Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry

Self-Identity and Religion/Spirituality 165figures. In other words, believers are invited tosituate themselves in a child-parent relationship.Antoine Vergote and Alvaro Tamayo have collectedstudies that have highlighted the way inwhich a divine figure, in the Christian contextbut also outside this context, combines paternaland maternal aspects.(22) Compared with thefather’s image or to the mother’s image, God’simage joins paternal traits such as maintainingorder and providing protection with maternaltraits such as unconditional love and kindness.These results, although based on a population ofBelgian children, could be generalized to othercultural environments.In the same vein, on a basis of case studies ona psychiatric population, Rizzuto (23, 24) showshow much God’s figure builds on the foundationof a given individual’s parental figures. This givesway to contemplation of two types of therapeuticintervention while dealing with patients towhom God or a divine figure plays an importantrole. In one scenario, the therapist can tryworking on the perception of divine figures toalter the bond to the paternal or to the maternalfigure. This involves inviting the patientsto explore their representation of God or otherdivine figure by asking whether it correspondsto their system of beliefs and whether this figureis influenced by the figures of their own parents.A second possibility is investigating whether thisdivine figure plays the role of an attachment figureor of an identification figure and whether itis possible for the patient to draw support fromthe figure to face her difficulties and build herown identity.10. THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE GROUPThe collective dimension is an essential elementfor the construction of the religious/spiritualidentity of the individual. The need for protectionand affective proximity can also be filled in a religiouscommunity, as a way station for the familyenvironment. Attachment theory is not exactly anadequate framework for describing this functionfulfilled by a group, because it applies in theoryto the relationship between two individuals. Thefunction of the receiving and protective groupwill be better described in terms of a substituteof the maternal envelope (Winnicott, 1968).(25)The source of religious or spiritual referencesmobilized by the subject to interpret the worldis not initially inherent to the individual, but israther found in cultural constructions. The subjectturns to her culture to find the words and theconceptual and behavior categories for interpretingher experiences. Thus, there are special ritesof passage that accompany the important transformationsof a major life event, such as birth,coming of age, marriage, or death. Nevertheless,in Western or Westernized societies, there is aclear tendency to individualize the rites. It is inthis context that David Le Breton (26) interpretsadolescents’ risky behaviors as attempts to fillthe void of the rite of passage from childhood toadult life in these societies. By putting their lifein danger, adolescents try to test their limits. Thisshould be understood as a sort of cry for help, anattempt to provide oneself with an understandingof the path to adult status. However, without clearsignals coming from the outside, young peopleare in danger of taking risks unaware. Extremesports without sufficient training, car racing,overdose, and excessive dieting are all attemptsto ensure that one is in control of one’s own lifeand of the world. Adults know that such controlcan only be relative and limited. Their task is toprotect the children, who are still incapable ofrecognizing their limits, and to help them getto know themselves so that they can becomeautonomous. In other words, the construction ofthe individual identity is achieved through recognitionfrom others. It is in the confrontationbetween the representation I have of myself andthe representation that others convey to me thatI learn who I am. Nonetheless, this confrontationis not only focused on the construction of thespecific identity. Surely, if everything goes well,individuals will learn to know themselves thanksto an image sent to them by their environment.However, a society’s educational system is also anexpression of expectation the society has of theindividual: that she adjust to fit the environment.The construction of the self is not only contained