Sacred Psychotherapy in the "Age of Authenticity": Healing and Cultural Revivalism in Contemporary Finland

Wilce, James M. (2011) Sacred Psychotherapy in the "Age of Authenticity": Healing and Cultural Revivalism in Contemporary Finland. Religions, 2 (4). pp. 566-589. ISSN 2077-1444

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Abstract

Like other European countries, contemporary Finland has witnessed an explosion of healing modalities designatable as "New Age" (though not without profound controversy, [1]). This paper focuses on Finnish courses in lament (wept song, tuneful weeping with words) that combine healing conceived along psychotherapeutic lines and lessons from the lament tradition of rural Karelia, a region some Finns regard as their cultural heartland. A primary goal of the paper is to explicate a concept of "authenticity" emerging in lament courses, in which disclosing the depths of one's feelings is supported not only by invoking "psy-" discourses of self-help, but also by construing the genuine emotional self-disclosure that characterizes neolamentation as a sacred activity and a vital contribution to the welfare of the Finnish people.

Item Type:	Article
ID number or DOI:	10.3390/rel2040566
Keywords:	authenticity and the "age of authenticity"; authenticity and the “age of authenticity”; cultural revivalism; Finland; healing groups; Lament
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
NAU Depositing Author Academic Status:	Faculty/Staff
Department/Unit:	College of Social and Behavioral Science > Anthropology
Date Deposited:	10 Nov 2015 19:51
URI:	http://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/1822

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