title: Religious self and secular self: Clinical transitions.
abstract: Clerical people, returning to secular life, may undergo shifts in self-experience, including alterations in internal object relations. Self-psychology, positing the importance to health of cohesion of all aspects of self, provides a theoretical model for exploring such shifts and their facilitation through psychoanalytic psychotherapy. A case of a released Roman Catholic priest is discussed to illustrate dynamic processes. Emphasis is on a clinical approach that does not require conversion of religious and spiritual self-experience into drive derivative formulations.
authors.affiliation: Hunter College School of Social Work in New York City, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rosenberger