The Influence of Religion and Spirituality in Psychotherapy: Research and Applications
A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Health/Psychology/Social Sciences".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2021) | Viewed by 30942
Special Issue Editors
Interests: spiritual bypass; contemplative practices; spiritual and religious struggle
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Spirituality and religion have emerged from a contentious history in psychotherapy to become driving forces for health and wellbeing in modern psychological care. Due to an expansive literature attesting the capacity of spirituality and religion to influence mental health as well as create crisis and tension, psychotherapists cannot afford to be illiterate to the contours of their clients’ spiritual and religious lives. Scholars have made significant strides toward psychotherapies that are accommodative to clients’ spiritual strivings and grounded in the principles of evidence-based practice. At the same time, there are important questions that need attention from basic and applied research. Additionally, direction from wise guides is still needed to navigate a host of practical challenges to effectively intervene when a client’s spirituality or religion becomes a focus of psychotherapy. For this reason, the purpose of this Special Issue is to bring together a diverse set of voices from social scientists, psychotherapists, clergy (or designated teachers from within diverse traditions), and religious studies scholars to report empirical findings on the contribution of spirituality and religion to psychotherapy, develop novel or expand existing theoretical contributions, as well as provide practical strategies to effectively explore spirituality and religion in applied settings. I invite original papers that can include experimentally controlled studies, practice-based evidence, meta-analyses, systematic reviews, case studies, theory, and practical “how to’s” for working with spirituality and religion in psychotherapy. Some example topic areas that this Special Issue is specifically prioritizing are the following:
- The causal mechanisms of spirituality and/or religion in psychotherapy;
- The distinct role of spirituality and religion as contributors to psychotherapy outcomes;
- Spiritual and religious competence as a unique factor of psychotherapy competence;
- Multilevel intervention strategies that focus on enhancing a client’s spirituality in psychotherapy;
- Providing psychotherapy to religious minorities and emerging spiritual orientations (e.g., spiritual but not religious) as well as unstudied or marginalized populations;
- Interfacing effectively with allied professionals with a special focus on religious or spiritual leaders, teachers, and sages;
- The implications of spiritually oriented psychotherapy for religiously unaffiliated clients;
- Challenges or barriers to addressing spirituality and religion in psychotherapy such as religious transference or non-enthusiastic professional training or practice environments;
- Addressing spiritually and religion across the lifespan from child clients to older adult clients.
With these strategic priorities in mind, papers included in this Special Issue will make a lasting contribution to the field by navigating the existing horizons and discovering new paths to understanding and incorporating spiritualty and religion as integral components of the psychotherapy process.
Dr. Jesse Fox
Mr. Evan Copello
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- spiritually integrated psychotherapy
- religion and spirituality in psychotherapy
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