Leaving Analysis: A Year Finding Freud, Rediscovering the Sacred

In her last twelve months of psychoanalysis, Nicola Mendenhall explores the spiritual awakening that this allegedly secular technique has given rise to.

During her more than ten years in classical psychoanalysis, Nicola had barely questioned the commonly held belief that Freud shunned spirituality. This fixed concept led to her feeling that analysis, while it had radically changed her life for the better, ignored her heart and soul. Now, as the therapeutic relationship neared its end, she be...