Hidden Spring: The Spiritual Dimension of Therapy

Increasingly pastoral counselorsalong with psychotherapists and social workersfeel the need to integrate spirituality into their therapy. Thomas Hart's pioneering and lucid book, here reissued and updated, equips them to do so. The problems that people bring to counseling always have a spiritual dimension, and this hidden spring can also figure in their healing. Hart, a therapist and theologian, shows how much richer therapy is when it calls attention to spirituality in addressing human struggles. He argues that psychology and sprituality unite in a common goal of healing, with growth, and fulfilment; while spirituality offers a larger, more ultimate framework of value, meaning, and power. Especially for those whose training tended toward the straightforwardly psychological, Hidden Spring offers a manual for a richer, more meaningful counseling. Initial chapters discuss the presence of God in ordinary life, the relationship of the two disciplines, and the contours of healthy spirituality. Six concrete and illuminating case studies demonstrate how to integrate the two in practice.

Thomas Hart teaches theology at Seattle University and is a therapist in private practice. Among his many books are The Art of Christian Listening (1980) and Spiritual Quest: A Guide to the Changing Landscape (1999).