Abstract

This work rests on two premises. One is that we human beings construe reality in a number of different, alternate ways at different times for different purposes. The second premise is that one such mode is the mythic, described by the philosopher Ernst Cassirer and the psychologist Lawrence LeShan. ;This dissertation attempts to show that at times psychotherapy and psychoanalysis take place in the context of mythic reality, so that therapist and client together shift back and forth between ordinary and mythic realities intuitively, without being aware that they do so. ;This dissertation makes explicit the assumptions about reality on which psychotherapy in the mythic mode is rooted. ;Part I examines the theoretical background of alternate approaches to reality. Chapter 2 traces the evolution of the concept of alternate realities in the history of Western philosophy. Chapter 3 describes three theories of alternate realities: those of the philosopher/historian Robin Collingwood, Cassirer and LeShan. Chapter 4 describes Cassirer's and LeShan's theories of mythic reality. Because psychotherapy in the mythic mode entails the use of personal symbols, Chapter 5 discusses several theories of symbolism, to identify the theory which subsequent chapters entail. ;Part II is about mythic work with clients. Chapter 6 attempts to show that the mythic mode is a natural setting for psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. ;Chapter 7 contains the heart of this dissertation: the premises, derived from work with clients, underlying psychotherapeutic practice in the mythic mode. By making these premises explicit, it is hoped that therapists can use the mythic mode deliberately in a systematic way. ;Chapter 8 describes three cases involving psychotherapy in the mythic mode. Taken together, these cases illustrate all the premises put forth in the previous chapter. ;Chapter 9 concludes that besides "going deeper faster", psychotherapy in the mythic mode connects clients to disowned parts of themselves, to other people, and to the world, through the experience of mythic meaning