Working with spiritual and religious themes in group therapy.

Psychoanalytic therapy groups can function as spiritual communities that deepen the understanding of group transference. Beyond repeating family-of-origin dynamics, group-as-a-whole dynamics include a spiritual dimension. Clinical vignettes from a midphase group illustrate working with spiritual and religious themes psychodynamically by treating them like dreams. Amplifying and interpreting symbolic themes guides members through transference to their family of origin, where they access childhood memories and the transitional space of religious experience in which they created God representations to solve self and object dilemmas. This working-through process facilitates integrating or transforming new self and God images.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This article explores the analytic therapy group as a spiritual community that can deepen the implications of group transference. From this perspective, group-as-a-whole dynamics include a spiritual dimension in addition to the recapitulation of the family of origin. Clinical vignettes are introduced from a midphase group to illustrate a means of working with spiritual and religious themes psychodynamically through managing them like dreams. Amplification and interpretation of the symbolic themes guide members through the transference to the family of origin. There, members gain access to childhood memories and to the childhood transitional space of religious experience where they created their God representations as a means of solving their self and object dilemmas. The working-through process facilitates the integration or transformation of new self and God images.