While the sexual abuse of children and its possible sequelae are major societal issues, there has been a scarcity of data in the literature concerning the relationship between religion and incest. This exploratory study researched an aspect of that relationship: whether adult women survivors of childhood incest, perpetrated by a father-figure, have a more negative view of God, compared to adult women who were not sexually molested. The methodology used was a survey of incest survivors and matched comparison subjects. The results indicated that there was a significant difference between how the women survivors of father-figure incest and the non-abused women in the comparison group viewed God.

Religious belief and practices have been associated with lower levels of depression in persons dealing with stressful situations. In this study, researchers examined this relationship in 271 persons diagnosed with clinical depression. It was hypothesized that religious belief and practices would be associated with lower depression and that this relationship would be mediated by hopelessness. Religious belief, but not religious behavior, was a significant predictor of lower levels of hopelessness and depression beyond demographic variables. Through the relation of religious belief to lower levels of hopelessness, religious belief was indirectly related to less depression. There was also a small direct positive association of belief with depression, pointing to the complexity of the role belief plays for religious persons. Further study is needed for a better understanding of different ways religion affects depressed persons.

The authors examined the impact of outpatient counseling on clients' psychological symptoms and on their image of God.Thirty participants in a counseling treatment group and 68 participants in a no-treatment control group completed the Brief Symptom Inventory and the Adjective Checklist at 2 separate times. Counseled participants experienced significant reductions of psychological symptoms over the course of treatment whereas the control group showed no changes. Furthermore, ratings of God's agreeableness significantly increased (toward compassion) for clients in the treatment group, whereas no such changes were noted for the control group. eology and psychology have similar goals for human health and wellbeing. Both propose that a person live to her or his fullest poten-T" tial by developing self-understanding. Theologians include understanding God as a part of this human development potential.Personal development of the self also constitutes development of the experience of God: loss of self-identity is also a loss of the experience of God. These are two aspects of one and the same history of experience. (E. Johnson, 1992, p. 65)Historically, however, theology and psychology have been alienated from one another. Freud fueled this schism, maintaining that religion was the universal neurosis that relieved individuals' sense of helplessness by relying on an invented exalted father figure (Freud, 1913(Freud, /1953. Theologians viewed psychology as anti-God, and psychologists viewed theologians as lacking in scientific understanding (Hood, Spilka, Hunsberger, & Gorsuch, 1996). Several theorists challenged Freud's views, resulting in the alienation of psychology and theology (

The purpose of this study was to explore the validity, reliability, and generalizability of the Vedic Personality Inventory which consists of constructs derived from the Vedic literature of India. There were 57 participants (20 men, 37 women). The mean age was 44.3 yr. (SD= 15.1). The sample was predominantly older, well-educated women who volunteered to participate as respondees to invitations to participate posted in supermarkets, churches, colleges, and on the internet. Analysis yielded statistically significant correlations for scores on the Vedic Personality Inventory and on the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale and the Brief Symptom Inventory, each of which measures domains of interest addressed by the first inventory.

The author discusses a paradigm for understanding the myriad of counseling theories and their corresponding intervention techniques. The paradigm organizes counseling theory and practice around three principles: a way of being. a way of understanding. and a way of intervening. The paradigm assists counselors in sorting out the similarities and differences between the counseling theories and allows them to eclectically use various theories and techniques without losing the consistency and cohesiveness of working within a structure.