Rite of Passage and Psychotherapy

Abstract

Anthropological notion of the rite of passage and its stages are viewed. Different psychotherapeutic approaches (psychoanalysis and analytical psychology, trauma, transpersonal and transcultural psychotherapy, dance movement therapy, narrative approach and community work), which address to the structure and symbolic meaning of the rites of passage, are compared. Systematization of client requests and corresponding psychotherapeutic objectives based on the rite of passage as a metaphor of life changes is proposed. Opportunities of using metaphor in modern society are analyzed.

Keywords

• psychotherapy
• rite of passage
• metaphor
• postmodern identity