Therapists' Use of Religious and Spiritual Interventions in Christian Counseling: A Preliminary Report

This study explored the use of religious and spiritual interventions in counseling by Christian therapists (N = 100). Use of religious and spiritual interventions correlated with personal religiousness and clinical training involving religious clients and religious and spiritual interventions. Course work involving either psychology or theology did not correlate with use of or self‐reported competency in using religious and spiritual interventions. Self‐reported competency was associated with personal religiousness; professional beliefs, attitudes, and values; personal experiences with counseling; and clinical training involving religious clients and religious and spiritual interventions. It is suggested that training programs incorporate clinical rotations, workshops, and supervision involving religious clients and religious and spiritual interventions to teach therapists to use religious and spiritual interventions in counseling.     

Research and Theory Religion and Spirituality in Coping With Stress

Relations among and between religion, spirituality, and the ability to cope with stress were examined using a sample of 115 graduate students in counseling. Religion and spirituality positively correlated with coping with stress. Counseling students who expressed spirituality through religious beliefs had greater spiritual health and immunity to stressful situations than counseling students who identified themselves as spiritual but not religious. Counseling students with a religious/spiritual affiliation indicated more discomfort counseling clients hostile to religion compared with counseling students with a spiritual‐only affiliation. The results have implications for preparing counseling students to work with clients with religious/spiritual issues.     

Solution‐Focused Counseling for Clients With Religious and Spiritual Concerns

Solution‐focused counseling is presented as a framework for clients with religious and spiritual concerns. The theory of solution‐focused counseling is described. Implications for using this model with religious and spiritual clients are considered. A case example is provided to illustrate the application of solution‐focused counseling for a client dealing with religious and spiritual issues.     

Clinical Behaviors for Addressing Religious/Spiritual Issues: Do We Practice What We Preach?

To determine if counselors integrate clinical behaviors for addressing religious/spiritual issues in counseling consistent with their ratings of the importance of such behaviors, the authors conducted a national survey of American Counseling Association (ACA) members. Seventy‐eight ACA members rated the importance of and frequency with which they engaged in a set of 30 clinical behaviors that were identified in the existing literature as addressing religious/spiritual issues within counseling. Results indicated possible disparities between importance and frequency ratings. Potential barriers to counselors' utilization of religious and spiritually directed clinical behaviors were identified.     

Assessing Religion and Spirituality in Counseling: Some Reflections and Recommendations

In this article, the importance of conducting a religious and spiritual assessment in counseling is considered. Some essential dimensions of religion and spirituality to assess are described. The authors recommend assessment questions that can be asked during clinical interviews or included on written intake questionnaires. They also briefly describe a few standardized religious and spiritual assessment instruments. Finally, they offer suggestions for conducting spiritual assessments in school settings.     

Multicultural Training in Spirituality: An Interdisciplinary Review

Is spiritual diversity a neglected dimension in preparation for multicultural competency? The authors present an interdisciplinary overview of research related to multicultural training in spirituality and religion to address this issue. Findings indicate that counseling program leaders have minimal preparation in spiritual and religious diversity and interventions. In addition, spiritual and religious themes appear to be minimally included in counseling program curricula. Some evidence also indicates that religious and spiritual diversity is not considered as important in multicultural training as are other kinds of diversity. A movement to include spirituality and religious content in accreditation guidelines, however, points to a possible shift to expand preparation for religious and spiritual competency. The article concludes with implications for counselor preparation and supervision.     

Religious Diversity From a Jewish Perspective

The exploration of spiritual and religious diversity may receive less attention in counselor education than is warranted, resulting in counselors who are unprepared to deal with spiritual and religious issues in counseling. This trend could have a negative impact on Jewish clients, as well as on other religious clients, who feel that issues related to their identity are ignored. The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (2001) has recognized that religious diversity is an integral component of the multicultural counseling movement, but counselor education and training programs, as a whole, still need to embrace this standard.     

Spirituality in Counseling: A Faith Development Perspective

This article describes the use of Fowler's (1981) faith development theory (FDT) in counseling. FDT is a stage model of spiritual and religious development that allows counselors to identify both adaptive qualities and potential encumbrances in spiritual or religious expression. FDT offers a nonsectarian model of spiritual growth that permits assessment of spiritual development apart from the specific contents of various faith traditions. This article summarizes Fowler's faith stages and demonstrates their clinical utility through composite vignettes.     

Counseling African Americans: Integrating Spirituality in Therapy

African American culture is rich with religious and spiritual traditions and practices that largely have been ignored in traditional approaches to counseling with this population. The purpose of this article is to describe the religious and spiritual dimensions of African American culture and to offer strategies for incorporating them into counseling African American clients.     

Spiritual Wellness for Clients With HIV/AIDS: Review of Counseling Issues

The epidemic of HIV/AIDS has resulted in an increasing population of individuals in need of counseling services: persons living with AIDS, as well as family, friends, and caregivers. The relationship between HIV/AIDS clients' counseling and spiritual issues is demonstrated by a review of salient literature. Three broad themes are used: terminal illness issues such as post-death existence and existential meaning of life, religious disenfranchisement from society or families of origin, and multicultural spiritual and religious issues. Practical recommendations for counselors and research implications are included.     

Working With the Sacred: Four Approaches to Religious and Spiritual Issues in Counseling

This article examines the advantages and disadvantages of 4 helping orientations of the counselor to religious and spiritual issues in psychotherapy: rejectionism, exclusivism, constructivism, and pluralism. The constructivist and pluralist approaches are advocated as those orientations best suited to work with diverse clients and religious beliefs, and flexible enough to deal respectfully, ethically, and effectively with a variety of religious and spiritual issues in counseling.     

Understanding and Incorporating God Representations Within Counseling

The religious and spiritual identity of a client may be relevant to the counseling process, and thus counselors should be prepared to integrate these components within treatment. The authors consider the assessment and exploration of God representations (i.e., God images and concepts) to understand and integrate religious and spiritual meanings within the context of a client's presenting concerns. The authors provide examples, strategies, and considerations for how to apply God representations within counseling.     

Spirituality and Multimodal Therapy: A Practical Approach to Incorporating Spirituality in Counseling

The purpose of this article is to describe how the dimension of spirituality can be added to an existing counseling theory, multimodal therapy (MMT; A. A. Lazarus, 1984), to provide counselors with a practical approach to incorporating clients' religious and spiritual beliefs in the counseling process. An explanation of MMT is given, as well as its supporting research. The context of spirituality in counseling is discussed, and the process by which it can be integrated into the MMT model is explained. Two case studies are described to demonstrate how spiritual issues can be assessed and used to strengthen the counseling process. Finally, implications for counseling are discussed.     

Stories Matter: Narrative Themes of Counselor Educators' Religious and Spiritual Competency

Using narrative inquiry, the author explored the multicultural aspects of religious and spiritual experiences, assumptions, and patterns of 9 counselor educators to understand the impact that experiences and beliefs have when supervising and teaching counseling students. A gap exists between counselor standards, ethics, competencies, and practice, because counseling students receive mixed messages about addressing spiritual and religious concerns. Through hermeneutic analysis, 6 themes emerged: (a) religious and spiritual journeys, (b) religious and spiritual practices, (c) relationships, (d) marginalization, (e) modeling, and (f) risk and taboo. Trustworthiness strategies, implications for counselor education, limitations, and directions for future research are described.     

Therapists' Integration of Religion and Spirituality in Counseling: A Meta‐Analysis

The authors conducted a 26‐study meta‐analysis of 5,759 therapists and their integration of religion and spirituality in counseling. Most therapists consider spirituality relevant to their lives but rarely engage in spiritual practices or participate in organized religion. Marriage and family therapists consider spirituality more relevant and participate In organized religion to a greater degree than therapists from other professions. Across professions, most therapists surveyed (over 80%) rarely discuss spiritual or religious issues in training. In mixed samples of religious and secular therapists, therapists' religious faith was associated with using religious and spiritual techniques in counseling frequently, willingness to discuss religion in therapy, and theoretical orientation.     

Examining Spirituality and Sense of Calling in Counseling Students

This study explored the link between counseling students’ spiritual well‐being and sense of calling to the profession. A final sample of 415 counseling students demonstrated significant spiritual well‐being (religious and existential) and a strong sense of calling to the counseling profession. Results also indicated that spiritual well‐being was predictive of students’ sense of calling to the profession. Implications for counselor training are discussed.     

Spirituality and depth psychology

The resurgence of interest in spiritual and religious matters and in the depth psychology of C.G. Jung is examined relative to the work of spiritual direction and pastoral counseling. It is suggested that the risks of muddled thinking, narcissism, gnosticism, and credulity are increased when one attempts to combine spiritual disciplines with depth psychology.     

An “Afterthought”: Counseling Trainees’ Multicultural Competence Within the Spiritual/Religious Domain

Although spiritual/religious identity development is included within multicultural training on the theoretical level, significant gaps exist in counseling trainees’ practical preparation for spiritual/religious competence. This grounded theory study explores counseling trainees’ multicultural counseling competence within the spiritual/religious domain. Findings reveal that although trainees participated in multicultural counseling preparation, they experienced spiritual/religious training as an “afterthought,” and they identified the need for training opportunities that encouraged skill development and exploration and increased self‐awareness. A pesar de que se incluye el desarrollo de la identidad espiritual o religiosa a nivel teórico en la formación multicultural, existen vacíos significativos en la preparación práctica de los estudiantes de consejería para su competencia espiritual o religiosa. Este estudio de teoría fundamentada explora la competencia multicultural de estudiantes de consejería dentro del ámbito espiritual o religioso. Los hallazgos revelan que, aunque los estudiantes tomaron parte en preparación para consejería multicultural, solo experimentaron capacitación espiritual o religiosa como una idea secundaria, e identificaron la necesidad de oportunidades de formación que impulsen la exploración y el desarrollo de habilidades así como un aumento de la autoconciencia.