The dissonance of guilt : an examination of the human condition's fundamental dynamic of guilt feelings, referring to psychological and religious discourse and how they could be combined to facilitate mental health

Feeling guilty is an experience we all know. It is a condition that ensures we remain cognisant of our obligations to our- selves and to others so that we live within the bounds of appropriate behaviour. When obligations are violated and deviance is evident, the resultant dissonance between expected and contrary behaviour generates feelings of inner environment discomfort and self-criticism recognised as guilt feelings. Whether such states of internal dissonance are psychodynamically induced, as Freud maintained, or are the result of not meeting ethical obligations, as decreed by particular religious systems, or are due to an inevitable faculty of being human, they have to be controlled if the mental health of the individual experiencing them is not to be detrimentally affected. What psychology and religion have to say about ensuring that this control is effective has unfortunately become dichotomous and disparate realms of discourse. A common discourse is necessary if the insights of each are to most effectively deal with mental health care. To this end, this thesis is presented as a means for assisting psychotherapists in a re-assessment of the interface between psychology and religion.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Religious Studies

Year dc:date.issued

1986

Author dc:creator

• Boothroyd, David Gordon

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Chidester, David
• Cumpsty, John S

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14743

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/14743