Spirituality and Psychotherapy The Matter of "Separation Anxiety" and Beyond

Abstract

Drawing from Feuerbach, Kierkegaard, Buddhism, and Yoga, this article looks at consciousness as infinitely divisible sentience congruent with relentless impermanence. It then examines infantile "separation anxiety" (and thus, all sorts of anxious psychopathologies) as, in part, an initiatory spiritual experience into the infinity of consciousness and its congruence with eternal time. Further, it explores "self-soothing," while integrating existential, neuroendocrinal, and spiritual discourses on this phenomenon. Based upon these observations, it suggests refmements in the clinical mood of the "holding environment," including "clinical admiration" and "clinical shy awe."