Ontological psychoanalysis and types of experience of being

The discussion about the nature of what is achieved in the analytical process gained a significant contribution with Ogden's proposal, which characterises two modi operandi of the psychoanalytic treatment method (one that seeks understanding, and the other that seeks experiences so that the self may integrate and become more profoundly itself). However, he did not focus on describing the different types of experiences of the self, achievable within the analytical process. This article aims to partially fill this gap by drawing on Winnicott's work, associating experiences of Being with the way he conceives of object relations in the context of the analyst-patient relationship, differentiating and characterising the following experiences: am-ness, when the analyst acts as a subjective object for the patient; am-with, when patient and analyst share transitional phenomena; I-am-different-from and I-am-predicated-on, when the analyst is understood as an external object; and I-am-finite, as an experience, perceived or apperceived, by the self in relation to itself, the other, and the world over time. This understanding can broaden the comprehension of the various ways of experiencing and managing transference within the analytical process.