Instituto Onari · São Paulo, Brazil

Where psychoanalysis, neuroscience and the teachings of Jesus meet

The world’s first school to unite Christianity and psychoanalysis. Dr. Pedro Onari and Dr. Liliane Midori Onari created a replicable method to place the Holy Spirit in control of the mind, and since 1993 they have helped thousands of people and families find emotional health through the renewal of the mind in Christ.

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1993caring for individuals, couples and families
10,000+families restored
11M+views on our YouTube channel
24volumes in the Christian Psychoanalysis Collection

Our story

Why Instituto Onari exists

Instituto Onari was founded by two doctors who learned, first in their own home, that understanding the mind is not enough. Psychoanalysis could explain the roots of suffering. Neuroscience could explain how the brain reacts. But lasting change came only when the mind was renewed by the love that Jesus taught.

From that conviction came Christian Psychoanalysis: a way of caring for people that unites the solid foundations of psychoanalysis, the advances of neuroscience and the teachings of Jesus, with one purpose. That people would experience the fruit of the Spirit in their daily lives: peace in the mind, healthy relationships and restored families.

Today the Institute trains Christian psychoanalysts, offers clinical care, serves people in emotional distress through its social work and reaches millions through free content online.

Mission

To care for people with excellence and spread the knowledge of Jesus, promoting the renewal of the mind.

Vision

To be a reference in care, research and education, strengthening, promoting and embracing mental health through the teaching and practice of Christian Psychoanalysis.

Values

Love as taught by Jesus
Ethical practice
Responsibility
Inner harmony
Personal growth

Dr. Pedro Onari teaching a full auditorium — Teaching audiences across Brazil

Reception of Instituto Onari headquarters — Our headquarters in São Paulo

Students with Dr. Pedro and Dr. Midori — Students of the Chave Mestra immersion, March 2026

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”Romans 12:2 (NIV)

The founders

Dr. Pedro Onari and Dr. Liliane Midori Onari

Pedro and Midori met in medical school and graduated as doctors from the University of São Paulo (USP) in 1989. Both pursued postgraduate training in Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Family and Community Medicine. They married in 1991 and are the parents of four daughters.

Their story is not told from a pedestal. In the early years, the pressures of family life brought conflicts that nearly ended their marriage, along with frustration, depression and a sense of emptiness that knowledge alone could not resolve. In 1993, in the middle of that crisis, an encounter with the Holy Spirit changed the direction of their lives.

That same year they began their work in individual and couples therapy, and over the following decades they developed Christian Psychoanalysis and the Onari Method. They have spoken at marriage encounters across many Christian denominations and today teach the programs of the Institute they founded.

“I came to understand that loving as Jesus teaches us in the Gospel is a decision, and not a fleeting feeling of well-being. It is a bold decision, one that requires courage.”Dr. Pedro Onari

Their purpose: the fruit of the Spirit in everyday life

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

What we do

Four ways we care for people

Education

Programs that train Christian psychoanalysts to care for people with technique, ethics and faith.

Clinical care

Individual, couples and family therapy with Christian psychoanalysts from the Institute’s team.

Social work

Care for people in emotional distress, extending the Institute’s work beyond the consulting room.

Dr. Pedro Onari teaching on the Instituto Onari YouTube channel

11M+ views on YouTube

Free content

Weekly teaching on YouTube for people in emotional suffering, pointing them to Jesus.

Our programs

Our programs are currently taught in Portuguese.

Training in Christian Psychoanalysis

Portuguese only

Formação em Psicanálise Cristã

The Institute’s core program. Twenty-four modules covering psychoanalytic theory, neuroscience, psychopathology and clinical practice, read through the teachings of Jesus. 100% online.

Postgraduate Program in Psychoanalysis and Spirituality

Portuguese only

Pós-graduação em Psicanálise e Espiritualidade

The same theoretical body of the Training, applied in a postgraduate format for professionals who want to integrate psychoanalysis and spirituality. 100% online.

Applied Christian Psychoanalysis

Portuguese only

Psicanálise Cristã Aplicada · express course

A shorter, focused path for those who want to understand and apply the essentials of Christian Psychoanalysis in everyday life.

Onari Method Practical Training

Portuguese only

Níveis 1, 2 e 3

Three levels, from the first session to connecting the brain with God, in which participants watch Dr. Pedro and Dr. Midori conduct real sessions.

On YouTube

More than 460 teachings on the Psicanálise Cristã channel, in Portuguese, with over 11 million views. Our English channel is just beginning, with selected teachings on neuroscience and faith.

English channel Portuguese channel

The Onari Method

A replicable method to place the Holy Spirit in control of the human mind

Created by Dr. Pedro Onari and Dr. Liliane Midori Onari, the Onari Method is the clinical heart of Christian Psychoanalysis: a path with defined steps that any trained professional can repeat.

Dr. Pedro Onari in a session with a patient

Classical psychoanalysis

Freud reached the unconscious through free association: the patient speaks whatever comes to mind, session after session, while the analyst waits for the deeper content to surface. On that path, people could take years, even decades, to discover where the problem was.

Christian Psychoanalysis with the Onari Method

The Christian psychoanalyst guides the access. Instead of waiting for the unconscious to reveal itself slowly, the professional leads the patient there with the method’s own technique and, often in the very first session, reaches the content that is the root of the problem.

Three levels, from the first session to an experience with God

1

First care

Welcoming the person and the complaint, taking a careful life history, listening without absorbing the suffering, and offering emotional relief already in the first session.

2

Access to the unconscious

What shows up in the session (anxiety, outbursts, repeated behaviors) is a symptom. The method reaches the root that sustains it, so the negative feeling can be deactivated and the automatic reaction loses its source.

3

Connecting the brain with God

Cognitive reframing and, above all, leading the patient to a real experience with God. The complaint the person brought on the first day becomes the very path by which they come to God.

Ego at the center

Approaches that strengthen only the ego leave the person governed by the same desires: “hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage…” Galatians 5:20

The Holy Spirit in control

Christian Psychoanalysis places Jesus at the center, so the person can finally live what Scripture describes as the fruit of the Spirit.

What the method is not: it is not hypnosis, not memory regression and not suggestion by the therapist. It works through the person’s own history, with respect for their freedom.

Foundations

Why Christian Psychoanalysis?

Every major school of psychoanalysis grows from the same root: Sigmund Freud. Yet Freud himself recognized a limit. He described the goal of treatment as transforming neurotic misery into “common unhappiness”, so that the person could face that unhappiness with a healthier mind.

Christian Psychoanalysis begins with a simple question: if the method was so good, why stop there? Removing a symptom does not guarantee a full life. A person can learn to control anxiety and still abandon their family, live without purpose, or live only for themselves.

That is why Christian Psychoanalysis studies the human being in body, mind and spirit. The mind is what connects the material to the spiritual, and so the renewal of the mind is the key. The goal of development is not merely a stronger ego. It is altruism and the character of Christ.

What Christian Psychoanalysis brings together

The solid foundations of classical psychoanalysis
The advances of neuroscience
The knowledge of psychopathology
The support of psychiatry when needed
The teachings of Jesus
The techniques of the Onari Method

Is Christian Psychoanalysis a real discipline?

It is built on established theory: Freud, Melanie Klein, Winnicott, Lacan and Bion, together with contemporary neuroscience such as Antonio Damasio’s work on emotion and the research on neuroplasticity. What makes it Christian is the lens: the person is understood in body, mind and spirit, and the destination of the process is the character of Christ.

Does it replace medical or psychiatric care?

No. Christian Psychoanalysis values psychiatry and recognizes the limits of psychoanalysis. When there is a medical or psychiatric condition, the person is referred to the appropriate professional. Faith and science walk together.

Is it only for Christians?

The care is offered to anyone who seeks it, with respect for each person’s freedom. The approach is openly rooted in the teachings of Jesus, and that is what we offer.

Why “renewal of the mind”?

Because the brain keeps forming new connections throughout life, and Scripture calls us to be transformed by the renewing of the mind. In Christian Psychoanalysis, neuroplasticity and faith meet.

Publications

Books and the Christian Psychoanalysis Collection

All publications are currently available in Portuguese.

Cover of Psicanálise Cristã: Aplicada na Família

Christian Psychoanalysis Applied to the Family

Portuguese only

Psicanálise Cristã: Aplicada na Família · Pedro Onari and Midori Onari · Autor da Fé, 2024

How identity is built from childhood to marriage and parenting, and how Christian Psychoanalysis can bring emotional health to each stage of family life.

See the book