Psychological Analysis of the Phenomenon of Religious Experience Distortion
Консультативная психология и психотерапия September 22, 2019 DOI: 10.17759/cpp.2015230506 (opens in new tab) via DOAJ
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractThe article examines how spiritual experience can become distorted in religious clients, focusing on substitution phenomena that individuals mistakenly perceive as normal or spiritually healthy. It analyzes psychological disturbances including difficulty recognizing one's own feelings and deficient self-valuation, particularly among Christians. The authors discuss negative consequences of these problems for spiritual life, identify underlying reasons, and offer psychotherapeutic recommendations. Associations between self-esteem and self-value problems are also explored.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Phenomena of substitution Psychotherapy of believers Self-esteem Self-value |
| Key finding | Argues that substitution phenomena distort spiritual experience and that difficulty recognizing own feelings and deficient self-valuation are common psychological disturbances among religious clients. |
Abstract
The article addresses the problem of distortions of the spiritual experience, with which psychotherapist encounters while working with religious clients. In the focus are the phenomena of substitution, which are understood as distortions of the spiritual experience. The person himself sees them as normal, spiritually right, healthy and as being signs of spiritual development etc. Along the line of conceptualizing the practice of working with believers the article introduces the analysis of such psychological dis- turbances as: being unable to recognize own feelings, deficiency of valuing own self. The ways in which such phenomena occur are discussed, especially their peculiarities among religious people. Negative consequences of such psychological problems for spiritual life of Christians are analyzed. Main reasons behind these phenomena and some recommendations in addressing them during psychotherapy are pointed out. The associations between the problems of self-esteem and self-value are given.