Psychoanalysts generally see conver

Psychoanalysts generally see conversion as a search for the resolution of emotional
issues. Given the fact that their data base is derived from clinical settings, many of their
converts are diagnosed as“mentally ill.”Research psychologists, on the other hand, tend to
study psychologically“healthy”people and thus view conversion as a quest for intellectual,
spiritual, and emotional transformation and growth. Henri Ellenberger, in his magisterial
study of the history of psychoanalysis, noted that the data base from which figures such as
Freud, Adler, and Jung created their theories were very different and impacted the
formation of their theories and practices (Ellenberger1981). Psychologists of religion thus
need to pay very careful attention to the data base for our research.
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One of the few comparative studies which attempts to move beyond this dichotomy by
examining a more diverse sample of converts was conducted by Chana Ullman. Ullman
studied ten converts each to Jewish orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, the Hare Krishna
movement, and the Baha’i faith, comparing and contrasting factors such as the degree of
trauma or family conflict in the converts’ lives during childhood and adolescence, their
degree of interest in religious and existential questions, and their degree of involvement in
religious groups. Though Ullman at first theorized that the main motivation for conversion
was the need for cognitive meaning, she found that the main issues were emotional,
involving problematic relationships with fathers, unhappy childhoods, and a past history of
disrupted, distorted personal relationships. We consider her work to be one of the best
examples of excellent empirical research and theoretical sophistication in the psychology of
conversion (Ullman1982, 1987, 1988, 1989).