God and me, God is me: dialogue with religion as a mechanism for coping with emotional stress

In this article I seek to clarify the different ways in which religious ultra-Orthodox Jewish patients, accustomed to the continuous presence of God in their daily lives, relate to God in times of crisis and within the therapeutic framework. While the accepted, ongoing dialogue with God is characterized by prayer and a highly respectful relationship towards a divine, spiritual authority, in times of distress we find that patients may "use" God in other ways as well. These "uses of God" may be categorized into four main groups: a relationship to God as a projection of the patient's relationship to his/her parents; the idealization and glorification of God, from a place of distance, authority and supremacy; a relationship to God of "closeness" and mutuality; and a relationship of "objectification"-the idea that God exists for me as an object, to serve or help me in my daily life. Each category is illustrated by a case study, with a focus on the therapeutic work and in particular the issue of transference.