Dialog Versus Decalogue: Psychotherapy and the Ten Commandments

摘要

The foundation of the social order and the system of law in the Judeo-Christian tradition of Western civilization is the Ten Commandments.1 Leaving aside the highly politicized debate regarding the posting of the Ten Commandments in courts of law of a religiously diverse nation that constitutionally forbids the establishment of a state religion, these formidable rules are nonetheless part of the internalized conscience of most of our patients. Other traditions have similar rules. How we as psychotherapists relate to that aspect of a patient's superego that conies from his or her religious and moral background is a crucial part of our work.