Abstract:

Should the secular psychotherapist be prepared to explore a client's spiritual life? Psychotherapists since Freud have traditionally been suspicious of spirituality and religion as at once unscientific and psychologically harmful. More recently, spirituality has come to be viewed more positively as an often necessary component of psychotherapy. Acknowledgement of the spiritual facilitates a therapeutic alliance, builds resilience through spiritual resources and mobilizes relational support from spiritual communities. Psychotherapists need to learn how to listen and question in such a way that clients 'can comfortably reveal their spiritual lives. Such conversations draw both therapist and client into a dialogue between persons, which has the potential to 're-humanize the professional.'

Author: James L. Griffith