The spiritual dimension of cognitive therapy

There has been a quiet buildup of interest in spirituality within psychiatry. However, spirituality tends to be a vague and fuzzy concept to psychiatrists and probably to other psychotherapists. The field is surprisingly large, and there is space in this paper only to present a skeletal outline of the cognitive aspects of it. My observations come from spiritual issues discussion groups for inpatients and a religion and psychiatry clinic for outpatients at Butler Hospital.This paper is modified from one presented as part of a symposium in Spirituality and Psychotherapy at the Annual Convention of the American Psychiatric Association in New York City, May 14, 1990.