Spirituality is often a single question on a psychotherapy
intake form.
In the United States and most Western cultures, Spiritual counseling is viewed as an interest rather than a universal part of everyday life.
How is spirituality universal? There is a profoundly simple answer: all of us are conceived from an unknown source, created from a Divine spark between the masculine and feminine. All of us will die, our physical bodies will no longer hold the energy that was once present begging the question of the ages, what happens when we die?
These are both fundamental and universal experiences. They are both spiritual in nature as they beg answers to questions that extend beyond the physical world. The simple fact is that this is the spiritual mystery of science. It cannot be scientifically explained where life-giving energy originally derives from or what happens to that energy when it departs from the physical body.
So why would spiritual counseling be considered an interest or a sidenote when seeing a psychologist or psychotherapist? Western cultures resist death. We are obsessed with anti-aging, doctors often keep patients alive long after they have lost all quality of life, most people do not know how to support the grieving and even avoid them out of fear of confronting death.
In fact, without addressing death and dying head-on, mental health issues can manifest in many ways, such as fear of death ocd, fear of death phobia, chronic fear of losing loved ones, even withholding from having children for fear of their possible deaths.
However, the truth is that death can amplify life. When we embrace the fact that we will die we can then recognize that the present moment as all we can count on. Embracing that death is inevitable witht he supprt of spiritual counseling, can allow us to deepen appreciation for the moment, expand our willingness to release beliefs or resentments that do not serve our happiness, and seek more opportunities for life fulfillment.
Yet, how do we integrate spirituality into psychotherapy practice with clients who may be dismissive of spiritual counseling or view it as an
unnecessary interest?
One...Start where the client is.
As psychotherapists, we must role with our clients, honoring their views of spirituality as they are. We can begin to utilize spiritual counseling by investigating thier relationships with the spiritual. We can ask exploratory questions about experiences with religion and how god was presented to them during childhood. These questions can build a framework for future spiritual investigation.
Two...Ask this question: "how do you think god views you now?"
This is usually a surprising question to clients. It's one they've most likely never been asked before. This is an opportunity for psychotherapists to bring awareness to maladaptive beliefs clients hold that may never have been investigated without diving into the spiritual.
Here we will often find that many people believe that god is disappointed in them, will have retribution on them if they make mistakes, or could care less about them. Most of the time people are not true atheists and, even if they are, can still benefit from spiritual exploration, which is a topic for another entry.
Why are these beliefs, specifically, incredibly damaging to our well-being?
I would like you to think about this: how can we fully love and accept ourselves, have compassion for ourselves and achieve life fulfillment if we believe that the entity from which we came is just waiting for us to mess up? How can we love ourselves fully if we believe that that from which we came doesn't care about us? How can we live confidently in life if we believe that when we die we will be returning to an entity that could care less about us or, worse yet, be waiting to punish us?
The fact is that most people have these very beliefs hidden away deep in their subconscious minds. Have you ever heard someone jokingly say, "god's going to kill me"? Well, this really isn't a joke. This expression emerges from a deep place within the self, an underlying belief around their relationship with god and god's view of them. These debilitating beliefs are playing a role in their everyday lives without any conscious awareness.
And most psychotherapists will not have the skills based in spiritual counseling to guide clients through resolving these beliefs.
Learning these intervention techniques and beginning to investigate your personal relationship with the spiritual is an asset to your therapy practice and work with your clients.
I hope you found this entry informative and may have opened up possibilities to integrate spiritual counseling into your practice.
Sarah Dionne has a private practice in Halifax, MA. Her practice is centered on compassion and spiritual counseling. She also offers a range of holistic therapies including EMDR and nutritional coaching.
Email Sarah to find out more about receiving supervision for you psychotherapy practice.
Sarah Dionne is currently hiring two LCSWs to jo in her thriving practice.
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