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by: Dr. Samuel Menahem, Ph.D.

Sam Menahem Ph.D. is a psychologist in Fort Lee, N.J. He is also an adjunct Professor of Psychology at Columbia University and the author of two books, “When Therapy Isn’t Enough” and “All Your Prayers Are Answered.” He is past President of the Association for Spirituality and Psychotherapy (ASP) in NYC.

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 I was trained as a psychologist in the
1970s. I liked psychoanalysis, especially the
ideas of Karen Horney, M.D. I thought that
if I was completely analyzed, a la Horney,
that I would be completely mentally hea
lthy. I had been exposed to some “New Age”
thought in my training-but I thought psychoana
lysis was the answer.
Religion and prayer
were under no consideration as relevant to
my life or the thera
py I conducted with
patients.

As I entered the 1980s, the New Age Material was gaining ground.
Psychoanalysis wasn’t enough for me. I practi
ced transcendental
meditation, read the
“Seth material” which said that we “create
our own reality” as pa
rt of “All That Is”
(God). Thus, my new concept of God was that
we are all God (not to be confused with
the ego). However, prayer is
not addressed in this philosophy
. Rather, releasing negative
beliefs and affirming positive beliefs to replace
them was suggested. We are told that we
“are much more than we think we are.” In ot
her words we are more than just bodies with
egos. This was an integration of body mind a
nd spirit, but I did not really see it as
spiritual. I saw it as psychological. There wa
s some change in my therapeutic outlook,
but it did not include prayer.

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