Therapist Spiritual and Religious Values in Psychotherapy

In training and in supervision, counselors learn to be cognizant of personal values (e.g., spirituality, religiosity), yet they are enjoined to except them from practice. This article examines the nature of therapist spiritual and religious values and the impact of these values on the practice of psychotherapy. A goal of effective treatment should be the integration of therapist spiritual and religious values with therapist epistemic values in order to accommodate the spiritual and religious needs of both client and counselor. Counselor spiritual and religious values can contribute to therapy, even when the therapist is engaged in a dialectic involving personal and epistemic values.