El autor analiza las diferencias entre lo que él llama psicoanálisis epistemológico (vinculado con el conocer y el comprender), en el cual Freud y Klein son los principales autores, y el psicoanálisis ontológico (vinculado con el ser y el devenir), cuyos principales arquitectos son Winnicott y Bion. Winnicott realiza un viraje en el enfoque del psicoanálisis, pasando del significado simbólico del juego a la experiencia del juego, y Bion pasa del enfoque del significado simbólico de los sueños a la experiencia de soñar en todas sus formas. El psicoanálisis epistemológico procura principalmente comprender los significados inconscientes; por el contrario, el objetivo del psicoanálisis ontológico es permitir al paciente ir descubriendo creativamente un sentido para sí mismo, y en ese estado de ser, volverse más plenamente vivo.
Ontological psychoanalysis, or “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. The author discusses the differences between what he calls epistemological psychoanalysis (linked to k owing and understanding), whose main authors have been Freud and Klein, and ontological psychoanalysis (linked to being and becoming), whose main architects were Winnicott and Bion. Winnicott shifted the focus of psychoanalysis from the symbolic meaning of play to the experience of play, and Bion moved from the focus on the symbolic meaning of dreams to the experience of dreaming in all its forms. Epistemological psychoanalysis seeks primarily to understand unconscious meanings; in contrast, the goal of ontological psychoanalysis is to enable patients to creatively discover meaning for themselves, and, in that state of being, to become more fully alive.