{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.014714204867006225, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 6.043824701195219, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 1, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Sexuality, Religion, and Atheism in Psychodynamic Treatment

This case study involves psychodynamic treatment with a man raised in an Orthodox Jewish family. Over the course of treatment, the patient came to identify as both bisexual and atheist. Bisexual individuals and individuals whose religious identity differs from their family of origin face unique challenges in asserting their own identities, navigating interpersonal relationships, and integrating past and present experiences to develop a cohesive sense of self. Bisexual individuals can face the difficulty of expressing their desires while interacting with cultural norms that encourage only same-sex or opposite sex eroticism. Sexual minority individuals raised in heterosexist religious communities may face the challenge of establishing their own affirming religious identities while maintaining relationships with family members. Both tasks can necessitate engaging with strongly conflicting thoughts and feelings that can contribute to emotional distress and avoidant behaviors. Individuals may neglect important aspects of their experience, including major aspects of erotic desire, personal identity, or past experiences to minimize distress. Relational psychodynamic psychotherapy offers an intervention that can address these issues and help individuals develop self-affirming, integrated identities. This case study explicitly focuses on the use and exploration of wishes, desires and emotions, the challenging of avoidant behaviors, and the use of the therapist’s own affective responses to provide feedback and facilitate dialogue. Through these methods, relational psychodynamic therapy can empower individuals to develop and integrate both spiritual and sexual identities into their lives.