Spiritual Implications Of Psychodynamic Therapy: Immaterial Psyche, Ideality, And The “Area Of Faith”

Psychodynamic writers have been calling attention lately to the spiritual dimension of psychological disorders and of therapeutic approaches to them (e. g., Karasu, 1999; Roland, 1999; Rubin, 1999). Spirituality refers to matters that are other than corporeal or material (Websters, 1970).1 This emphasis reflects reaction to a dominant characteristic of present-day life. Preoccupied as it is with body and material world, contemporary society is depreciating its peoples’ spiritual needs, thus failing to validate this essential of their being.

Excepting Jung, whose contributions have had meager influence upon most psychoanalytic thought, invoking the spiritual is very recent. Why have we generally so neglected this sphere of experience? An obvious explanation is that the modern age has been characterized by dismantling a religious, clerical order and replacing it by a secular one, privileging scientific and commercial matters. The evident benefits of this transformation have been momentous. In the late nineteenth century, Freud himself, was, of course, immersed in a hegemonic scientific milieu, which significantly colored his theory. Indeed, psychoanalysts to this day are at pains to establish their scientific legitimacy (e. g., Solms, 1997; but also the critique by Cavell, 1997). However, I will try to show that one unfortunate effect of this radical pendulum

This essay honors Michael Eigen, Ph. D. M. Robert Gardner, M. D., has been of great help to me in clarifying its concerns.