Introduction: Bringing spiritually integrated psychotherapies into the health care mainstream.

Abstract

P olls and demographic statistics show that there is enormous religious and spiritual diversity in the United States and throughout the world. This diversity is rapidly increasing and spreading due in part to global communication, travel, and immigration (Pew Research Center, 2015).Significant numbers of adherents to the five major Western, theistic religions (i.e., Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism) and six major Eastern world religions (i.e., Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Jainism, Shintoism, Taoism) now live in the United States and Canada (Pew Research Center, 2015). Growing numbers of people, however, are not affiliated with one of the major world religions (Pew Research Center, 2015) but embrace spirituality from within some other spiritual and philosophical perspective, such as transpersonal, humanistic, existential, and Indigenous traditions (e.g., Pew Research Center, 2015; Richards & Bergin, 2014). Others are unaffiliated with a religious tradition but nevertheless consider themselves spiritual (Pew Research Center, 2015). In addition, many people are atheistic or nonreligious. They also face universal human questions about the purpose of life, morality, love, suffering, anxiety, evil, and death (Pew Research Center, 2015;Sedlar et al., 2018).The breathtaking variety in religious and spiritual beliefs in the world makes it challenging for psychotherapists to effectively address spiritual issues during treatment (American Psychological Association [APA], 2017;

Frontal Asymmetry in Pilgrims

“…Numerous attempts have been made to treat religious or spiritual problems with psychotherapies [18, 22,23]. The present study has shown that pilgrimage can productively alleviate negative emotions associated with religious and spiritual crises and changes in frontal asymmetry.…”

The Impact of Spiritual Well-Being on the Quality of Life of Cancer Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The quality of life of patients assessed in this study was measured by using the median FACT-G total score, which was 63 (IQR: 52-85). FACT-G subscale median scores were: physical well-being 14 (IQR: 8-21), social well-being 23 (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27), emotional well-being 15 (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20), and functional well-being 16 (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21). Table 4 shows the FACT-G scores results.…”

“…19 It has been illustrated that spirituality is not limited to the causal effect of religiosity and some people consolidate their ultimate beliefs about the meaning of life, purpose of life, and experience connections with self, family, and nature. 20,21 Numerous studies have shown that spirituality is associated with the quality of life. [22][23][24] Although the impact of clinical care on a patient's health and, consequently, their quality of life cannot be disregarded in any disease, it is crucial to consider the patient's spirituality.…”

“…19 It has been illustrated that spirituality is not limited to the causal effect of religiosity and some people consolidate their ultimate beliefs about the meaning of life, purpose of life, and experience connections with self, family, and nature. 20,21…”

Therapist responsiveness to religious and spiritual concerns in therapy

“…Therapist Session Checklist. The Therapist Session Checklist (TSC) was developed by a research team led by the primary investigator and coordinator of the Bridges big data collection project (Richards et al, 2019). The TSC is a process measure consisting of diagnostic impressions and four checklists, indicating the focus of a particular psychotherapy session as well as therapist actions occurring in that session.…”