Three experiential practices and their relation to psychoanalysis

In this article, the author compares three experiential practices: the use of psychoanalytic evenly suspended attention, the adoption of the philosophical attitude of the phenomenological reduction, and the practice of Buddhist bare attention. Convergences and differences between these practices with respect to their uses, aims, and attendant qualities of consciousness are noted. Samples of patient-therapist interaction are used to demonstrate how these three experiential sets can operate synergistically in the course of psychoanalytic therapy.