Creating a Space for Spiritual Practice: Pastoral Possibilities with Sexual Minorities

Heermann, Matthew; Wiggins, Marsha I.; Rutter, Philip A.

doi:10.1007/s11089-007-0085-y

Cited by 30 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…The participants name a vigilant God, Catholic patriarchy, and the Catholic identity as major influences in both suffering and healing. The findings of similar research by Bliss (2011), Bryant-Davis (2005, Ganje-Fling, Veach, Kuang, and Houg (2000), and Heermann, Wiggins, and Rutter (2007) support the recommendation that spiritual issues of clients be discussed in psychotherapy. In addition, the research supports the need for clinicians to understand the inherent features of Catholic identity and the nature by which these phenomena interweave themselves into every aspect of the survivor's life, especially suffering and healing.…”

Section: Catholicism In Psychotherapy For Child Sexual Abusesupporting

confidence: 53%

Catholicism and Childhood Sexual Abuse: Women’s Coping and Psychotherapy

Collins

O’Neill-Arana

Fontes

et al. 2014

Journal of Child Sexual Abuse

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The long-term effects of child sexual abuse include numerous psychological, social, and behavioral difficulties in women survivors, ranging from poor self-esteem and depression to sexual disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder. The role that religious beliefs may play in the difficulties these women suffer has been largely unexplored. This qualitative study explored women's experience of healing within the context of Catholicism. Interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of eight women raised as Catholics who reported child sexual abuse and who had participated in at least two years of psychotherapy. Results suggest that Catholic identity can both compound and relieve the suffering many women experience in healing from child sexual abuse. Participants related that their Catholicism was rarely addressed during psychotherapy. These findings have implications for clinicians working with Catholic survivors of child sexual abuse.

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Section: Catholicism In Psychotherapy For Child Sexual Abusesupporting

confidence: 53%

Catholicism and Childhood Sexual Abuse: Women’s Coping and Psychotherapy

Collins

O’Neill-Arana

Fontes

et al. 2014

Journal of Child Sexual Abuse

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Religious abuse causes guilt, shame, and the inability to trust others (Bent-Goodley & Fowler, 2006). As an effect of the abusers manipulation and threats, a religiously abused LGBT individual may feel extreme remorse and condemn themselves for his or her sexuality and ultimately compromise his or her spiritual, mental, and emotional development (Heermann, Wiggins, & Rutter, 2007).…”

Section: Implications For Counselorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Counselors may use specific cognitive behavioral techniques to address thought distortions and to decrease catastrophe responses such as challenging irrational beliefs. At the same time, counselors need to maintain a feeling centered approach to validate the LGBT individual's rational fear caused by the abuse (Heermann et al, 2007). Last, counselors must respect the uniqueness of individual clients and explore the possible outcomes of counseling with the LGBT individual (Ganzevoort et al, 2011).…”

Section: The Counseling Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The counselor's responsibility is to guide the client toward the following recovery goals that include (a) identifying and naming abuse, (b) assisting clients to define their sexuality within a spiritual framework, and (c) alleviating the symptoms and conflict with specific techniques (Curry, 2009;Heermann et al, 2007;Pitt, 2010;Valera & Taylor, 2011).…”

Section: Goals Of Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Religious Abuse: Implications for Counseling Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Individuals

Super

Jacobson

2011

Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling

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Religion is often the place a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) individual may turn to understand and navigate their sexual orientation identity development. However, religious abuse may occur when a religious group or leader, whether intentionally or unintentionally, uses coercion, threats, rejection, condemnation, or manipulation to force the individual into submission of the religious views about sexuality. The abuse may result in great harm to the victim by causing low self-esteem, guilt, shame, spirituality loss, substance abuse, or thoughts of suicide. Counselors need to be aware of religious abuse to help clients navigate any spiritual divide between religious beliefs and sexuality. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to (a) describe the differences between religion and spirituality,(b) define religious abuse, (c) describe the effects of religious abuse on LGBT individuals and society, and (d) delineate the counseling implications of religious abuse in working with LGBT individuals.

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“…An element of this stage will be for the counselor to challenge the conflict itself (Rodriguez, 2010). The counselor should address cognitive distortions, reframing, all or nothing thinking, and catastrophizing (Heermann, Wiggins, & Rutter, 2007). Some of clients' fears (such as being rejected by their church or losing their marriage) may be well founded; however, many clients have faulty beliefs regarding being LGBQQ, such as associating homosexuality with drugs, abuse, and sexual perversion (Wolkomir, 2006).…”

Section: Affirmative Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Church, the Closet, and the Couch: The Counselor's Role in Assisting Clients to Integrate Their Sexual Orientation and Religious Identity

Ginicola

Smith

2011

Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling

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In a recent article in The New York Times, therapy using Sexual Orientation Management was highlighted, with the focus on therapists assisting clients to live a heterosexual life because of their religious beliefs. The primary reasons for such an approach are to allow for client choice and respect on an equally important area of diversity, their religious affiliation and values. Although research has been performed on the intersection of religion and sexual orientation, there has not been an extensive analysis or criticism of this management technique. In this article, the authors explore the experience of religious clients struggling with their sexual orientation, discuss the potential counselor responses to sexual orientation religious issues, and the impact of each on the counseling field using ethical principles, existing research, and logical outcomes.

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Creating a Space for Spiritual Practice: Pastoral Possibilities with Sexual Minorities

Cited by 30 publications

References 35 publications

Catholicism and Childhood Sexual Abuse: Women’s Coping and Psychotherapy

Catholicism and Childhood Sexual Abuse: Women’s Coping and Psychotherapy

Religious Abuse: Implications for Counseling Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Individuals

The Church, the Closet, and the Couch: The Counselor's Role in Assisting Clients to Integrate Their Sexual Orientation and Religious Identity

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