WORKING WITH RELIGION: OFTEN NEGLECTED ASPECTS OF TRANSFERENCE AND COUNTERTRANSFERENCE.

The author contends that psychoanalytic theory has generally presented religious beliefs as developmentally immature or pathological. This viewpoint has resulted in a neglect of religion on the part of psychoanalysts and an avoidance of their religious life by patients. Even though there has been an evolution from the traditional Freudian foundational approach to religion as an "illusion" to the inclusion of psychoanalytical training within some Christian institutes and attributions that psychoanalysis, itself, is a religion, religious beliefs should be included in psychotherapy because they can become involved in transference and countertransference issues in ways that are ignored if religious issues are not discussed in therapy.

Discussion of a symposium: the God representation in the psychoanalytic relationship: When is three a crowd?

A discussion is offered of some of the central trends and unique ideas that can be discerned among the 14 essays presented in a symposium dedicated to the role of religious imagery, particularly representations of God or divinity, within the psychoanalytic process. The symposium focused upon the beliefs and images of the analyst as well as the analysand, based on the view that an image or concept identified as "God" is probably an ineluctable element of the development of the human representational mind and its boundaries, regardless of whatever else this image may point to, theologically speaking. The authors were asked to use clinical material to address the hypothesis that the dynamic roots and potential of such representations would be expressed in the countertransference to the degree that such representations are involved within the conflicts and deeper forms of unrest that bring the individual to treatment.

An old god awakens, briefly.

During a psychodynamic psychotherapy with a middle-aged Catholic woman, her realization that she had foregone her calling to a religious vocation led to the patient's entering a convent. Throughout these developments the therapist struggled with countertransference responses related to her own religious history, recognizing the re-awakening of a previous god representation from her own adolescence. The interaction suggests that, although one's god representation may undergo maturation, old relationships with divinity may not be completely suppressed.

Introduction to a Symposium: the God Representation in the Psychoanalytic Relationship: When is Three a Crowd?

An introduction is presented to a symposium discussing the way in which the representation of the image of God can affect the analytic dialogue and process, focusing on the beliefs and images of the analyst as well as the analysand. If, as theorized, an image or a concept identified as "God" is an ineluctable element of the development of the human mind (whatever else this image may or may not mean theologically), then it would seem that the dynamic roots and potential of this kind of representation would find some expression in the countertransference dimension of analytic work. Contributors to the symposium were asked to offer detailed clinical material, paying special attention to their countertransference experiences in order to focus on the impact of religious imagery on their own "religiously oriented" internal experiences.

The Da Vinci code dynamically de-coded.

The novel The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown has been on best-seller lists for over two years. An examination of Brown's previous novels reveals a well-designed plot line shared by all four novels that not only makes them good "thrillers" but also creates a mythological structure to the novels that draws on common unconscious fantasies in the same way that fairy tales do. One aspect of this mythological structure is the use of evil conspiracies (and benign ones as well) for the protagonist to overcome.

Orthodox Judaism and psychoanalysis: toward dialogue and reconciliation.

The authors examine the conflicted relationship between Orthodox Judaism and psychoanalysis. Orthodox Jewish thinkers about psychology have responded to psychoanalysis as incompatible with the practice of Orthodox Judaism. On the other hand, those psychoanalytic writers who have examined the beliefs and practices of Orthodox Jews have tended to treat these issues in a reductionistic fashion.

Convergence: maturation and integration in the course of a religious conversion.

The process of religious conversion has not been the focus of psychoanalytic understanding. This article examines one conversion narrative, a spiritual autobiography, in which, the author asserts, evidence can be found that the conversion described involved a process of maturation of the subject's internal god-representation, with an integration of maternal and paternal aspects of that internal object representation. Such a process as one aspect of a religious conversion, has implications for psychoanalytic work with religious patients, including the necessity of acknowledging the psychological and deeply believed reality of God for religious patients.