Both therapists and people seeking treatment may hesitate to include spirituality or religion in the practice of therapy, due to the potential of differing beliefs and the possible controversy of the topic. But research suggests a therapist's inclusion of an individual's spiritual beliefs may assist in therapy and in the process of healing.
What can therapists do about spirituality in therapy?
Therapists who are aware of therapeutic strategies based in spirituality, such as spiritual journaling or forgiveness protocols, may also be able to provide people in therapy with resources on these topics, whether or not they are able to address them personally.
What is the role of spirituality in medicine?
In summary, spirituality can be an important element in the way patients face chronic illness, suffering, and loss. Physicians need to address and be attentive to all suffering of their patients—physical, emotional, and spiritual. Doing so is part of delivery of compassionate care.
Can a therapist's spiritual beliefs affect the process of healing?
But research suggests a therapist's inclusion of an individual's spiritual beliefs may assist in therapy and in the process of healing. What Is Spirituality? What Is Spiritual Wellness?
Should therapists be sensitive to religious and spiritual seekers?
When a person who is religious or spiritual seeks treatment, sensitivity on the part of a therapist may be beneficial to treatment because it may lead to a broader evaluation of the person seeking treatment and allow the therapist to explore a wider variety of treatment solutions.
Why is spirituality important in counseling?
It can help us get in touch with our own powers of thinking, feeling, deciding, willing, and acting. Spirituality and religion are critical sources of strength for many clients, are the bedrock for finding meaning in life, and can be instrumental in promoting healing and well-being.
What does a spirituality therapist do?
Spirituality therapists tend to be holistic in practice, focusing not only on spirituality but also the mind and body. They can assist in helping a client find balance in life, and reconnect with their higher power (whether that be God, the Universe, nature, etc.).
What is the role of the counselor in therapy?
Counseling Q & A Professional counselors help clients identify goals and potential solutions to problems which cause emotional turmoil; seek to improve communication and coping skills; strengthen self-esteem; and promote behavior change and optimal mental health.
What does spirituality mean in therapy?
Spiritual therapy is a form of counseling that attempts to treat a person's soul as well as mind and body by accessing individual belief systems and using that faith in a higher power to explore areas of conflict in life.
What are examples of spiritual therapy?
It might involve activities that help people clarify thoughts and feelings, like journaling, yoga, or meditation. People who belong to a religious faith often express their spirituality through their connection to their faith.
What is a spiritual intervention?
Spiritual interventions are approaches that involve religious or existential aspects such as finding meaning and purpose in life. Spiritual interventions may include activities such as spiritual counseling, meaning-focused meditation, or psychotherapy.
What are the three roles of a counselor?
Their duties include listening to patients, developing treatment plans, and creating coping strategies.
What role does a counselor play in his/her community?
Community counseling confronts the institutions that have a detrimental impact on the lives of individuals and the community as a whole. These assumptions and the definition of Community counseling impart a multifaceted approach to helping and lay the foundation for understanding some of its primary components.
How do you incorporate spirituality into therapy?
Integrating religious and spiritual themes into psychotherapy may range from asking the questions about a client's beliefs, values, and practices to making specific values based recommendations and recommendations for engaging in particular religious activities and practices such as meditation or prayer.
How spirituality can benefit mental and physical health?
Both religion and spirituality can have a positive impact on mental health. In some ways, they provide the same impact. For example: Both religion and spirituality can help a person tolerate stress by generating peace, purpose and forgiveness. But benefits generally vary between the two due to their different nature.
Why is religion important in therapy?
Religion has been shown to be a stabilizing factor for mental well-being. Research has demonstrated that people who have religious beliefs tend to have better mental health, physical health, and more satisfying relationships than those who do not have any religious beliefs.
Searching for Meaning
Whether conscious of it or not, each of us are journeying an existential quest for meaning, aiming for understanding as to our being in the world. Yet ‘we live in a culture that encourages us to look for happiness by directing our energies outward…’ (Groff 1993, p.94), while avoiding searching within for the answers.
The Human Condition
The human condition envelopes the totality of experience of what it means to be human and to live human lives. This encompasses beyond that which is empirically obvious. Abraham Maslow warranted a person’s desire for spiritual values and the notion of spiritual longing, exalting them to the top of a Hierarchy of Human needs.
Pastoral Counselling and Spirituality
The work of pastoral counselling is rooted in religious structures and western liberal theology. It draws on the resources of faith and confidence in a divine power with forgiveness being a key aspect of pastoral care. In their work, a pastoral counsellor integrates religious resources with insights from the behavioural sciences.
Example 1
Ann came for therapy suffering from flashbacks of her father’s death and with struggles relating to his loss. During one particular session, she had been talking about how her sister’s home had suffered a fire and she said that the only materialistic object to have survived the fire was a clock belonging to their deceased father.
Psychotherapy and Spirituality
The function of psychotherapy is to assist one in recognising and attending to denied recollections, feelings and happenings that interrupt our journey of a wholesome and joyful existence. Psychotherapy is a journey of self-discovery for a client (and I) that allows for the realising of their infinite potential within.
Example 2
Sean is a recovering alcoholic of thirty years sobriety. He shared his recollections of the day his life turned around after he reached his ‘rock bottom’. As a hospital inpatient, he found himself in the toilets, drinking and vomiting systematically.
Contact the Author of This Article
If you would like to get in touch with the author please click below and send a quick email.
Why are spiritual people so good?
Some studies indicate that those who are spiritual tend to have a more positive outlook and a better quality of life. For example, patients with advanced cancer who found comfort from their religious and spiritual beliefs were more satisfied with their lives, were happier, and had less pain (11).
What is healing in spiritual terms?
Healing can be experienced as acceptance of illness and peace with one's life. This healing, I believe, is at its core spiritual. Two examples illustrate ways to deal with questions related to meaning in life. Many studies have shown that people desire to be remembered (4).
What is the power of a physician?
Physicians are in a position of power with patients. Most patients come to us in vulnerable times. If the physician suggests a certain religion/spiritual belief or ridicules a patient's belief, the patient might adopt that physician's belief or lack of belief out of fear of disagreeing with a perceived authority.
Can a physician lead a prayer?
Furthermore , a physician leading a prayer might lead a prayer from his or her tradition, which could be offensive or inappropriate for the patient. If the patient requests prayer, the physician can stand by in silence as the patient prays in his or her tradition or can contact the chaplain to lead a prayer.
The Importance of Spirituality in Recovery
First, it’s important to note that at facilities like The Meadows and Gentle Path, people in recovery are not required to include any spirituality in their process. Because our treatment is tailored to each individual and their specific needs, we don’t force patients to have a specific spiritual aspect to their recovery.
How Spirituality Can Help in Recovery
Spirituality can offer many benefits during recovery and beyond as you seek to live a sober and healthy life. Verywell Mind lists the following benefits of seeking spiritual truth:
Spiritual Counseling in Recovery
Some treatment programs have spiritual counseling for those looking to incorporate spirituality into their recovery. Kevin Berkes, a chaplain with Meadows Behavioral Healthcare, describes the role of a spiritual counselor as someone who can help patients further discover and connect with the richness of their inner spiritual life.
How does spirituality affect human life?
Spiritual experiences happen and when they do, they can often be life-changing. These moments can often lead people on a trajectory that changes them forever. Allowing these conversations and being prepared for them in therapy is an important step in recognizing the spiritual dimension of human life.
Do you have to be a spiritual expert to have meaningful spiritual conversations?
RSJ: You don’t have to be a spiritual expert to have meaningful spiritual conversations. You have to be humble, curious, and willing to go there. It also helps to feel a degree of reverence for the endless, wondrous ways that spiritual experience happens. But the essential expertise is not having any special answers.
How does spirituality affect people in therapy?
One recent study found the spiritual beliefs of people in therapy impacted their levels of worry, stress, and tolerance of uncertainty. Those participants who trusted in a higher power were found to be more trusting and to have lower levels of worry, stress, and intolerance.
Why is sensitivity important for spiritual therapy?
Spiritual practices can: When a person who is religious or spiritual seeks treatment, sensitivity on the part of a therapist may be beneficial to treatment because it may lead to a broader evaluation of the person seeking treatment and allow the therapist to explore a wider variety of treatment solutions.
What are some examples of spiritual abuse?
Examples of spiritual abuse include: 1 Using faith or spiritual beliefs to extort money, goods, or services 2 Using a person’s spirituality to shame them 3 Insulting a person’s spiritual practices 4 Forcing a person to make a choice against their spiritual or religious beliefs 5 Parents not allowing children to make their own choices about religion
How is spirituality related to health?
Spirituality and health are connected. Just as physical wellness describes health in the body, spiritual wellness describes health in the spirit. Spiritual wellness can relate to religious belief. Some people link their spiritual wellness to the natural world. Others define it by their relationships to others.
What is spiritual support?
Spiritual Support. Spirituality is typically defined as the search for transcendent meaning or as a belief in a greater existence outside of humankind. It can be linked to religion, but the practice of spirituality is generally considered to go beyond religion and connect individuals with something larger, such as the universe itself.
How do others define spiritual wellness?
Others define it by their relationships to others. Still others may nurture spiritual wellness by living a fulfilling life according to their personal values. However spiritual wellness is defined, it involves a connection between people and something greater than themselves.
How to be optimistic and hopeful?
Be hopeful and optimistic, even when things are difficult. Have compassion and empathy for others. Have defined values and live according to them. Have a strong sense of self-worth. Be more able to forgive others and themselves easily. Feel peaceful or in harmony with nature, life, and the world.