The Use of Folklore as a Developmental Phenomenon in Nouveau-Orthodox Religionists

This paper reports a unique use of myth and folklore by orthodox Jewish patients who have undergone relatively recent intensification of religious commitment, reaching a fairly high degree of religious affiliation, knowledge, and practice over a short period of time (in the vernacular, such individuals would be termed ba'alei teshuvah or penitents). The patients upon whom the following observations are based presented for psychotherapy for a variety of different reasons, with symptoms ranging from mild depression and anomie to narcissistic character disorder. A common characteristic of these patients was the expression of psychological conflict in the form of qualitatively dysautonomous religious beliefs and mannerisms; e.g., unconventionally rigid interpretations of law and ritual, excessive idealization of religious leaders, magical beliefs or interpretations of religious doctrine, manic excitement when participating in group activities coexisting with depressive trends and basically unsatisfying interpersonal relationships. (I prefer the term “dysautonomous” rather than “immature,” “disordered,” or “neurotic” to describe pathologically motivated religiosity for reasons discussed elsewhere.15)

In most of the cases to be described, the basis of current psychological conflict existed prior to religious conversion or intensification, playing an important role in the unconscious motivation for religious growth. In other cases, uneven or infantile qualities of religiosity reflected unresolved intra-and interpersonal crises evoked by the sudden and often radical changes involved in religious intensification.10 Using the psychoanalytic developmental perspective, I will suggest that the particular use of folklore by these individuals can serve adaptive as well as potentially maladaptive functions in the process of working through certain psychological issues brought to the fore by sudden and intense religious commitment.