On Being Wanted to Exist: A Spiritual Dimension in Pastoral Counseling and Psychoanalysis

Patients who feel not wanted to exist as persons in their own right require that pastoral counseling or psychoanalysis address their need to be wanted. Drawing on case material, it is argued that the pastoral counselor has a particular responsibility to address adequately patients’ need to have their existence affirmed. Connecting psychoanalytic theory and technique with spiritual exploration of the notion of creation, this paper calls attention in clinical practice to patients’ need to be wanted to exist.