Five Approaches to Religion and Spirituality in the Psychoanalytic Setting

Since Freud's rejection of religion and spirituality as a collective neurosis, psychoanalysts have come to appreciate new perspectives on these ethereal matters. This article focuses on five psychoanalytic approaches to matters of religion and spirituality. Psychoanalytic work is not merely intended to analyze the linear and logical. We are dedicated to acknowledging the prelinguistic, unconscious, and oceanic sensations that are intangible but very real to our patients. Enhancing clinical awareness of the ways religion and spirituality influence our patients is especially significant today because our patients' spiritual sensibilities may not fit into traditional definitions.