Primitive Edge of Experience

Thomas Ogden, MD, published his debut novel, 'The Parts Left Out', in 2014. He has also published twelve books of essays on the theory and practice of psychoanalysis, and on the writings of Frost, Borges, Kafka, and others. His most recent works of non-fiction include 'The Analyst's Ear and the Critic's Eye: Rethinking Psychoanalysis and Literature'; 'Creative Readings: Essays on Seminal Analytic Works'; 'Rediscovering Psychoanalysis'; and 'This Art of Psychoanalysis: Dreaming Undreamt Dreams and Interrupted Cries. '. His work has been translated into twenty languages. Dr Ogden was awarded the 2012 Sigourney Award for his "contributions to the field of psychoanalysis"; the 2010 Haskell Norman Prize for "outstanding achievement as a psychoanalytic clinician, teacher and theoretician"; and the 2004 'International Journal of Psychoanalysis' Award for "The Most Important Paper of the Year." He practices psychoanalysis in San Francisco, where he teaches both psychoanalysis and creative writing.

'Since the appearance of Ogden's first book, Projective Identification and Psychotherapeutic Technique, I have been one of his many admirers, and his third book, The Primitive Edge of Experience, deepens still further my admiration of his abilities as a writer and as a psychoanalytic theoretician and clinician . Ogden's book is revolutionary in nature without being abstruse.'- Harold Searles, M.D.'Thomas Ogden, in The Primitive Edge of Experience, constructs an anatomy and physiology of the psychic apparatus based on the interplay of the depressive, the paranoid-schizoid, and the autistic-contiguous positions. The last position is his unique creation and refers to a primitive mode of experiencing that involves the moulding and shaping of boundaries. Here, he expands on Tustin's and Bick's formulations.His ideas are subtle and illuminating, especially for those clinicians who are involved with patients whose psychopathology can be traced back to the origins of psychic structure and mental processes. The in-depth understanding this book provides will cause therapists to re-examine many treatment situations in terms of Ogden's formulations and gain insights about transference-countertransference interactions that might have been unnoticed and disruptive to the therapeutic process.'- Peter L. Giovacchini, M.D.'Ogden has creatively expanded and deepened our understanding of early object relations and their affects on normal and pathological development of personality structure. He has introduced a major addition to the logical extension of the psychological states addressed by Klein's concept of the paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions, the 'autistic-contiguous position', dealing with the mental data that are closer to the psyche-soma. Throughout this remarkably fine book, exquisite clinical data support convincingly each creative new addition to early object relations theory and its clinical application.'- Bryce Boyer, M.D

• Introduction -- The Structure of Experience -- The Autistic-Contiguous Position -- The Schizoid Condition -- The Transitional Oedipal Relationship in Female Development -- The Threshold of the Male Oedipus Complex -- The Initial Analytic Meeting -- Misrecognitions and the Fear of Not Knowing