Spirituality and Homelessness: Implications for Pastoral Counseling

This article presents a limited number of findings from a larger research project that explores spiritual themes related to the experience of homelessness as reported by 16 research participants following their residence in a 90-day emergency shelter program in Los Angeles County, California. By utilizing interpretive phenomenological analysis, the study focuses solely on three spiritual themes present in the experience of homelessness. Participants noted experiencing the presence of hope and motivation while homeless, the challenges of coping with the homeless stigma, and times in which they felt (and did not feel) “human.” Implications for pastoral counselors and others offering spiritually-integrated counsel in the context of homelessness are discussed.     

The Lazarus Project and Grace Ministries: The Role of Religious Nonprofits in Addressing Personal and Social Problems

This review essay of Williamson and Hood’s (2016) Psychology and Spiritual Transformation in a Substance Abuse Program: The Lazarus Project examines spiritual transformation in the context of substance abuse and homelessness. The essay first tackles the question of whether change results mostly from individual spiritual transformation experiences or from the social surroundings the converts are part of, based on the author’s research on spiritual transformation and homelessness as well as Williamson and Hood’s work, and then it examines the debate surrounding the application of Foucault’s “technologies of the self” to programs that are similar to the Lazarus Project. The last part of the essay offers a few methodological suggestions for studies of similar projects.     

The lived experience of spiritual abuse

Over the years there has been considerable research investigating the controversial issues of cult recruitment, “mind control” and post-group difficulties of ex-members from a variety of religious groups. However, the less-well-defined phenomenon of “spiritual abuse” is still under-researched as a specific phenomenon. This is particularly evident in the lack of studies exploring the subjective, internal experience. This study reports on the lived experiences of six individuals who left five different religious groups that were essentially Judeo-Christian in their orientation. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) revealed six core themes throughout the participant narratives. They consist of “Leadership representing God,” “Spiritual bullying,” “Acceptance via performance,” “Spiritual neglect,” “Manifestation of internal states,” and “Expanding external/internal tension.” These are offered as a foundation to answer the question What can be described as the lived experience of spiritual abuse? The findings suggest that spiritual abuse is a multi-faceted and multi-layered experience that is both process and event, affecting the bio/psycho/social and spiritual domains of an individual.     

The spiritual benefits of travel for senior tourists

This research explores the spiritual benefits of travel for older adults and illustrates how travel meets seniors' self‐actualization and spiritual growth needs. The theoretical point of departure for this research is seniors' quest for meaning and self‐actualization, which act as push factors inducing older adults to travel. Semistructured depth interviews were conducted with 16 retired senior informants who had extensive travel experience. Using an interpretive method, this research reveals four key themes that illustrate the spiritual benefits of travel, thereby extending the growing literature on the motivations of senior travelers. These themes are described as “traveling generates meaning for older adults,” “traveling reveals the self to older adults,” “traveling encourages older adults to better understand others,” and “traveling enables older adults to better understand their relationship to nature”. In sum, the themes describe how older adults may meet their unique spiritual needs through travel and thereby enhance their spiritual development. This research represents one of a few studies examining senior tourism to employ an interpretive method and provides rich insights as a result. This research also extends the emerging research on spirituality in marketing by illustrating how the tourism industry may benefit from a perspective that considers the spiritual benefits of consumption. The research findings suggest that the intangible spiritual benefits of travel, in addition to the tangible benefits, should be highlighted in travel offers and tourism communications targeted to older adults. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Lazarus Project: a longitudinal study of spiritual transformation among substance abusers

This is a longitudinal study of spiritual transformation at the Lazarus Project (LP), a 12-month Pentecostal-Charismatic residency program for substance abuse. In 2006, we began administering to residents an assessment protocol consisting of psychological (depression, self-esteem, psychopathology, Big 5 personality markers) and religiosity (fundamentalism, religious orientation, spiritual well-being, mysticism) measures. Assessments were at: (T1) induction; (T2) six months; (T3) graduation; and (T4) one-year post-graduation. We also assessed a membership group from the sponsoring church using the same protocol. Analyses found that general change in graduate scores occurred from T1 to T2 and persisted to T3 and T4. Comparative analyses found that LP graduate score patterns generally agreed with those of LP dropouts at T1, but diverged at T2, becoming more similar to score patterns of church members. Using all measures, a regression analysis found that the personality marker of (less) openness was the most powerful predictor of resident dropout. The preliminary findings suggest that, among chronic substance abusers, the LP helps to facilitate conversion as a form of spiritual transformation that persists at least one-year post-graduation.     

Spiritual Experiences of War Veterans Who Suffer from Combat-Related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Qualitative Study

Recognition of the spiritual experiences of patients with post-traumatic stress disorder may be helpful in their rehabilitation. Accordingly, the present study has been carried out to determine the spiritual experiences of Iranian Muslim warriors who suffer from the previously mentioned disorder. In this qualitative study, 22 patients were selected using an objective-based sampling method and underwent an individual, semi-structured thorough interview. The data were analyzed using content analysis. The spiritual experiences of the participants were divided into two main categories as follows: (1) religious attitude consisting of three sub-categories known as “religious beliefs,” “religious sentiments,” and “religious behaviors” and (2) a national sensibility that includes the two sub-categories of “patriotism” and “proud” of being injured for my homeland. The analysis of the participants’ spiritual experiences showed that their specific religious orientation and feelings of nationalism assisted with their improved ability to cope with the consequences of their disorder. Therefore, it is recommended that caregivers use patients’ spiritual values to help them cope more efficiently.     

A study of posttraumatic spiritual transformation and forgiveness among victims of significant interpersonal offences

Forgiveness and spiritual transformation, both gain and decline, may follow being victimised. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of forgiveness in posttraumatic spiritual transformation following interpersonal offences. One hundred forty-six participants who had been “significantly wronged” by another person completed measures of event-related distress, forgiveness, and spiritual transformation. Results showed that spiritual growth was positively related to the personal importance of religion. Event-related distress and unforgiveness were positively correlated with spiritual decline. Regression analyses revealed that forgiveness did not uniquely account for a significant amount of the variance in spiritual growth after controlling for demographic variables, religious and spiritual importance, and event-related distress. Rather, religious and spiritual importance accounted for a significant amount of variance in spiritual growth. Unforgiveness uniquely predicted spiritual decline. This study suggests a complex relationship between spiritual transformation and forgiveness. Results are discussed within the context of implications for clinicians and researchers alike.     

THE SPIRITUALLY WHOLE-SYSTEM CLASSROOM: A TRANSFORMATIONAL APPLICATION OF SPIRITUALITY

This article presents theory and practical experiences related to classroom pedagogy focusing on spirituality and wholeness—the spiritually whole-system classroom. In it, spiritual principles help create a learning community founded on the experience of wholeness. The spiritually whole-system classroom allows participants the opportunity of “being connected with one's complete self, others, and the entire universe” in order to serve a meaningful, broader purpose. This type of transformation engages heads, hearts, spirits, and hands in the pursuit of a more enlightening experience of human organizing. The article concludes with a critically reflective discussion of spiritual applications to management education and practice.     

Émotions et stratégies d’adaptation de prestataires de soins suite à des décès maternels dans le Nord-Kivu

This qualitative study describes the emotional structure and coping strategies associated with maternal death in North Kivu. Based on a heuristic approach, the methodology is based on an iterative process of explicating the experience of maternal death as experienced by the care teams. In conjunction with the transactional model of Lazarus and Folkman, the results focus on four themes: openness to spiritual values, telescoping age identification, use of hygiene strategies and rationalization. The study suggests the establishment of psychological support mechanisms for providers after a maternal death.     

Book Review

Throughout different civilisations and historical epochs, anthropological and religious texts have been replete with accounts of persons who have reported anomalous experiences in the form of visions or voices. In these contexts, such experiences are considered to be a “gift” that can be spiritually enriching or life enhancing. One such group of individuals are mediums who claim to receive information from spirits of the deceased in the form of auditory or visual perceptions. This study explores how mediums come to interpret their experiences as mediumistic and how they describe their relationship with spirit voices. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 Spiritualist mediums using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Three themes were identified: “Childhood anomalous experiences”, “A search for meaning: Normalisation of mediumship”, and “relationship with spirit”. These themes illuminated aspects of the mediumistic experience that have therapeutic implications for individuals who have similar experiences but become distressed by them.     

The religiosity-psychoticism relationship and the two factors of social desirability: A response to Michael W. Eysenck (1999)

This paper is based upon an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) which investigated the experiences of twelve people who had been sexually abused by Roman Catholic priests or religious. The premise of the research was based upon a perceived assumption that distinct forms of sexual traumatology generate unique trauma characteristics not accounted for within the existing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) conceptual frameworks (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems ((DSM-IVTR 2000;) ICD-10 R, 2007). Recent developments in psychodiagnostics to support the relevance of religious concerns where incorporated into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV edition (1994) which allowed a range of “religious” and “spiritual” problems to be explicitly identified as a focus for specific clinical attention. However, these appear quite vague in accounting for the range of trauma experiences experienced by this participant group. Evidence arose which indicated the majority of the research participants considered “God” to have been integral within the abuse, manipulated by design or default by the cleric or religious perpetrator. These idiosyncratic trauma characteristic created significant anxiety and distress in areas such as theological belief, crisis of faith, and fears surrounding the participant's own mortality. The IPA research identified six distinct, themed differences of which four will be discussed in more detail for the purpose of this paper. It will consider the attributes of these themes in relation to Roman Catholicism, celibacy and Canon law, and further question the sufficiency of the DSM-IV “V” Codes in accounting for the myriad of symptoms survivors of sexual abuse perpetrated by Roman Catholic Priests and Religious actually describe.     

“Being Religious” or “Being Spiritual” in America: A Zero‐Sum Proposition?

Recent discussions of religious attitudes and behavior tend to suggest—and in a few cases, provide evidence—that Americans are becoming “more spiritual” and “less religious.” What do people mean, however, when they say they are “spiritual” or “religious”? Do Americans see these concepts as definitionally or operationally different? If so, does that difference result in a zero‐sum dynamic between them? In this article, we explore the relationship between “being religious” and “being spiritual” in a national sample of American Protestants and compare our findings to other studies, including Wade Clark Roof’s baby‐boomer research (1993, 2000), 1999 Gallup and 2000 Spirituality and Health polls, and the Zinnbauer et al. (1997) study of religious definitions. In addition to presenting quantitative and qualitative evidence about the way people think about their religious/spiritual identity, the article draws implications about modernity, the distinctiveness of religious change in the recent past, and the deinstitutionalization of religion.     

Help-Seeking from Clergy and Spiritual Counselors Among Veterans with Depression and PTSD in Primary Care

Little is known about the prevalence or predictors of seeking help for depression and PTSD from spiritual counselors and clergy. We describe openness to and actual help-seeking from spiritual counselors among primary care patients with depression. We screened consecutive VA primary care patients for depression; 761 Veterans with probable major depression participated in telephone surveys (at baseline, 7 months, and 18 months). Participants were asked about (1) openness to seeking help for emotional problems from spiritual counselors/clergy and (2) actual contact with spiritual counselors/clergy in the past 6 months. At baseline, almost half of the participants, 359 (47.2 %), endorsed being “very” or “somewhat likely” to seek help for emotional problems from spiritual counselors; 498 (65.4 %) were open to a primary care provider, 486 (63.9 %) to a psychiatrist, and 409 (66.5 %) to another type of mental health provider. Ninety-one participants (12 %) reported actual spiritual counselor/clergy consultation. Ninety-five (10.3 %) participants reported that their VA providers had recently asked them about spiritual support; the majority of these found this discussion helpful. Participants with current PTSD symptoms, and those with a mental health visit in the past 6 months, were more likely to report openness to and actual help-seeking from clergy. Veterans with depression and PTSD are amenable to receiving help from spiritual counselors/clergy and other providers. Integration of spiritual counselors/clergy into care teams may be helpful to Veterans with PTSD. Training of such providers to address PTSD specifically may also be desirable.     

Family Conflict and Forgiveness Among Survivors of Suicide

This study explored the lived experiences of immediate family members who were left behind and their intra- and interpersonal struggles with other family members and their coping efforts to overcome these struggles. We used interpretative phenomenological analysis for data collection and analysis and conducted in-depth interviews with 11 participants in Korea. Two superordinate themes, with two ordinate themes in each, were identified: (a) family conflict after a family member’s suicide (“discordant grieving” and “suicide loss as a catalyst for family conflict”) and (b) forgiveness (“struggling to forgive other family members, the deceased, and themselves” and “the process and importance of forgiveness”). The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Exploring How Parents Make Sense of Change in Parent-Child Psychotherapy

Understanding how change occurs in psychotherapy is imperative in informing clinical practice. Increasing attention has been given to the role that qualitative research could play in enhancing our understanding of therapeutic change. Although quantitative research suggests that parent-child psychotherapy is effective in facilitating change, no research to date has focused on how parents make sense of their change experience. In this study, interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyze semi-structured interviews of eight parents who had completed parent-child psychotherapy about their understanding of change. Five master themes emerged that encapsulated participants’ understanding of change. These included constructing a survivor narrative, the experience of being understood enabling further understanding, adjusting expectations and practicing acceptance, and feeling empowered to relinquish control. The final theme summarized how despite psychotherapy being conceptualized as a “precious” resource, there was a sense that its limitations could negatively impact participant’s well-being.     

Children with Asthma and Their Families’ Viewpoints on Spiritual and Psychological Resources in Adaptation with the Disease

Recognition of the spiritual and psychological needs of children and their families with chronic asthma disease may be helpful in a successful coping with their problems in order to control over the condition. In a qualitative content analysis study, nine children with moderate to severe asthma and 10 parents were studied in order to discover the resources of compatibility of them. The participants were chosen purposefully and they were asked some semi-structure questions about their experiences. The spiritual and psychological experiences of the participants were divided into two main categories as follows: (1) contrive to religious-belief consisting of three sub-categories known as “religious rituals, believe in a divine predestination, and Islamic-based patience,” and (2) psycho-intellectual management that includes the five sub-categories of “psycho-intellectual attention, maintaining family’s mental peace, reduction in negative burden of disease, satisfaction from optimal treatment, and matching internal desires with disease conditions.” It is recommended that heath care providers by reinforcing parent’s and children’s religious and spiritual backgrounds and according to child’s cognitive development at this age provide a suitable foreground through necessary instructions for children and their families in order to spiritual growth and suitable adaptation with disease.     

Poison-drinking in obedience to the faith: a phenomenological study of the experience

In Appalachia, there are certain Christian sects who handle venomous serpents in their church services. Although their serpent handling has received some attention, another of their practices, poison-drinking, has all but escaped the concern of investigators. Addressing this issue, this study included phenomenological interviews with seven believers who ingested strychnine at church. A hermeneutic analysis of their transcribed interviews discovered four major themes that emerged across all protocols to describe the structure of meaning in the experience of poison-drinking: (1) Desire to Drink; (2) “God Moving on Me” (in terms of Anointing and “Insurance” against Harm); (3) Already “Snake Bit”; and (4) “Victory”/“Devil Troubling My Mind”. These interdependent themes are discussed in relation to the existential grounds of body, others, time, and world.     

A symbolic interactionist understanding of the selves of former members of New Religious Movements

The current study investigates the construction of self in New Religious Movement (NRM) membership and argues that there is significant variation in the way in which members construct their sense of self. While the majority of the literature suggests that differences in the way in which former members describe and experience NRM membership can be attributed to gender and the nature of the group, analysis of the life histories of 23 former members identified variations in the way in which these participants construct their sense of self as significant to understanding NRM membership. While some participants describe selves that are high in conformity or social connectedness, and depict NRM membership as motivated by a need for guidance and direction, others describe selves that appear high in individuality and personal autonomy and depict membership as motivated by a desire to overcome isolation and develop social connectedness. Even though these two narratives are conceptualised as distinct, they are not viewed as dichotomous but understood as on a continuum. To make sense of the selves of the participants in this study symbolic interactionist understandings of the self as to varying degrees informed by both “self” and “others” are applied.