Exploring Experts’ Perspectives on Spiritual Bypass: a Conventional Content Analysis

Picciotto, Gabriela; Fox, Jesse

doi:10.1007/s11089-017-0796-7

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Ironically, the hyper-spirituality of spiritual bypass may prevent people from ultimately experiencing the most benefit from their spiritual strivings. Qualitative studies have yielded similar findings from the perspective of those who have experienced spiritual bypass as well as experts who have treated it in the context of psychotherapy (Picciotto & Fox, 2018;Picciotto, Fox, & Felix, 2017). Still, spiritual bypass researchers have not yet fully addressed the various implications of this clinical phenomenon.…”

Section: Psychological Effects Of Spiritual Bypassmentioning

confidence: 94%

Religious commitment, spirituality, and attitudes toward God as related to psychological and medical help-seeking: The role of spiritual bypass.

Fox

Picciotto

Cashwell

et al. 2020

Spirituality in Clinical Practice

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Spiritual bypass denotes a process by which an individual avoids painful psychological experiences by using spirituality as a defense. Although spiritual bypass is often detected within psychological treatment, it has only recently been studied empirically. In the current study, we extend the study of spiritual bypass by testing (a) its associations with religious commitment, spirituality, attitudes toward God, and psychological as well as medical help-seeking attitudes and (b) direct and indirect relationships using bias-corrected, bootstrapped confidence intervals using a model recommended by Hayes (2018). In Study 1, we surveyed 265 community-based adults recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Religious commitment and spirituality were directly related to attitudes toward psychological help-seeking. However, these relationships were indirectly associated with spiritual bypass. In Study 2, we surveyed 199 undergraduate students and found that attitudes toward God (i.e., positive attitudes toward or disappointment and anger with God) were related to medical help-seeking attitudes. Likewise, these relationships were indirectly associated with spiritual bypass. The implications were that (a) religious and spiritual variables relate to help-seeking attitudes; (b) religious and spiritual associations with help-seeking are both directly and indirect associated with spiritual bypass, and additional research is needed to uncover precise conditions under which spiritual bypass might or might not causally affect these relationships (i.e., investigate potential moderators and mediational effects); and (c) in practice, spiritual bypass can be an important patient quality to consider in relation to an individual's attitudes toward and perhaps benefit from psychological help.

show abstract

Section: Psychological Effects Of Spiritual Bypassmentioning

confidence: 94%

Religious commitment, spirituality, and attitudes toward God as related to psychological and medical help-seeking: The role of spiritual bypass.

Fox

Picciotto

Cashwell

et al. 2020

Spirituality in Clinical Practice

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Individuals use SB as a strategy to avoid complicated emotions, experiences, or circumstances ( Picciotto and Fox, 2017 ). This use of spiritual practices may correspond to the extrinsic use of religion that Allport and Ross (1967) explained, since it is not intended for the pursuit of a deeper search for meaning and instead is used for the purpose of personal gain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An individual may have the conviction that he or she must face certain difficulties with the purpose of learning a spiritual lesson ( Masters, 2010 ). On the other hand, magical thinking may consist of a mixture of superstitions and illusory connections that causes people to wait for divine intervention instead of acting themselves ( Picciotto and Fox, 2017 ). This type of thinking releases the individual from any responsibility since their needs will be satisfied by divine intervention; the resulting “spiritualizing” is characterized as the use of magical thinking to explain unpleasant and pleasant situations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Spiritualization is a common manifestation of SB, which occurs when people exaggerate the meaning of everyday activities or secular objects, attributing spiritual or sacred connotations, and exaggerating the positive aspects of life events while refusing to acknowledge the negative aspects of the circumstances or themselves ( Picciotto and Fox, 2017 ). Thus, when faced with a situation that would typically be characterized as negative, people with high SB will justify it by stating that it is a spiritual test that they must overcome.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, existing in a state of SB does not allow for spirituality growth, since individuals become estranged and disconnected from vital aspects of the human condition ( Masters, 2010 ). Consequently, they may disconnect from investing time into caring for family members, maintaining interpersonal relationships, addressing emotions (both positive and negative), and other important aspects of daily life ( Picciotto and Fox, 2017 ). This deprivation of their environment may present in a simple manner, such as disconnecting from a person who is not considered spiritual or be demonstrated in extreme situations such as the crusades, the inquisition, and the witch hunts, all under the guise of the promotion of the higher good and the search for the conversion of all ( Batson, 1976 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Cross-Cultural Analysis of Spiritual Bypass: A Comparison Between Spain and Honduras

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Religion and spirituality (R/S) serve as coping mechanisms for circumstances that threaten people’s psychological well-being. However, using R/S inappropriately to deal with difficulties and problems in daily life may include the practice of Spiritual Bypass (SB). SB refers to avoiding addressing emotional problems and trauma, rather than healing and learning from them. On the other hand, coping strategies may be determined by the cultural context. This study aims to describe the presence of SB in individuals who may have experienced stressful situations and to understand the influence of culture on SB by comparing SB in two culturally different groups. The sample consists of a total of 435 people, 262 of Honduran nationality and 173 of Spanish nationality. Both groups are approximately equivalent in age and gender. The degree of SB, stressful events, perception of social support and spiritual well-being are examined, respectively, through the Spiritual Bypass Scale, and specific items and subscales from the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy - Spiritual Wellbeing. The results showed a higher spiritual well-being and use of SB in the Honduran sample as compared to the Spanish sample, but similar social support and stressful events. Furthermore, some of the factors predicting SB were different between the two samples. While age and a greater number of R/S practices were important in both samples, for the Honduran sample the variables that best explained SB were being a Christian, having greater social support, fewer stressful events, and greater attendance at church or temple. For the Spanish sample, however, the variable that best explained SB was studying R/S texts. Therefore, SB must be understood within the culture in which it develops, since in different cultural contexts it appears to relate to differing factors. Thus, SB becomes a possible functional or dysfunctional coping strategy depending on the social context.

show abstract

References

2020

Learning the Language of Addiction Counseling

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Exploring Experts’ Perspectives on Spiritual Bypass: a Conventional Content Analysis

Cited by 14 publications

References 10 publications

Religious commitment, spirituality, and attitudes toward God as related to psychological and medical help-seeking: The role of spiritual bypass.

Religious commitment, spirituality, and attitudes toward God as related to psychological and medical help-seeking: The role of spiritual bypass.

Cross-Cultural Analysis of Spiritual Bypass: A Comparison Between Spain and Honduras

References

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About