SPIRITUALITY IN PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC PRACTICE

Research Paper

Psychology

E-ISSN No : 2454-9916 | Volume : 3 | Issue : 7 | July 2017

SPIRITUALITY IN PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC PRACTICE

Dr. Preetha Menon Assistant Professor (Sr. Gr.), Amrita Darshanam – International Center for Spiritual Studies, Amritapuri, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amrita University, India .

ABSTRACT The article attempts to ascertain the connection between spirituality and psychotherapy. All effective psychotherapeutic techniques imply lasting and holistic change in individuals which is spiritual in nature. It is suggested that secular psychotherapy and spirituality could complement each other without affecting the professional competence of therapy or attenuating the essence of spirituality. Spiritual values key to effective psychotherapy have been discussed. Empirical evidence has shown that spiritual values and behaviours can promote physical and psychological coping, healing and well-being in individuals. This finding has stressed the importance of viewing clients' spiritual values as a potential resource in psychotherapy. Suggestions have been presented regarding psychotherapist training and areas for further research.

KEY WORDS: spirituality, spiritual values and psychotherapy.

Psychotherapy and Spirituality The word 'psychotherapy' comes from Greek, meaning 'healing of the soul' - psyche (soul) and therapeia (healing). This definition is a great reminder of what therapy is about or can be about, which is healing at a deeper level. Psychotherapy is employing psychological techniques based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change and overcome problems in desired ways. Psychotherapy aims to improve an individual's well-being and mental health, to resolve or mitigate troublesome behaviours, beliefs, compulsions, thoughts, or emotions, and to improve relationships and social skills (American Heritage, Dictionary of the English Language, 2011).

All effective psychotherapeutic techniques imply facilitation of lasting and wholesome change in people. And it can be observed that lasting and wholesome change is due to their spiritual upliftment facilitated by psychotherapy. This could suggest that the psychotherapists consciously include Spiritual Skills Training in their therapy.

Puchalski (2009) contends that "spirituality is the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose and the way they experience their connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred." Spirituality can be a subjective experience and need not be part of experiences in organized religion. One can be religious and spiritual, religious but not spiritual, spiritual but not religious and neither religious nor spiritual.

Each client is unique and brings different concerns and goals to therapy, so many therapists take their lead from the client in how far the spiritual aspect becomes a direct way of working or not. Therefore, the client need not feel spiritual or have any interest in spirituality to benefit from a psycho-spiritual approach to counselling and psychotherapy.

Relationship between Spirituality, Philosophy, Religion and Psychotherapy Galen, a prominent Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire, once stated that the best physician is also a philosopher, and a physician without philosophy is like an architect without a plan. In the field of psychotherapy a lot of approaches are still based on philosophical assumptions (e.g. psychoanalysis, humanistic therapy, cognitive therapy and behavioural therapy). It has been found that psychotherapy contains philosophical assumptions such as objectivism, materialism, atomism, objectivism, hedonism, and universalism (Slife, 2004).

In the Great Religions (Baha'i, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism), spirituality necessitates paying deliberate attention to personal growth and perfection. An individual attains enlightenment by living as one's religion prescribes (Carmody and Carmody, 1996). Psychology of spirituality necessitates an understanding of academic psychology that is very different from the standard notion of a neutral or objective science. This psychology of spirituality also raises questions for applied psychology that requires non-judgmental openness to every person's religion or spirituality while simultaneously requiring the therapist to foster what is best for the client (American Counselling Association, 1995; American Psychological Association, 1992; Holden, 1996).

It is the role of therapists to assess the psychological adequacy of religious beliefs of the clients and to assess whether the client's religious beliefs are dysfunctional or even pathological. Until psychology addresses questions about the meaning of life and about the nature of the true and the good, psychology cannot pretend to deal with whole human beings, let alone with spirituality (Clinebell, 1995; Wilber, 1996; Yalom, 1980).

Human healing and wholesome growth are concerns in both spirituality and psychotherapy. Traditionally, religiously affiliated spirituality defined wholesome growth even as psychotherapy often does today. Thus, it seems that spirituality is inherently relevant to psychotherapy, and it has been argued that every therapy entails spiritual matters (Browning, 1987; Tjeltveit, 1996).

Spirituals Values Key to Psychotherapy The values associated with spirituality which could be considered key to psychotherapy are self-acceptance, detachment and faith.

Self-acceptance: It is vital that the individuals set the intention for themselves that they are willing to shift paradigms from a world of blame, doubt and shame to a world of allowance, tolerance, acceptance and trust. Tolle, widely recognized as one of the most original and inspiring spiritual teachers of our time opines, “Accepting means you allow yourself to feel whatever it is you are feeling at that moment. It is part of the Now. You can't argue with what is. Well, you can, but if you do, you suffer. Always say “yes” to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is? What could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say “yes” to life — and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you” (Tolle, 2005).

Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and considered the father of Analytical Psychology, who tried to bridge the gap between psychology and spirituality. One of Jung's most compelling ideas is the shadow. The Shadow Self is an archetype that forms part of the unconscious mind and is composed of repressed ideas, instincts, impulses, weaknesses, desires, perversions and embarrassing fears. This archetype is the darker side of the psyche, representing wildness, chaos and the unknown. Jung believed that these latent dispositions are present in all of us, in many instances forming a strong source of creative energy. Basically, the repression of our negative traits or emotions in society is one of the biggest barriers in any person's journey towards Self Love and living authentically. Embracing our inner darkness allows for the creation of a psychological and spiritual balance, an integrated whole - whereas denying it creates chaos and disharmony. The keyword here is "integrate", which comes from the Latin word integratus, meaning to 'make whole' (Jung, 1970).

Letting Go or Detachment: Acceptance of the current situation and selfacceptance can automatically bring in detached feelings. According to Buddhism attachment is the primary source of suffering. So then detachment or “non-attachment” would be the way out of that pain. According the Vedic tradition, the path of freedom and happiness depend on detachment. This does not mean renouncing one's desires or living the life of an ascetic. Instead, one sets an intention to relinquish attachment to the outcome. Primarily, attachment is based on fear and insecurity. In psychotherapy clients should be trained to let go off their painful memories, unhealthy relationships and the emotional baggage of

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E-ISSN No : 2454-9916 | Volume : 3 | Issue : 7 | July 2017

past events which are consuming their lives. The release of this life energy would enable them access the same for an authentic living. In psychotherapy, clients should be urged not to identify with their unhappy past incidents and losses.

Trust / Faith: Many people regard faith as a faculty rather than as a value, but the mind can embrace the idea of faith and make it a dynamic principle for living.

Everything we do in life requires faith in something -- in our capabilities, technology, law, the goodness of other people, etc. To make faith a living value is to shift that faith from ourselves, other people, money or any other thing to the highest spiritual reality as the basis for our actions. According to the psychoanalyst Erikson (1994) development of basic trust is the first state of psychosocial development occurring, or failing, during the first two years of life. Success breeds feelings of optimism, trust, and security, while failure leads to insecurity and mistrust possibly resulting in attachment disorders. Very often psychotherapists come across clients who have somehow failed to develop trust in themselves and in the world around them. According to Transactional Analysis, such clients would go on to develop a loser's life script and a life position of 'I am not OK, you are not OK'. They are potential candidates for severe depression with feelings of hopelessness and helplessness.

Empirical Evidence Spiritual well-being and resilience were shown to be interrelated and ecologically bound (Smith, Webber and DeFrain, 2013). In a study involving 102 nonclinical adults, relationships between irrational beliefs, unconditional selfacceptance, self-esteem and the Big-5 personality dimensions were investigated.

The results indicated that unconditional self-acceptance was highly correlated with self-esteem (Davies, 2006). Another study (Ahern, 2006) proposed that adolescent resilience is an outcome of the interactions between personal attributes and characteristics, and available social support, community resources, and health-promoting interventions. Adolescents with higher levels of spiritual wellbeing displayed fewer depressive symptoms and engage in less risk-taking behaviours (Cotton, Larkin, Hoopes, Cromer and Rosenthal, 2005).

Studies have indicated significant relationships between spiritual factors and positive mental health characteristics such as wellbeing, hope and optimism, meaning and purpose, reduced levels of depression and anxiety, and positive coping skills (Koenig, 2012; Mohr, Perroud, Gillieron, Brandt, Rieben, Borras and Huguelet, 2011; Zenkert, Brabender and Slater, 2014).

It has been shown that spiritual/religious doubts or struggles could be associated with depression, anxiety, drug use and suicide (Agorastos et al., 2012; Ellison, Fang, Flannelly and Steckler, 2013). Research reports that spiritual/religious beliefs and practices may impact an individual's recovery outcomes, health behaviours, pain, and immune and cardiovascular functions (Mohr et al., 2011; Rosmarin et al, 2013). A review of over 3,300 studies that researched the relationship of spiritual/ religious issues with mental and physical health, health behaviours and outcomes concluded that issues of spirituality should be integrated into health care practice (Koenig, 2012). Rosmarin et al. (2013) conducted a study involving 159 patients receiving treatment at a psychiatric hospital and participating in a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) day treatment program. Results indicated that belief in God was significantly associated with reduced levels of depression and increased psychological well-being, higher levels of clients' treatment expectancies and perceptions of treatment credibility, and improved psychiatric care outcomes. Mohr et al. (2011) reviewed a number of studies that indicated lower negative symptoms and improved life quality, maintained at a three year follow up, for patients with schizophrenia for whom religious beliefs were an important part of their coping strategies. Overall, the literature provides ample evidence to support the integration of a client's spirituality/religious beliefs and practices as part of good counselling and psychotherapy practice. Studies also suggest that clients believe it to be appropriate for concerns of religion/spirituality to be discussed in therapy (D'Souza and Rodrigo, 2004; Zenkert et al., 2014).

Spiritual/religious interventions have been found complementary to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (Barrera, Zeno, Bush, Barber and Stanley, 2012; McMinn, Snow and Orton, 2012; Pearce et al., 2015), and trauma focused therapy (Decker, 2007). An intervention focussing on spirituality may include narratives around specific issues such as faith, purpose, and meaning (Pargament and Saunders, 2007). Guided Imagery compatible with a client's beliefs can be introduced in relaxation exercises (Barrera et al., 2012). Music therapy, bibliography and prayer have been used to blend spirituality in therapy (Dyer and Hagedorn, 2013).

Suggestions and Recommendations Ÿ Training programs of psychotherapy should integrate philosophy. Epistemology should be a part of psychotherapy training programs so that the young therapists would find it easier to draw clinical conclusions from theories or evidences. Ÿ

Psychotherapy training programmes should stress on the point that religions have traditionally addressed in their varied, separate, and sometimes conflicting ways, to specify and foster the human good. Practical implications of such an understanding should be apparent in the applications that follow.

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Continued research involving diverse population groups, and implementation of scientifically rigorous methods in the investigation of treatment and outcomes, combined with the inclusion of issues of spirituality in training curricula would take forward the knowledge of methods for working effectively in this field.

CONCLUSION: It is suggested that secular psychotherapy and spirituality could complement each other without affecting the professional competence of therapy or attenuating the essence of spirituality. Spiritual values key to effective psychotherapy have been discussed. Empirical evidence has shown that spiritual values and behaviours can promote physical and psychological coping, healing and wellbeing in individuals. This finding has stressed the importance of viewing clients' spiritual values as a potential resource in psychotherapy. Suggestions have been presented regarding psychotherapist training and areas for further research.

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