The spiritual in psychotherapy

"How does a clinician respond when a person claims that a direct communication form his God warrants placing self or others at risk for harm? How does one work with a person in psychotherapy whose religious convictions advocate for hatred or violence towards others? How does one converse with a person about religious practices that are coercive and controlling? How does one respond in psychotherapy to a person when it is apparent that her religious zeal is alienating important people in her life, contrary to her expectations?" p. 18

Encountering the Sacred In Psychotherapy by James L. Griffith and Melissa Elliott Griffith.

A good psychotherapist is aware of the spiritual in the client's life and world. It becomes apparent in a good therapeutic conversation what the client's world views are. Good therapist takes a not knowing position on these issues and listens carefully to how the client's spiritual beliefs influence his/her view of the world and his/her behavior.

All good psychotherapists know that what a client believes and says is not as important as what a client values and does. Actions speak louder than words and if a therapist is to understand the clients spirituality, the therapist must watch and learn from the client's behavior, not his/her thinking and stated beliefs.

Religion is about beliefs, spirituality is about values.

Religions is for people afraid of hell, spirituality is for people who have been there.

Clients and therapists struggle to make sense and meaning of the client's experience. It is in this meaning making that the spirit is created and nourished.

The therapist's spirituality has a big part to play in his/her meaning making with his/her client. How well does the therapist understand his/her own values and the meaning that the therapist has made from his/her own life experience?

If the therapist is at peace with him/her self. If the therapist can be a non-anxious presence in the face of pain and suffering, confusion and anguish, joy and ecstacy, then the therapist can be of some help to the client, but if the therapist is confused, anxious, upset, perplexed, it will be difficult.

When religion turns malevolent, the therapist must know how to listen and respond in a therapeutic way. This takes high levels of self awareness and enlightened view of others and the world.

When religions preach that evil should be destroyed and that religious adherents are God's appointed avengers, spirituality is on a holiday. This preaching is not religious, it is politics and politics have no place in spirituality other than as a vehicle of compassion and mercy.

Good psychotherapy makes note of the spiritual and where appropriate discusses it. This assumes practitioners of the art are comfortable and skilled. Many are not and it behooves them to seek consultation, spiritual direction, to get in touch with the spiritual dimensions of their own lives.

A good psychotherapist will seek out spiritual direction on a regular basis. This consultation may go under many names, but whatever it is called, clinical supervision, consultation, professional growth, the good practioner of psychotherapy will be well aware of the spiritual dimensions of practice for one's own growth and fulfillment as well as for clients.

This is article #1 in a series on the Spiritual In Psychotherapy.