Ontopsychology (Meneghetti)

Domain XIV · Western esoteric, divinatory & new spiritual movements · Antonio Meneghetti · 1971 · Italy

What it is

Ontopsychology is not a single therapy. It is a school: a body of theory, an applied method and a set of institutions founded by the Italian Antonio Meneghetti (1936–2013). A critical academic review describes him as a former priest. An author affiliated with the AMF gives this account of its…

Format

• Entry points. Conferences and courses, consulting for businesses and leaders, youth events, individual psychotherapy, and degree programmes at the AMF.
• Analysis, then intervention. Analysis is framed as "discernment": finding the person's original psychobiological soundness and individual path in the here and now. It uses the reading of both parties' bodily perception ("proprioceptive reading"). Intervention is framed as "liberation" from…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Training ladder. Published figures: The bachelor's in Ontopsychology lists 3,006 hours in six modules, including "Applied Ontopsychology I–III", a practice laboratory, and the youth programmes "Jornada da Vida" and "Weekend Life".
• Doctoral research at PUC-São Paulo describes the training of "ontotherapists" under Meneghetti as theoretical study, personal psychotherapy and supervision, plus residences, congresses and international events. The same research notes there are no dedicated schools or institutionally defined training path for ontotherapists.
• AMF materials say the school offers individual and group psychotherapy, "authentication consulting", business and leadership consulting, residential events ("Residence"), body-and-music practices, art, pedagogy and youth programmes. Credentials run from a bachelor's degree to a postgraduate specialisation. Meneghetti's own one-line definition: Ontopsychology is "a method for authenticating and developing the…

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Evidence status, in one line. The claims about semantic-field perception and the In-Itself have not been tested in independent controlled research in any source reviewed here. A University of Chile psychologist states that the therapeutic effectiveness is not demonstrated. Most of the literature…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• being drawn into a rescuer or adversary role.
• friendships and family used as recruitment pools, and burnout.
• fear of losing career, income or community if doubts are voiced.
• spending framed as investment in authenticity or results, hidden costs, and debt.
• strong emotional or dissociative reactions, and interpretations the client feels bound by.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.