Changes in Clients' Images of God Over the Course of Outpatient Therapy

Abstract

The authors examined the impact of outpatient counseling on clients' psychological symptoms and on their image of God.Thirty participants in a counseling treatment group and 68 participants in a no-treatment control group completed the Brief Symptom Inventory and the Adjective Checklist at 2 separate times. Counseled participants experienced significant reductions of psychological symptoms over the course of treatment whereas the control group showed no changes. Furthermore, ratings of God's agreeableness significantly increased (toward compassion) for clients in the treatment group, whereas no such changes were noted for the control group. eology and psychology have similar goals for human health and wellbeing. Both propose that a person live to her or his fullest poten-T" tial by developing self-understanding. Theologians include understanding God as a part of this human development potential.Personal development of the self also constitutes development of the experience of God: loss of self-identity is also a loss of the experience of God. These are two aspects of one and the same history of experience. (E. Johnson, 1992, p. 65)Historically, however, theology and psychology have been alienated from one another. Freud fueled this schism, maintaining that religion was the universal neurosis that relieved individuals' sense of helplessness by relying on an invented exalted father figure (Freud, 1913(Freud, /1953. Theologians viewed psychology as anti-God, and psychologists viewed theologians as lacking in scientific understanding (Hood, Spilka, Hunsberger, & Gorsuch, 1996). Several theorists challenged Freud's views, resulting in the alienation of psychology and theology (

The Process of Transcending a Traumatic Childhood

“…One possible explanation lies in evidence that religious/spiritual activity spurs frontal lobe activity similar to that associated with mental health (McNamara 2002). The process of therapy itself may be a metaphor for healing and reconnecting to a larger power, which is consistent with the findings of other researchers (Cheston et al 2003;Wendel 2003).…”

“…Researchers in one study regarding spirituality found that therapy clients reported not only symptom reduction but a change in their perceptions of God (Cheston et al 2003). These researchers compared a control group and a treatment group in outpatient therapy.…”

Dimensions of Religion Associated with Suicide Attempt and Suicide Ideation in Depressed, Religiously Affiliated Patients

“…Likewise, more research is needed to understand the causality of the relationship. There is some evidence, based on longitudinal studies, that in the course of treatment, God representations may change (Cheston, Piedmont, Eanes, & Lavin, ; Thomas, Moriarty, Davis, & Anderson, ; Tisdale et al., ). However, as far as we know, there are no other studies about the possible association between suicidality and/or depression and God representation.…”

God as other, God as self, God as beyond: A cognitive analytic perspective on the relationship with God

“…The relationship with God, self, others, and the therapist should be thought of as a single package; research (e.g. Cheston, Piedmont, Eanes & Lavin, 2003) supports the notion that changes in any one of these during therapy may well signal changes in the others.…”