Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry

166 Pierre-Yves Brandt, Claude-Alexandre Fournier, and Sylvia Mohrin the representation of what constitutes the individualon the basis of independent choices. Theself is also shaped by the environment that guidesthe choices. The self-image an individual projectsthus results from a compromise between whatthe individual emanates and what the societyexpects. The quality of an individual’s integrationin her life environment will depend on the extentof this compromise of combining individual andcollective expectations.11. COLLECTIVE SYMBOLIZATION OFTHE INDIVIDUAL IDENTITYAny given society proposes a culturally sharedconception of self-identity. The cultural representationsthat convey it vary. It can be expressedthrough artistic productions. Self-awareness,attitudes, and behaviors that can be lent toan individual are defined in novels, children’sstories, documentary films, and fiction movies.Advertisements, interviews, news stories,social roles dictated by professional activities,law, education, and health systems are all vectorsthat shape the conception of a given society’sself-identity. Religious institutions or thecircumstances responsible for the relationshipwith the unpredictable, transcendence, and theafterlife also contribute to the conception of theself. Hence, tales displaying mythological, divine,ancestral, or exceptional historical figures serveas a support to identification. Christian traditionheavily emphasizes the imitation of Christ . To citeonly a few examples, Moses is the classic examplefor a Jew, Buddha for a Buddhist, and a Sufi masterfor certain Islamic groups. Thus, in variousreligious traditions, exemplary figures contributeto the foundations of identity. Accounts of thesefigures’ lives are told, and episodes from theselives are taken as examples to follow. By readingor listening to these accounts, the reader or listenersets up the processes of identification necessaryto understand the story. The identity canthen be built by complete or partial appropriationof the figure brought out in the story, or, on thecontrary, by antagonistic reaction to this figure.In this case, the account can waken experiencesof the self to which the subject had not previouslyhad access. In other words, at certain moments oftheir lives, individuals can manage to make senseof the situation they are in by identifying similaritiesto a situation experienced by a central figureof the religious tradition they have chosen.It is then an already-experienced situation thatis retold through a story about a figure fromthe past. In all these cases, the cohesion of theidentity is found following the narration mode.The transformation of identity, threatening thecontinuity of the self, is supported by the narrativeplot: By telling the story of this transformation,individuals reestablish continuity beyondthe rupture. Herein lies the identity, in the senseof the ipse -identity, such as suggested by PaulRicoeur.(1) The staging of identity constructionin stories shows the narrative character of theindividual identity. The stories are the collectivesymbolization.Another form of symbolization of self-identityis its mise-en-scene during rites. Rites are culturaldevices built to shape the identity of those takingpart in them. Thus, there are rites of passageto mark coming of age, marriage, or death. Thewords, the concepts, or the behaviors establishedby these rites often contain an important religiousor spiritual dimension. Although each riteof passage is generally experienced only once byan individual, other rites, such as collective orindividual prayers, taking part in the Eucharist,confession, family or community celebrations,or pilgrimages, are reiterative. Whichever formthey take, these rites provide bearings that can beused for identification shared by those adheringto the tradition that conveys them. Their functionis one of facilitating integration into societyand social roles.As for rites of passage, they could be thoughtto only spur a transformation in the intendedindividuals. However, every person present at theevent reflects on his or her own path. Participationmeans putting oneself in a position of identification.For some of them, it means preparing forwhat they will one day be called on to experience;for others, reliving a past rite. In a narrativeor ritual manner, stories and rites symbolize