Convergence: Maturation and Integration in the Course of a Religious Conversion

Abstract

The process of religious conversion has not been the focus of psychoanalytic understanding. This article examines one conversion narrative, a spiritual autobiography, in which, the author asserts, evidence can be found that the conversion described involved a process of maturation of the subject's internal god-representation, with an integration of maternal and paternal aspects of that internal object representation. Such a process as one aspect of a religious conversion, has implications for psychoanalytic work with religious patients, including the necessity of acknowledging the psychological and deeply believed reality of God for religious patients.

Morality, Selflessness, Transcendence: On Treatment Goals of a Spiritually Sensitive Psychoanalysis

“…According to him, there are indeed relations with God that involve projection, but this is true also regarding relations with the mother, for example. God exists, Spero claimed, just like the mother exists (see also Cohen, 2002).…”

Are religious delusions related to religiosity in schizophrenia?

“…The way a patient expresses his/her illness is influenced by his/her cultural environment (13,14). The importance of understanding of religious beliefs of psychiatric patient was reported by several studies (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21). One of the most interesting delusional themes, which were found in almost every culture, was religious content of delusions (9).…”

Discussion of a Symposium: The God Representation in the Psychoanalytic Relationship: When is Three a Crowd?

“…A tendency exists (a legitimate one) to speak of clinical changes as either positive, negative, or a combination of both, but this classification does not always seem suitable to the kinds of changes that occur when a patient becomes increasingly or decreasingly devoted to a god representation, accepts a religious belief, or abandons it. We view it as more productive to assess changes in religious representations in terms of (a) convergence and divergence (Cohen, 2002(Cohen, , 2003Spero, 2004), that is, what kind movement among interpersonal (and intrapsychic) relations do divine representations permit; (b) changes in the ratio of the man-with-God and manas-God dimension within the religious representational field (de Mello Franco, 1998); and (c) fluctuations in the proportion of dyadic and triadic qualities of internalization and levels of symbolization of the god image (Tillman, 1999). This perspective enables us to more carefully evaluate what might have transpired during the countertransference experience and how the changes described came about.…”