From a leading researcher and practitioner, this volume provides an innovative framework for understanding the role of spirituality in people's lives and its relevance to the work done in psychotherapy. It offers fresh, practical ideas for creating a spiritual dialogue with clients, assessing spirituality as a part of their problems and solutions, and helping them draw on spiritual resources in times of stress. Written from a nonsectarian perspective, the book encompasses both traditional and nontraditional forms of spirituality. It is grounded in current findings from psychotherapy research and the psychology of religion, and includes a wealth of evocative case material.

Integrating Spirituality into Counseling uses the Christian tradition as a starting point for developing a universal frame of reference and is predominantly based on an existential approach to counseling, one that is applicable to several faith traditions as well as spiritual but nonreligious audiences. The chapters of this book proceed from the theoretical toward the more practical, in a logical fashion, allowing a clear distinction between different topics, starting from meta-reflection and finishing with practical applications. The design of the book allows students to focus on whatever is of importance to them; each chapter is self-contained and can be read independently of the others. Integrating Spirituality into Counseling is designed for students of counseling, pastoral care, spirituality, theology, and chaplaincy. It will provide readers with the tools they need to work with spiritual issues across traditions. Students will also find advice for when to refer clients to religious leaders or ministers, and they’ll also deepen their understanding of the ways in which spirituality influences one’s life.

The proposed text addresses a major problem in teaching and informing practitioners and trainees about the application of spirituality within the field of coaching. Its purpose is to inform the coaching profession about how spirituality is being utilized by various coaches across the life, wellness, and executive coach domains. The goals are to provide definitions, applications, ethical considerations, and speculation on the future of the profession on a wide range of applications. The content of the book will be a succinct series of case studies while providing cutting-edge tools and interventions for the coaching profession. Both editors are certified coaches as well as licensed mental health practitioners in the counseling and social work fields. The goal of this book is to offer guidance for the coach whose client brings direct or indirect spiritual content into the coaching session. Each chapter highlights established coach skills such as active listening, powerful questioning, and goal setting. The text brings together both seasoned spiritual coaches who have influenced this new and growing area coaching profession, and new spiritual coaches who bring their own diverse knowledge. The contributors describe their work in a diverse array of case studies, with their wide range of backgrounds and approaches, so that others can learn. Case Studies in Spiritual Coaching can be used as a primary text for courses that teach spiritual or intuitive coaching and/or courses that teach any coaching domain such as life coaching, wellness coaching, or executive coaching. This book may also be used as an adjunct text for courses that include an introduction to spirituality within the coaching profession.

Does my life have any deeper meaning? Does God really care about me? How can I find and follow my moral compass? What do I do when my faith is shaken to the core? Spiritual trials, doubts, or conflicts are often intertwined with mental health concerns, yet many psychotherapists feel ill equipped to discuss questions of faith. From pioneers in the psychology of religion and spirituality, this book combines state-of-the-art research, clinical insights, and vivid case illustrations. It guides clinicians to understand spiritual struggles as critical crossroads in life that can lead to brokenness and decline--or to greater wholeness and growth. Clinicians learn sensitive, culturally responsive ways to assess different types of spiritual struggles and help clients use them as springboards to change.

This book examines the implications of exploring spirituality through the lens of human relationships. It addresses systemic supervision and training and explores a systemic approach to the development of the self. The book provides an educational methodology that lays a foundation in describing an operational model of spirituality that is applicable for both theistic and nontheistic perspectives. In addition, it details how spirituality is itself a diversity as well as explores spirituality through a lens of diversity. In addition, a pilot research project on spirituality set in a MFT Live Supervision Group illustrates how to apply a systemic approach to spirituality. Finally, the book offers examples of practice using spirituality in various training settings. Key areas of coverage include: · How a systemic approach to spirituality enables the lens of relationship and diversity to enrich supervising and teaching family therapy emerging from the self of therapist concerns. · Theoretical perspectives that connect systemic practice with spirituality in an approach for family therapy. · How a systemic spiritual approach can be used in training marriage and family therapists. · Interventions that focus on how a relational systemic approach views transcendence and immanence from both clinical and spiritual perspectives. · Concepts that inform supervision and training with the goals of educating students to be spiritually literate and spiritually sensitive. · Barriers to implementing this approach with examples of how to address such obstacles. Spirituality in Systemic Family Therapy Supervision and Training is a must-have resource for researchers, professors, graduate students as well as clinicians, supervisors, and professionals in clinical psychology, family studies / family therapy, and public health as well as all interrelated disciplines.

"The purpose of this edited book is to provide mental health practitioners with a functional understanding of the empirical literature on the psychology of religion and spirituality, while at the same time outlining clinical implications, assessments, and strategies for counseling and psychotherapy. This text is different from others on this topic because it will help to bridge the gap between the psychology of religion and spirituality research and clinical practice. Each chapter covers clinically relevant topics, such as religious and spiritual development, religious and spiritual coping, and mystical and spiritual experiences as well as discuss clinical implications, clinical assessment, and treatment strategies. Diverse religious and spiritual (e.g., Jewish, Islamic, Christian, and Buddhist, etc.) clinical examples are also be integrated throughout the chapters to further connect the psychology of religion and spirituality research with related clinical implications."--Provided by publisher

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Spirituality and Religion Within the Culture of Medicine provides a comprehensive evaluation of the relationship between spirituality, religion, and medicine evaluating current empirical research and academic scholarship. In Part 1, the book examines the relationship of religion, spirituality, and the practice of medicine by assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the most recent empirical research of religion/spirituality within twelve distinct fields of medicine including pediatrics, psychiatry, internal medicine, surgery, palliative care, and medical ethics. Written by leading clinician researchers in their fields, contributors provide case examples and highlight best practices when engaging religion/spirituality within clinical practice. This is the first collection that assesses how the medical context interacts with patient spirituality recognizing crucial differences between contexts from obstetrics and family medicine, to nursing, to gerontology and the ICU. Recognizing the interdisciplinary aspects of spirituality, religion, and health, Part 2 of the book turns to academic scholarship outside the field of medicine to consider cultural dimensions that form clinical practice. Social-scientific, practical, and humanity fields include psychology, sociology, anthropology, law, history, philosophy, and theology. This is the first time in a single volume that readers can reflect on these multi-dimensional, complex issues with contributions from leading scholars. In Part III, the book concludes with a synthesis, identifying the best studies in the field of religion and health, ongoing weaknesses in research, and highlighting what can be confidently believed based on prior studies. The synthesis also considers relations between the empirical literature on religion and health and the theological and religious traditions, discussing places of convergence and tension, as well as remainingopen questions for further reflection and research. This book will provide trainees and clinicians with an introduction to the field of spirituality, religion, and medicine, and its multi-disciplinary approach will give researchers and scholars in the field a critical and up-to-date analysis.

This interdisciplinary study details spiritual approaches including meditation and yoga shown to be helpful in improving physical and psychological well-being. Whether a person suffers from a psychological or physical malady, such as depression, addictions, chronic pain, cancer, or complications from pregnancy, the best practice treatments likely include one common thread: spiritual practice. From meditation and yoga to spiritual surrender and religious rituals, spiritual practices are increasingly being recognized as physically and mentally beneficial for recovering from illness and for retaining optimal health. Healing with Spiritual Practices: Proven Techniques for Disorders from Addictions and Anxiety to Cancer and Chronic Pain, edited by the director of one of the nation's best-known university institutes of spirituality and health, explains current and emerging practices, their benefits, and the growing body of research that proves them effective. Comprising chapters from expert contributors, this book will appeal to students, scholars, and other readers interested in psychology, medicine, nursing, social work, pastoral care, and related disciplines.

Encyclopedia of Mental Health, Second Edition, Four Volume Set tackles the subject of mental health, arguably one of the biggest issues facing modern society. The book presents a comprehensive overview of the many genetic, neurological, social, and psychological factors that affect mental health, also describing the impact of mental health on the individual and society, and illustrating the factors that aid positive mental health. The book contains 245 peer-reviewed articles written by more than 250 expert authors and provides essential material on assessment, theories of personality, specific disorders, therapies, forensic issues, ethics, and cross-cultural and sociological aspects. Both professionals and libraries will find this timely work indispensable. Provides fully up-to-date descriptions of the neurological, social, genetic, and psychological factors that affect the individual and society Contains more than 240 articles written by domain experts in the field Written in an accessible style using terms that an educated layperson can understand Of interest to public as well as research libraries with coverage of many important topics, including marital health, divorce, couples therapy, fathers, child custody, day care and day care providers, extended families, and family therapy