Spirituality and the Therapeutic Process (PDF)

This book is for therapists who want to enhance their effectiveness with clients whose spirituality is a salient part of their worldview. Whether or not the therapist has a spiritual background, the authors demonstrate that it is possible to honor clients' spiritual experience from the beginning to the end of the therapeutic process. Practical strategies, techniques, and examples are used to show how spirituality can influence each stage of treatment from before the clinical intake, starting with an understanding of ethical practice guidelines and therapist self-awareness, through termination. Self-reflection questions, diverse case examples, and a multiple session case study chapter are provided to build readers' understanding and ability to incorporate spirituality into counseling and psychotherapy. Practitioners in a broad variety of fields, including counseling and clinical psychology, counselor education, and marriage and family therapy will find this book to be a rich source of ideas for examining and modifying their practice. The authors discuss therapist self-awareness tools such as genogram, autobiography, journaling, and mindfulness; recommendations for overcoming biases toward spirituality; and how an agency's climate, referral sources, and intake forms can discourage or set the stage for discussing the spiritual. The chapters provide example probing questions and assessment instruments for exploring how spirituality can be a source of strength or confound problems, and present sample treatment plans that address various encounters with clients' spirituality. The authors demonstrate how meaning systems theory can inform case conceptualization and how spiritual discussions and interventions can be part of cognitive behavioral, interpersonal, psychodynamic, and humanistic therapies. The book also prepares readers for spiritual issues that frequently arise in termination, even if spirituality had not been a focus in previous sessions.