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.
Faculty Associate, Department of Religious Studies, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA. mariam@psychoanalysis.net
Mariam
M
Cohen
D002321:Career Choice; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D002410:Catholicism; D003379:Countertransference; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007599:Judaism; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011573:Psychoanalytic Interpretation; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D012069:Religion and Psychology