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Between faith and fragmentation: God representations and identity Organization in a Clinical Frame

God is often encountered in clinical work not as doctrine but as an affect-laden inner figure that can soothe, accuse, withdraw or demand. Drawing on psychoanalytic accounts of God representations and identity status theory, this qualitative study examines how emerging adults relate to God across ego identity statuses, with attention to symbolic function, affect regulation and moral experience. Twelve Albanian participants (19–30) completed the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (EOM-EIS) and participated in psychodynamically oriented semi-structured interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis generated six themes: inherited God as relational introject; God as inner conflict; God as emotional container; silence and distance; God as internal symbol; and moral authority versus chosen ethics. Identity Achievement narratives tended to show more internalized and symbolically flexible God representations linked to reflective morality and steadier affect regulation. Narratives associated with Moratorium and Foreclosure statuses more frequently featured ambivalence, surveillance or distance, with God functioning as a contested or inherited authority. Findings suggest that God representations can be read clinically as indicators of identity organization and of how individuals manage guilt, longing, dependence and agency. Implications are discussed for psychoanalytic psychotherapy and spiritually sensitive clinical formulation.

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Posted in: Journal Article Abstracts on 09/14/2026 | Link to this post on IFP |
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