Introduction to a Symposium: the God Representation in the Psychoanalytic Relationship: When is Three a Crowd?
The journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry January 1, 2009 Moshe Halevi Spero, Mariam Cohen
An introduction to a symposium explores how the image of God, as an ineluctable element of human mental development, influences the analytic dialogue and process through the countertransference experiences of both analyst and analysand. Contributors provided detailed clinical material focusing on their own religious imagery and internal experiences. Of the 14 authors, most identified as currently religious, while 4 were circumspect. The intensity of countertransference involvement related to personal religious experience varied across the group. The symposium did not assume authors or analysts are formally religious.