INTEGRATING SPIRITUALITY AND PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY

                     A GROUNDED SPIRITUALITY

I hope that I am not perceived as stepping on anyones "spiritual" feet but for me the experience of spirituality may be fruitfully integrated into the concepts of psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis when it is conceptualized as naturalistic and immanent rather than mystical and transcendent.

My ideas largely came about in my working with 5 ex - 12 step patients who I would describe as "God obsessed" but who left, unable to accept the 'higherpower concept." In the copious notes I kept I noticed that they were all preoccupied with what I will refer to as "spiritual" issues. These issues are: trust, faith, hope, love, and persistence. Note that all of these concepts are associated with a theme of primary motivation.

I also noted that these themes might well be thought of as the essence of year one consciousness - a combination of what I refer to as kaleidoscopic consciousness and symbiotic consciousness. When discussed from the perspective of self psychology, affect intolerance, the need to construct a cohesive self, helping each patient learn to regulate their own self esteem - each, over the period of one - two years was able to begin to fill what they had referred to as a life long "hole in their soul."

Each also began shifting from from the compulsive need to project their final authority either to a transcendent God, me or other idealized authority figures, to an acceptance of themselves as their own final authorities.

If any one is interested in viewing these ideas in greater breadth and depth I invite you to look at my web site gibbsonline.com . Press the theories tab and look for my paper on Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Spirituality.

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