Psychoanalysis and Religious Experience

There has been for a long time a powerful opposition between psychoanalysis and religious thinking, both because of the anti-religious attitudes and writings of Sigmund Freud and because of the hostility of theologians to Freud. In this provocative book, W.W. Meissner attempts to bring about a rapprochement between the two fields, by examining Freud’s views on religion in close detail, exploring the dialectical relationship between psychoanalysis and religion, and applying more contemporary concepts in psychoanalysis to the understanding of religious experience. 
Meissner, a Jesuit and a psychoanalyst, contends that Freud’s views on religion reflect important psychodynamic influences and unresolved conflicts in his own life, and he analyzes Freud’s religious arguments with an eye not only to their inherent limitations and erroneous assumptions but also to their latent potentialities for deeper and broader-ranging understanding. Meissner discusses Freud’s The Future of an Illusion as well as the progression of Freud’s debate with Oskar Pfister, a pastor whose response to Freud’s argument was published as The Illusion of the Future.
After clarifying the areas where psychoanalysis and religion must remain independent of one another and where they can converge, Meissner demonstrates how the reconciliation of the two fields can be mutually beneficial. He utilizes the resources of a broader developmental perspective and the modern psychoanalytic understanding of transitional phenomena in order to achieve a more insightful and productive view of religious experience. 
“Dr. Meissner has written a book which is consistently interesting, often challenging, and impressive for its wide range of scholarship in two fields not often combined in the same work…. Dr. Meissner has done us a service in this scholarly work by demonstrating how two perspectives of the human condition have over the course of the last several decades come to similar conclusions.” –Otto F. Thaler, M.D., Journal of the American Academy of Religion
“A rich and stimulating book addressing important issues that lie at the intersection of psychoanalysis and religion.” –Paul C. Vitz, Contemporary Psychology
“Meissner has made a challenging, useful contribution that will be pondered, applied, and debated. It will undoubtedly also achieve the goal of bringing about more understanding between analysts and theologians.” –Lowell Rubin, M.D., Newsletter, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Meißner, W.

Psychology & Counseling

Yale University Press

Ignatius of Loyola―knight and saint, mystic and ascetic, founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits)―was one of the greatest figures in Western Christianity. This book, written by a psychiatrist-psychoanalyst who is also a Jesuit, is the first work to look behind the events, accounts, and documents of Ignatius' life and religious experience in order to enter and understand his inner world. W. W. Meissner writes compassionately about Ignatius' origins, early development, conversion, years of prayer and penance, mystical teaching and career, and finally his efforts to found and direct the Society of Jesus. Dr. Meissner not only places Ignatius' life against the background of the radical religious, social, and political upheaval of the sixteenth century but goes beyond this to explore the psychic and psychodynamic inner processes that transformed the man into the saint. Dr. Meissner discusses, for example, Ignatius' ordeals of body and spirit during his career as a soldier, his conversion experience, the evolution of his personality after conversion, his relationships with women, his lifelong struggles to overcome his aggressive, narcissistic, and libidinal impulses, and the psychology and pathology of his mysticism. The complex personality of this great saint and the profundity of his personal and spiritual struggles bring into focus significant questions about the complex interplay between human motivations and needs on the one hand and religious experience and spiritual motivation on the other. The book is not only a biography of a much-revered figure of the Roman Catholic Church but a unique contribution to both psychoanalysis and religious history.

Ignatius of Loyola: The Psychology of a Saint

Religion & Spirituality

One point on which the various helping professions agree is that the crucial factor in the success of therapy is the therapeutic alliance―the collaborative relationship a particular therapist is able to form with a particular patient. W. W. Meissner, a highly regarded teacher and practitioner of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, examines all the prevailing ideas about the therapeutic alliance in this useful book, which is intended for both clinicians and theoreticians. Dr. Meissner explains that in addition to the more familiar aspects of transference and countertransference, the therapeutic alliance encompasses aspects of the therapeutic relation that make it possible for therapist and patient to work together to accomplish therapeutic goals. Dr. Meissner draws a clear distinction not only between alliance and transference but also between alliance and the real relationship. Aspects of the alliance include arrangements and negotiations governing the therapeutic frame and necessary boundaries, neutrality and abstinence, and also personal qualities and capacities that therapist and patient bring to the analytic situation: empathetic attunement, trust, autonomy, authority, responsibility, freedom, and initiative, among others. To the extent that these qualities become operative in the therapeutic relation, they provide the effective basis for a strong therapeutic alliance, which plays an essential structuring role at every step of the analytic process.

The Therapeutic Alliance

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

Dieser Buchtitel ist Teil des Digitalisierungsprojekts Springer Book Archives mit Publikationen, die seit den Anfängen des Verlags von 1842 erschienen sind. Der Verlag stellt mit diesem Archiv Quellen für die historische wie auch die disziplingeschichtliche Forschung zur Verfügung, die jeweils im historischen Kontext betrachtet werden müssen. Dieser Titel erschien in der Zeit vor 1945 und wird daher in seiner zeittypischen politisch-ideologischen Ausrichtung vom Verlag nicht beworben.

Apparate und Messmethoden für Elektrizität und Magnetismus (Handbuch der Physik, 16) (German Edition)

Science & Math

Schmidt, R.

Angenheister, G.

Jaeger, W.

Michel, G.

Baars, E.

Güntherschulze, A.

Steinwehr, H. v.

Alberti, E.

Giebe, E.

Gumlich, E.

Kottler, F.

Schering, H.

Steinhaus, W.

Valentiner, S.

Physics

Springer

Dieser Buchtitel ist Teil des Digitalisierungsprojekts Springer Book Archives mit Publikationen, die seit den Anfängen des Verlags von 1842 erschienen sind. Der Verlag stellt mit diesem Archiv Quellen für die historische wie auch die disziplingeschichtliche Forschung zur Verfügung, die jeweils im historischen Kontext betrachtet werden müssen. Dieser Titel erschien in der Zeit vor 1945 und wird daher in seiner zeittypischen politisch-ideologischen Ausrichtung vom Verlag nicht beworben.

Anwendung der Thermodynamik (Handbuch der Physik, 11) (German Edition)

Müller, C.

Freundlich, E.

Jakob, M.

Meyerhof, O.

Neumann, K.

Robitzsch, M.

Wegener, A.

Henning, F.

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