God in psychoanalytical psychotherapy

Abstract

In the article I present some possible approaches to religious content in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. I also deal with positions of some philosophical authors, well known critics of religion, who have influenced Freud’s openly negative attitude towards religion. After a short presentation of Freud’s attitude towards religious subjects, I consider some psychoanalytic authors who have surpassed Freud’s openly negative attitude towards religion. I present more in detail one of them, Tilman Moser, who is still living, and especially his concepts of “poisoning God” and “bearable God”. Since he became one of those who »enabled god to enter psychoanalytic treatment«, I present a part from the treatment, from which his technique of dealing with religious content can be understood. In the third part a present a critical evaluation of Moser’s approach. I conclude with a personal stance towards dealing with such content and with my clinical experience.