Routledge - Healing Symbols in Psychotherapy: A Ritual Approach

In Healing Symbols in Psychotherapy, Erik D. Goodwyn addresses a significant gap in modern mental health care. While ritual scholars have identified that rituals produce powerful psychological, social, and biological effects, these insights are often missing from standard psychiatric and psychotherapeutic practice. This book works to bridge that gap by integrating ritual study directly into the clinical setting. Goodwyn reviews essential research in the field of ritual study and applies it to the practical work of psychotherapy and psychiatry. By doing so, he provides a new framework for practitioners to approach their patients. The text combines ritual study with several specialized disciplines, including depth psychology, placebo study, biogenetic structuralism, and cognitive anthropology. This multidisciplinary approach offers a fresh perspective for professionals looking to expand their clinical toolkit and understand the deeper symbolic elements that influence the healing process.