Abstract
In this presentation I use clinical theory and illustration to explore details of the formulation of experience, which depends upon the metamorphosis of experience from not-me to feels-like-me. I take the position that the movement from not-me to feels-like-me, with the accompanying possibilities for formulating new meaning that open at such moments, happens when we not only know or feel something, but also, and simultaneously, sense ourselves in the midst of this process—that is, when we know and feel that it is we who are doing the knowing and feeling. When these two events co-occur, which depends upon the process of witnessing, we come into possession of ourselves. Witnessing of one person by another is a process of recognition—but it is also a kind of affirmation, performed by
“someone who is trusted and justifies the trust and meets the dependence” (Winnicott, 1971, p. 60).
Learning Objectives
At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:
1. Describe the clinical function of witnessing and apply it to case material.
2. Explain the concept of unformulated experience and identify its relevance in clinical interactions.
3. Distinguish “not-me” from “feels-like-me” phenomena and evaluate how each informs clinical decision-making.
Biography
Donnel B. Stern, Ph.D., is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the William Alanson White Institute and an Adjunct Clinical Professor of Psychology and Clinical Consultant at the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. He is the Founder and Editor of the Routledge book series
Psychoanalysis in a New Key, which now includes nearly 100 titles. A former Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Dr. Stern has published more than 100 psychoanalytic articles and book chapters since his influential first paper on unformulated experience appeared in 1983. He is the author of five books—Unformulated Experience: From Dissociation to Imagination in
Psychoanalysis (1983); Partners in Thought: Working with Unformulated Experience, Dissociation, and Enactment (2010); Relational Freedom: Emergent Properties of the Interpersonal Field (2015); The Infinity of the Unsaid: Unformulated Experience, Language, and the Nonverbal (2019); and On Coming
into Possession of Oneself: Transformations of the Interpersonal Field (2024). He has also co-edited four books on the theory and practice of interpersonal psychoanalysis. Dr. Stern teaches, supervises, and lectures internationally, maintains a private practice in New York City, and leads ongoing private study groups.
References
Stern, D. B. (2023). Distance and relation: Emerging from embeddedness in the other. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 71(6), 641-668.
Stern, D. B. (2023). Interpretation: Voice of the field. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 71(6), 1127-1148.
Stern, D. B. (2024). Interpersonal psychoanalysis. In G. Gabbard, B. Litowitz, & P. Williams (Eds.), The Textbook of Psychoanalysis (3 rd ed.). American Psychiatric Association Publishing.
Stern, D. B. (2024). Contemporary theories of unrepresented states. In G. Gabbard, B. Litowitz, & P. Williams (Eds.), The Textbook of Psychoanalysis (3 rd ed.). American Psychiatric Association Publishing.
Stern, D. B. (2025). Working in the interpersonal field: Two clinical narratives. In: G. Francesetti, M. Gecele, & P. Migone (Eds.), Field perspectives in clinical practice: Relational psychoanalysis, post- Bionian psychoanalysis, and Gestalt therapy in dialogue. Routledge.
