Touched by Grace during the Psychoanalytic Hour: the Transformation of a Religious Resistance

Spero, Moshe Halevi

doi:10.1002/j.2167-4086.2008.tb00342.x

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 31 publications

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“…Their experiences have many parallels with those of psychotherapists such as Spero who come from an Orthodox Jewish background. In a series of papers, published in the 1980s and early 1990s, Spero clearly delineated how the religious beliefs and identity of the mental health worker may permeate the transference and countertransference relationship between mental health worker and client [ 78 – 81 ]. This can generate powerful feelings that are linked to the processes of overidentification or rejection, which may stir up internal conflcit that is derived from the unconscious sense of otherness that can resonate within ourselves [ 82 , 83 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving access to mental health care in an Orthodox Jewish community: a critical reflection upon the accommodation of otherness

McEvoy

Williamson

Kada

et al. 2017

BMC Health Serv Res

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BackgroundThe English National Health Service (NHS) has significantly extended the supply of evidence based psychological interventions in primary care for people experiencing common mental health problems. Yet despite the extra resources, the accessibility of services for ‘under-served’ ethnic and religious minority groups, is considerably short of the levels of access that may be necessary to offset the health inequalities created by their different exposure to services, resulting in negative health outcomes. This paper offers a critical reflection upon an initiative that sought to improve access to an NHS funded primary care mental health service to one ‘under-served’ population, an Orthodox Jewish community in the North West of England.MethodsA combination of qualitative and quantitative data were drawn upon including naturally occurring data, observational notes, e-mail correspondence, routinely collected demographic data and clinical outcomes measures, as well as written feedback and recorded discussions with 12 key informants.ResultsImprovements in access to mental health care for some people from the Orthodox Jewish community were achieved through the collaborative efforts of a distributed leadership team. The members of this leadership team were a self-selecting group of stakeholders which had a combination of local knowledge, cultural understanding, power to negotiate on behalf of their respective constituencies and expertise in mental health care. Through a process of dialogic engagement the team was able to work with the community to develop a bespoke service that accommodated its wish to maintain a distinct sense of cultural otherness.ConclusionsThis critical reflection illustrates how dialogic engagement can further the mechanisms of candidacy, concordance and recursivity that are associated with improvements in access to care in under-served sections of the population, whilst simultaneously recognising the limits of constructive dialogue. Dialogue can change the dynamic of community engagement. However, the full alignment of the goals of differing constituencies may not always be possible, due the complex interaction between the multiple positions and understandings of stakeholders that are involved and the need to respect the other’-s’ autonomy.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-017-2509-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving access to mental health care in an Orthodox Jewish community: a critical reflection upon the accommodation of otherness

McEvoy

Williamson

Kada

et al. 2017

BMC Health Serv Res

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Gods of the Horizon: The Therapist's and the Patient's Religious Representations and the Inevitability of Countertransference

Spero¹

2009

Religion and Psychiatry

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Introduction to a Symposium: The God Representation in the Psychoanalytic Relationship: When is Three a Crowd?

Spero¹,

Cohen²

2009

The Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynam

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An introduction is presented to a symposium discussing the way in which the representation of the image of God can affect the analytic dialogue and process, focusing on the beliefs and images of the analyst as well as the analysand. If, as theorized, an image or a concept identified as "God" is an ineluctable element of the development of the human mind (whatever else this image may or may not mean theologically), then it would seem that the dynamic roots and potential of this kind of representation would find some expression in the countertransference dimension of analytic work. Contributors to the symposium were asked to offer detailed clinical material, paying special attention to their countertransference experiences in order to focus on the impact of religious imagery on their own "religiously oriented" internal experiences. Three questions were posed in order to conceptualize the clinical transaction in ways that could elucidate our research interests. It was not assumed that the symposium authors, or analysts in general, are formally religious, nor was this necessary to the task. The majority of the 14 authors identified themselves as currently religious; 4 were circumspect to one degree or another. Interestingly, the intensity of countertransference involvement on the level of personal religious experience varied throughout the group.

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Touched by Grace during the Psychoanalytic Hour: the Transformation of a Religious Resistance

Cited by 4 publications

References 31 publications

Improving access to mental health care in an Orthodox Jewish community: a critical reflection upon the accommodation of otherness

Improving access to mental health care in an Orthodox Jewish community: a critical reflection upon the accommodation of otherness

Gods of the Horizon: The Therapist's and the Patient's Religious Representations and the Inevitability of Countertransference

Introduction to a Symposium: The God Representation in the Psychoanalytic Relationship: When is Three a Crowd?

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