Therapeutic and redemptive aspects of religious confession

Religious confession provides a forum for the expression of individual identity and relational needs. As a ritual that gives public sanction to personal transformation and redemption, confession also connects the faithful to the larger community. Greek Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish ways of confession are surveyed to examine their historical and contemporary significance. Religious confession not only reflects meaning; it also creates meaning filtered through our psychological understanding of what constitutes sin. Clinical examples illustrate the need for therapists to become more aware of the relationship of their own values and countertransference in spiritual disclosure.