The Power of Spirituality in Therapy: Integrating Spiritual and Religious Beliefs in Mental Health Practice (Haworth Religion and Mental Health) - Softcover

Peter Kahle; John Robbins

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0789021145 ISBN 13: 9780789021144

Publisher: Routledge, 2004

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review

A GROUNDBREAKING YET EMINENTLY USER-FRIENDLY TEXT . . . that will appeal to academicians, students, and 'in the trenches' practitioners alike. -- Mark Odell, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Counseling, University of Nevada Las Vegas; Author of The Practical Practice of Marriage and Family Therapy: Things My Training Supervisor Never Told Me (from the Foreword)

I found this book INSPIRING AND ENCOURAGING as a professional therapist, as a trainer of therapists, and as a Christian -- Bonnie Osmon, PhD, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Professional Counselor, AAMFT Approved Supervisor; Assistant Professor, Graduate Counseling and Biblical Studies: Family Studies, John Brown University

Kahle and Robbins join the vanguard of mental health professionals who boldly take on psychology's traditionof silence about spiritual issues. -- Delane Kinney, PhD, Director of Psychological Services, Salesmanship Club Youth and Family Centers

This book will be welcomed especially by clergy who seek to provide referrals to members of their congregationsfor therapeutic help. -- Rev. Walter E. Waiser, MDiv, Senior Pastor, Peace Lutheran Church, Hurst, Texas

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0789021145
• ISBN 13: 9780789021144
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 248