Treating Spiritual Issues in Secular Psychotherapy

Abstract

The author discusses spirituality as a human phenomenon that is independent of, yet open to, matters of personal religion and belief in God. Although commonly expressed through religion and theist belief, the author views spirituality as a universal mental phenomenon with an inherent “normativity”; it can, therefore, be legitimately addressed as a prescriptive aspect of psychology apart from theology and religion. An elaborated psychology of spirituality helps therapists focus the psychotherapeutically relevant and spiritual issues in the client's presentation; build on the client's healthy commitments; and reinterpret or deflect the unhealthy and, thus, foster the client's personal integration and, ipso facto, the client's spiritual growth.

Incorporating Spirituality Into Core Counseling Courses: Ideas for Classroom Application

“…A minority of professionals might consider religious or spiritual concerns to be neurotic, infantile, or secondary (Miller, 2003). We concur with Helminiak's (2001) view that ignoring spiritual issues in counselor training may facilitate insensitivity by a counselor to clients' religious and spiritual concerns.…”

“…Reading resources include sources that address issues of helping skills and spirituality and working with populations that are diverse in age, gender, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, and religious background. Resources that we have used that others might find helpful include Burke and Miranti (1995), Fukuyama and Sevig (1999), Garrett (1999), Helminiak (2001), Ingersoll (1994), Miller (2003, and Myers et al (2000). Such readings can provide specific information, training, and intervention strategies for addressing spiritual issues in helping relationships.…”

The Effects of Empathy on Disparagement Humor

“…Although some researchers have argued that religion and spirituality could be distinct concepts (Del Rio & White, 2012;Helminiak, 2001;Legere, 1984), many have argued that seeing them as separate can cause problems in operationalizing their definitions (Hill et al, 2000;Smith, 2007). Selvam (2013) suggested that viewing these two concepts as separate is particularly predominant in Western cultures; in other cultures, the concepts of religion and spirituality are the same.…”

“…It is also a way to build a religious community, which provides social support (Burkhart & Solari-Twadell, 2001;Hummer, Rogers, Nam, & Ellison, 1999;Smith, 2007;Zinnbauer & Pargament, 2013). Spirituality, on the other hand, is often thought of as a private and individual experience (Helminiak, 2001;Richards & Bergin, 1997). This may lead to people not associating spirituality with attending church.…”

“…Just because some have suggested that spiriturity is somewhat subjective (Koenig et al, 2001) does not mean that spiritual people are expected to have no beliefs. As stated, spirituality is often thought of as private and individualistic (Helminiak, 2001;Richards & Bergin, 1997). Perhaps spiritual people are expected to have their own private and individually defined set of beliefs and adhere to them to the same degree that religious people adhere to the beliefs of their church or temple.…”