Handbook of Positive Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality

Abstract

This handbook aims to bridge the gap between the fields of positive psychology and the psychology of religion and spirituality. It is the authoritative guide to the intersections among religion, spirituality, and positive psychology and includes the following sections: (1) historical and theoretical considerations, (2) methodological considerations, (3) cultural considerations, (4) developmental considerations, (5) empirical research on happiness and well-being in relation to religion and spirituality, (6) empirical research on character strengths and virtues in relation to religion and spirituality, (7) clinical and applied considerations, and (8) field unification and advancement. Leading positive psychologists and psychologists of religion/spirituality have coauthored the chapters, drawing on expertise from their respective fields. The handbook is useful for social and clinical scientists, practitioners in helping professions, practitioners in religious and spiritual fields, and students of psychology and religion/spirituality.

Exploring the roles of god representations in spiritual struggles among Christians seeking spiritually integrated psychotherapies.

“…Billions of people worldwide hold a belief in God 1 that meaningfully influences their identity, relationships, and well-being (Davis et al, in press; Stulp et al, 2019). Nearly, 90% of U.S. adults report certainty in God’s existence (Gallup, 2020; Pew Research Center, 2015) and two thirds of all religiously affiliated adults in the United States view God as a relational being with whom they can have a personal relationship, a belief especially common among the roughly 70% of Americans who affiliate with Christianity (Pew Research Center, 2015).…”

“…According to Davis et al (2021), “a healthy theistic relational spirituality is characterized by a consistently high degree of contextually adaptive doctrinal–experiential congruence [in God representations]” (p. 409). In keeping with assertions about healthy versus unhealthy spirituality in general (Pargament et al, 2013), theistic believers who are high in religious commitment have ideally internalized doctrinal and experiential God representations that promote adaptive coping and well-being across time and situations (Davis et al, 2021; Zahl & Gibson, 2012), which are health facilitative both to them and the social context in which they are embedded (Davis et al, in press). In addition, clients will ideally have also developed high doctrinal–experiential congruence, including coherent and stable representations of a benevolent deity they both believe in doctrinally/conceptually and experience emotionally.…”

Sixty years of studying the sacred: Auditing and advancing the psychology of religion and spirituality.

“…with all the project's other data and materials: https://osf.io/xse4v/ (Davis, 2022). Next, we attempted to exclude any published material that was not a distinct and relevant element in the published corpus.…”

“…We also identified the standardized keywords that the APA PsycINFO database used to indicate the key topical subjects of each article. The detailed coding criteria are described in Supplemental Table S2, and results of the coding process are presented in Excel and SPSS format at https://osf.io/ xse4v/ (Davis, 2022).…”

Religious/spiritual struggles and life satisfaction among sexual minorities.

“…Many grew up in R/S families, communities, and cultures that exposed them to religion-based hetero-and cis-normativity throughout childhood, contributing to internalized stigma, stress, and shame as they have navigated their sexual and gender identity development (Herek & McLemore, 2013;White Hughto et al, 2015). At the same time, their religiousness/spirituality may have offered them a reliable source of comfort, security, meaning, and connection (Davis et al, 2023;Lefevor et al, 2021). By the time they reach adulthood, these sexual minorities often have encountered considerable twists, turns, and traumas in their journey to explore and integrate their intersecting sexual, gender, and R/S identities (Lefevor, Etengoff, et al, 2022;Rodriguez et al, 2019).…”