Psychotherapy as Religion

Abstract

The metaphor of ‘psychotherapy as religion’ is used in this thesis to help us understand the phenomenon of psychotherapy, a symbolic system of central importance in the Western world. It is argued that psychotherapy is a type of religion, an alternative to the more traditional religious systems and that this is seen especially by considering psychotherapy in relation to religious ritual. Psychotherapy is looked at in relationship to a particular religion - Roman Catholicism by means of a fourfold comparative analysis based on a hermeneutic symbolic theoretical approach in anthropological theory. The four aspects of the comparison are: traditional Catholicism — psychoanalysis contemporary Catholicism — contemporary psychotherapy The thesis is divided into two parts. The first part looks at the particular ritual acts of religion and psychotherapy and the symbols associated with them. Van Gennep's and Turner's ideas are used to examine the structure of the rituals involved. Traditional Catholicism is looked at through Ignatius Loyola's 'Spiritual Exercises' and traditional psychotherapy is looked at through Freud's psychoanalysis. Two case studies in contemporary Catholicism and contemporary psychotherapy, are presented by way of illustration. Part two relates the particular systems to social structure drawing on the idea of communitas, gemeinschaft and gesellschaft. The works of Mary Douglas are used to show the relationship of ritual to cosmology and social structure. In part two the relationship of traditional Catholicism to contemporary Catholicism and of psychoanalysis to contemporary psychotherapy is examined. Psychotherapy is shown to be a ritual of the type 'rite of passage' with the symbol of transformation or rebirth. The particular form of the ritual depends on the social structure which it is in.