The patient who believes and the analyst who does not (1).
A patient's religious beliefs and practices challenge the clinical experience and self-knowledge of the analyst owing to a great complexity of factors, and often take the form of the analyst's resistances and countertransference reactions to spiritual and religious issues. The analyst's feelings about the patient's encounters with religion and other forms of healing experiences may result in impasses and communication breakdown for a variety of reasons. These reasons include the analyst's own unresolved issues around her role as a psychoanalyst-which incorporates in some way psychoanalysis's views of religious belief-and these old conflicts may be irritated by the religious themes expressed by the patient. Vignettes from the treatments of two patients provide examples of the analyst's countertransference conflicts, particularly envy in the case of a therapist who is an atheist.
The Center for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy of New Jersey, Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey, USA. ruth.lijtmaer@verizon.net
Ruth M
RM
Lijtmaer
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D002410:Catholicism; D003142:Communication; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003379:Countertransference; D003469:Culture; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008602:Mental Healing; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D029181:Spirituality; D014167:Transference, Psychology