Ogden clarifies that he really means what kind of person/analyst do you want to be now, and what kind of person/analyst do you want to become? Ogden differentiates two general kinds of stances in psychoanalytic thinking and practice: (1) epistemological, which focuses on knowing and understanding, and (2) ontological, focused on being and becoming. As introduced and developed by Freud, Klein, and Fairbairn, epistemological psychoanalysis views the mind as an “apparatus for thinking” and privileges the clinical intervention of transference interpretation to promote insight. Over the past 70 years, there has been a shift in emphasis to ontological psychoanalysis, which is rooted in concepts pioneered by Winnicott (i.e., “going on being” and transitional space/phenomena) and Bion (i.e., reverie and “without memory or desire"). Ontological psychoanalysis conceives of the mind as a living process located in the act of experiencing. The analyst is present with the patient in the act of experiencing, more likely describing what the analyst senses is occurring rather than explaining. The goal is to facilitate the patient’s experience of creatively discovering for themselves, to foster their becoming more fully alive.

Though psychoanalytic interventions inevitably involve intertwined epistemological and ontological aspects, one aspect or the other tends to predominate. Ogden described his own personal journey from an internal object relations orientation, which is an epistemic approach, to a more ontological stance. However, he emphasized that ontological and epistemological psychoanalysis refer to sensibilities and attitudes, not separate schools of psychoanalytic thought or technique. He provides numerous clinical vignettes throughout the book, but does not prescribe specific interventions. He instead suggests that each practitioner must develop their own analytic style and essentially “invent psychoanalysis” for each patient. His book is a collection of previously published papers, which describe and exemplify an ontological stance, and delve into its foundational roots. After summarizing Ogden’s concept and practice of ontological psychoanalysis with online attendees, discussant JoAnn Ponder would like to explore with them why, or why not, this might constitutes wild analysis. So how do we safeguard against a wild analysis? If there is time, Ponder also plans to talk with attendees about the applicability of Ogden's ideas to psychoanalytic supervision.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After attending the program in its entirety, attendees will be able to:

1. Define and differentiate epistemological and ontological psychoanalysis.
2. Describe 3 foundational Winnicottian and/or Bionian concepts rooted in ontological psychoanalysis.
3. Give an example of an ontological intervention from their own clinical practice.

APA Accreditation Statement

Houston Psychoanalytic Society is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Houston Psychoanalytic Society maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

HPS, through co-sponsorship with the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies, also offers approved CEUs for Texas state-approved social workers, licensed professional counselors, and marriage and family therapists.