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The authors conducted a 26-study meta-analysis of 5,759 therapists and their integration of religlon and spirituality in counseling. Most therapists consider spirituality relevant to their lives but rarely engage in spiritual practices or participate in organized religion. Marriage and family therapists consider spirituality more relevant and participate In organized religion to a greater degree than therapists from other professions. Across professions, most therapists surveyed (over 80%) rarely discuss Spiritual or religious issues in training. In mixed samples of religious and secular therapists, therapists' religious faith was associated with using religious and spiritual techniques in counseling frequently, willingness to discuss religion in therapy, and theoretical orientation.erapists' integration of religion and spirituality in counseling has been evaluated in 26 studies of 5,759 psychotherapists from the fields toral counseling. We suggest that it is now appropriate to perform a metaanalysis of the existing research. We discuss the relevance of religion and spirituality to counseling, review methods of integrating religion and spirituality in counseling, and conduct a meta-analysis of studies concerning therapists' integration of religion and spirituality into counseling.

Psychologists have begun to consider the potential role of traumatic experiences on the victim's spirituality and religiousness as well as the role personal religious and spiritual faith might have in recovery from abuse. In this review, the authors were particularly interested in these issues as they pertain to childhood abuse. The authors identified 34 studies of child abuse as they relate to spirituality and religiosity that included information on a total of 19, 090 participants. The studies were classified according to both the form of abuse and the form of religiousness or spirituality that were examined. The majority of studies indicated either some decline in religiousness or spirituality (N ϭ 14) or a combination of both growth and decline (N ϭ 12). Seven studies gave preliminary indications that religiousness/spirituality can moderate the development of posttraumatic symptoms or symptoms associated with other Axis I disorders. The authors discuss implications for both therapy and future research.

Psychologists have become increasingly concerned with the role of religion and spirituality in resolving childhood physical and sexual abuse, particularly religion-related abuse. In treating victims of child abuse, trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy has emerged as a leading treatment for recovery. In this article, we discuss the relevance of religious and spiritual issues in trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy for children and teens. Using three case studies, we then present a model for assessing and treating religion and spirituality in trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy. This model focuses on the client's pre-existing religious and spiritual functioning as well as changes in religion/spirituality after abuse. We suggest that this approach will assist clients from various religious and spiritual affiliations to process childhood abuse.