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The Power of Spirituality in Therapy

Integrating Spiritual and Religious Beliefs in Mental Health Practice

• By Peter A. Kahle, John M. Robbins

• Price: $29.95
• Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
• Pages: 254
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 15th March 2004
• ISBN: 978-0-7890-2114-4

About the Book

Factor your clients' religious beliefs into their therapy!

A recent Gallup poll found that nearly two-thirds of Americans surveyed said they would prefer to receive counseling from a therapist who is religious. The Power of Spirituality in Therapy: Integrating Spiritual and Religious Beliefs in Mental Health Practice addresses the apprehensions many clinicians have when it comes to discussing God with their clients. Authors Peter A. Kahle and John M. Robbins draw from their acclaimed workshops on the integration of spirituality and psychotherapy to teach therapists how they can help clients make positive life changes that are consistent with their values and spiritual and/or religious orientations.

The Power of Spirituality in Therapy combines psychotherapy, spirituality, and humor to examine the “pink elephants” of academia-Godphobia and institutional a-spiritualism. The book explores the “learned avoidance” that has historically limited therapists in their ability—and willingness—to engage clients in “God-talk” and presents clinicians with methods they can use to incorporate spirituality into psychotherapy. Topics such as truth, belief, postmodernism, open-mindedness, and all-inclusiveness are examined through empirical findings, practical steps and cognitive processes, and clinical stories.

The Power of Spirituality in Therapy includes:

• To Be (Ethical) or Not to Be? WHAT is the Question?
• To Believe or Not to Believe? That is NOT the Question!
• The Deification of Open-Mindedness
• Learning From Our Clients
• In God Do Therapists Trust?
• and much more!

The Power of Spirituality in Therapy is an essential resource for therapists, counselors, mental health practitioners, pastoral counselors, and social work professionals who deal with clients who require therapy that reflects the importance of God in their lives. This guide will help those brave enough to explore how their own spiritual beliefs and/or biases can create problems when working with those clients.

Table of Contents

Odell, Foreword. Acknowledgments. Introduction to a Journey. Section I: Jousting With the Pink Elephants. Walking on Silent Eggshells. Sources of Influence. The Influence of the Person of the Therapist. To Be (Ethical) or Not to Be? What Is the Question? The Influence of the Pink Elephants in the Ivory Tower. Can We Agree That Many Have Disagreed? Valuing Values in Psychotherapy. In God Do Therapists Trust? In Reality, Better Training Is a Must! Section II: How Then Shall We Counsel? To Believe or Not to Believe? That is Not the Question! The Integration of Religion, Spirituality, and Clinical Practice. Learning from Our Clients. The Power to Help. The Power to Hurt. The Deification of Open-Mindedness. God and Akelia: The Freedom That Binds. In Reverence of Power: Moving Toward Competence. References. Index.

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