Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

WORKING WITH RELIGION: OFTEN NEGLECTED ASPECTS OF TRANSFERENCE AND COUNTERTRANSFERENCE

  • Article
  • Published:
The American Journal of Psychoanalysis Aims and scope

Abstract

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. The author presents clinical material to illustrate this problem.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arlow, J. A. (1951). A psychoanalytic study of a religious initiation rite: Bar mitzvah. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 6, 353–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black, D. M. (1993). What sort of a thing is a religion? A view from object-relations theory. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 74, 613–625.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, M. (2009). An old god awakens briefly. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 37, 35–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fairbairn, R. (1940). Schizoid factors in the personality. In An object relations theory of personality. (pp. 3–27). New York: Basic Books. 1952.

  • Freud, S. (1907). Obsessive actions and religious practices (Vol. 9, pp. 115–127). London: Hogarth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. (1912–1913).Totem and taboo. Standard edition, Vol. 13, (pp. 1–161). London: Hogarth.

  • Freud, S. (1927). The future of an illusion (Vol. 21, pp. 3–56). London: Hogarth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. (1928). A religious experience (Vol. 21, pp. 169–171). London: Hogarth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. (1930). Civilization and its discontents (Vol. 21, pp. 57–146). London: Hogarth.

    Google Scholar 

  • McDargh, H. J. (1983). Psychoanalytic object relations theory and the study of religion: On faith and the imaging of god. Latham, MD: University Press of America.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meissner, W. W. (1996). The pathology of beliefs and the beliefs of pathology. In E. P. Shafranske (Ed.), Religion and the clinical practice of psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Connell, A. (2009). “Man is broken. He lives by mending. The grace of God is glue”. How religion can enrich an analysis. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 37, 153–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ostow, M. (1988). Four entered the garden: Normative religion versus illusion. Conservative Judaism, 40, 35–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons, W. B. (1999). The enigma of the oceanic feeling: revisioning the psychoanalytic theory of mysticism. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rizzuto, A.-M. (1979). The birth of the living god: A psychoanalytic study. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rizzuto, A.-M. (2002). Believing and personal and religious beliefs: Psychoanalytic considerations. Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Thought, 25, 433–463.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sorenson, R. L. (2004). Minding spirituality. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spero, M. H. (1988). Countertransference envy toward the religious patient. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 48, 43–55.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spero, M. H. (1992). Religious objects as psychological structures: A critical integration of objection relations theory, psychotherapy, and Judaism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strean, H. S. (1994). Psychotherapy with the orthodox Jew. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 4810 East Andora Drive, Scottsdale, AZ, 85254, USA

    Mariam Cohen

Authors
  1. Mariam Cohen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Mariam Cohen, M.D., Psy.D., Ph.D, is a retired psychiatrist, psychoanalyst in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Address Correspondence to Dr. Mariam Cohen, 4810 East Andora Drive, Scottsdale, AZ 85254, USA.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cohen, M. WORKING WITH RELIGION: OFTEN NEGLECTED ASPECTS OF TRANSFERENCE AND COUNTERTRANSFERENCE. Am J Psychoanal 79, 103–113 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-019-09174-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-019-09174-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation