Psychoanalytic Spirituality

In their survey of the relationship between psychology and religion, William Parsons and Diane Jonte-Pace (2001) note the emergence of what they label as “psychology as religion.” Rather than employ psychology to interpret religion, this approach seeks to offer psychology as a religion. Presenting itself as a modern secular way to experience one’s religiosity, psychology as religion has flourished within a wider therapeutic climate as an alternative method to guide an individual’s quest for meaning and the sacred. The contemporary rise of psychology as religion, or what is often referred to as psychospirituality, has been noted by a number of scholars who have focused their attention on Jungian, humanistic, and transpersonal schools (Barnard 2001). A similar phenomenon that can be identified as “psychoanalytic spirituality” has also emerged within the field of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic spirituality is defined here as the radical claim, explicitly advanced by a number of...