Bridges Institute for Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapies

Dissent from Freud: Bridging Spirituality, Psychotherapy, and Science

Religion EN ↓ 3 episodes

For more than a century, mainstream psychology has often viewed religion and spirituality with suspicion—sometimes even as obstacles to mental health. Influenced by the legacy of Freud, many clinicians were trained to keep faith at a distance from serious psychological work. But what if that assumption is incomplete? What if spirituality—far from being an illusion—can be a powerful resource for healing, meaning, and transformation? In Dissent from Freud, we explore this question at the intersection of science, psychotherapy, and lived experience. Drawing on more than four decades of clinical w...

Author

Bridges Institute for Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapies

Episodes

Was Freud Wrong About Religion? 22.04.2026

In this episode, the host shares highlights from Scott Richards’ forthcoming memoir, Dissent from Freud: My Lifelong Search for the Soul of Psychology. Through the story of Richards’ formative encounter with Dr. Allen Bergin, listeners hear how one classroom lecture helped spark a lifelong commitment to integrating spirituality into mainstream psychology and psychotherapy. Future episodes in this...

Why Psychology Turned Against Religion—and Who Challenged It 19.04.2026 10:30

An episode exploring how mainstream psychology came to view religion with suspicion, and how Allen E. Bergin challenged that bias by bringing religious values and spirituality into the center of psychotherapy. We also look at P. Scott Richards’ collaboration with Bergin and the research, books, and clinical insights that helped make spiritually integrated care more credible, practical, and humane.

What Actually Heals? A Son's Search for Understanding 17.04.2026 6:38

A reflective solo episode in which David explores what he learned from Scott Richards’s memoir: the childhood shock of discovering his father’s depression, the long road of recovery, and the role that faith, spirituality, counseling, and medication played in helping him endure and heal. Along the way, the episode also connects Scott’s story to the mission of the Bridges Institute and its work to a...