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In this paper, Lorand discusses a number of technical and theoretical aspects in the psychoanalysis of religious devotees. He limits his comments about religious beliefs and practices to one question: how and to what extent do they contribute to the patient's neurotic disabilities?
The cases, only briefly described, all had hysterical symptoms which Lorand found to be related to Oedipal conflicts. However, a most consistent and important feature was extreme submissiveness, which served to secure love and protection as well as to deny strong unconscious hostility. The dynamics included an oral dependency upon mother and father and prominent masochistic elements, both serving as defensive regression from an Oedipal conflict. Free association is very difficult for these patients because they equate with confession the verbalization of thoughts and feelings forbidden by their religion. In psychoanalysis, the 'confession' goes beyond what one is prepared to confess and leads to further disturbing material, rather than to reassurance and absolution. Lorand recommends a long period of reconstructive work in the early phases of analysis with these patients.
M. Royden C. Astley comments on the paper and discusses the close parallelism between Lorand's observations and his own classification of conflict areas between psychoanalysis and religion.