Antonio Meneghetti Italian psychologist, philosopher, founder of the ontopsychological school Date of Birth: 09.03.1936 Country: Italy

Biography of Antonio Meneghetti

Antonio Meneghetti was an Italian psychologist, philosopher, and founder of the ontopsychological school. He was born in 1936 in Italy into a family of modest means. Meneghetti received his education in a monastery, where he studied painting, Latin, Ancient Greek, and Aramaic languages. He also learned to play the organ and piano and studied vocal arts.

After becoming a priest, Meneghetti continued his education, attending several prominent Italian universities and taking special courses in psychology. He worked as a librarian at the Apostolic Vatican Library from 1962 to 1969 and taught theology and psychology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome in the early 1970s. In 1972, Meneghetti obtained a doctorate degree in philosophy and psychology from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan.

In the 1970s, Meneghetti began teaching not only psychology but also psychotherapy and ontopsychology. It was his work in ontopsychology that brought him worldwide fame. He introduced the concept of ontopsychology as a branch of psychology, which focuses on the study of mental processes in their primary actuality, including the understanding of existence. According to Meneghetti, this approach is rooted in the anthropological fact of the human being and the surrounding reality, rather than culture or reasoning.

In the 1980s, the ontopsychological method was extensively researched in its application to people of different ethnicities and cultures. In the 1990s, ontopsychology began being applied in the fields of sociology, entrepreneurship, business consulting, dream interpretation, and even art (OntoArt). Meneghetti opened the official school with special courses and the first Center for Ontopsychological Therapy in Rome in the early 1970s. Today, there is the International Association of Ontopsychology, which encompasses over 2,000 different organizations and holds a special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Over time, Meneghetti accumulated significant practical experience in treating neuroses, schizophrenia, psychosomatic disorders, and even drug addiction using ontopsychology. His extensive psychotherapeutic practice was based on continuous research into both normal and pathological manifestations of the human psyche. Meneghetti received several prestigious awards, including governmental honors. In 1994, the Pro Deo University in New York awarded him an honorary diploma, and in 1995, he was elected as a foreign member of the Moscow International Academy of Informatization. He authored around 40 books, some of which were published in Russia, including "Psychology of a Leader," "Image and the Unconscious," "The World of Images," "Ontopsychological Pedagogy," and "Notes on the Psychology of Existence."

In terms of the development of ontopsychology in Russia, a corresponding department was established in the Psychology Faculty of Saint Petersburg State University in 2004.