The Spirituality of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: A Case Study

Authors

Stephen B. Morris Ph.D., Private Practice, International Psychotherapy Institute, Bethesda, MD and Salt Lake City; Department of Psychiatry, University of Utah School of Medicine.Follow

Keywords

psychodynamic psychotherapy, gospel-centered therapy

Abstract

Although psychodynamic psychotherapy is effective and can be done briefly, it has fallen out of favor, especially with religiously oriented psychotherapists—including Latter-day Saint psychotherapists. The client in this case study is a 50-year-old, middle-class, Caucasian member of the Church. Using the case study as a framework, this paper describes and illustrates how psychodynamic psychotherapy can be seen as a spiritual endeavor that is compatible with both a traditional Christian orientation and a Latter-day Saint orientation. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first case report of psychodynamic psychotherapy with a Latter-day Saint client. This report may form part of the basis for future group studies examining the effectiveness of psychodynamic psycho- therapy with Latter-day Saints, and for process studies examining the effects of specific psychodynamic interven- tions on psychotherapy outcomes with this population.

Recommended Citation

Morris, Stephen B. Ph.D. (2018) "The Spirituality of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: A Case Study," Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy: Vol. 39: No. 1, Article 8.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/irp/vol39/iss1/8