The clash of Gods: changes in a patient's use of God representations.
In this article, I argue that manifest and latent intrapsychic and interpersonal clashes of god representations, which are inextricably yoked to transference and countertransference communications, signify the patient's and therapist's personal realities and histories. More specifically, the therapist's conscious (relatively speaking) commitment to a god representation will not only shape his/her analytic attitude-as well as interpretations and noninterpretive interventions-it may also be implicated in a patient altering his/her use of god representations. I suggest further that one way to understand the process of psychoanalytic therapy is how both analyst and analysand tacitly face and answer the following questions: What God(s) orients my life and relationships? What God(s) represents subjugation, fear, and the loss of freedom? What God(s) have I repressed? What God(s) represents the possibility and experience of being alive and real with others? In the end, what God(s) will I choose to serve, to surrender to?
Associate Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling, Saint Meinrad School of Theology, St. Meinrad, IN 47577, USA. RLamothe@saintmeinrad.edu
Ryan
R
Lamothe
D000328:Adult; D002835:Christianity; D003142:Communication; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003379:Countertransference; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011573:Psychoanalytic Interpretation; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D014167:Transference, Psychology; D014473:Unconscious, Psychology