Religious Beliefs and Therapeutic Orientations of Clinical and Counseling Psychologists

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.A 65-item questionnaire was used to examine the relations among religious beliefs and psychotherapeutic orientations in a national sample of 237 clinical and counseling psychologists. Sixty-six percent of these psychologists believed in the transcendent; 72% asserted that their religiouts beliefs influenced their practice of psychotherapy, and 66% claimed that their practice of therapy influenced their religious beliefs.Psychologists who affirmed Christian beliefs tended to endorse the cognitive-behavioral orientation, and those who affirmed Eastern and mystical beliefs tended to endorse humanistic and existential orientations.These findings suggest (a) that most psychologists synthesize personal Weltanschauungen composed of elements derived from both their study of psychology and their exposure to religion and (b) that these syntheses are not random, that specific religious beliefs are differentially associated with specific psychotherapeutic orientations. NTRODUCTIONEach culture possesses a Weltanschauung, a comprehensive view of the world. The current Weltanschauung in the West is a curious amalgam, consisting of religious, humanistic, scientific, and romantic elements (Frank 1977;Kurtz 1985;Woolfolk and Richardson 1984).Its religious elements stem primarily from our Judeo-Christian heritage and stress a correct relationship with God reflected in loving relationships with others and in moral conduct. Its humanistic and scientific elements -sometimes referred to jointly as secular humanism stem primarily from our Greco-Roman heritage and the intellectual developments of the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and positivistic philosophy and stress the use of reflective reason (a) to gain objective knowledge, (b) to choose wisely among conflicting values -none of which has a transcendent source -and (c) to work toward personal well being and social equality and justice (Woolfolk and Richardson 1984). Its romantic elements -sometimes referred to as romantic humanism -stem, in part, from the Romantic movement of the first half of the eighteenth century and stress subjective, immediate experience, the cultivation of affect and intuition, and the creation of personal meaning through authentic choice (Kurtz 1985;Woolfolk and Richardson 1984). These diverse elements coexist in an uneasy, unstable balance: Often, they are in conflict.As with each culture, each individual, too, possesses a personal Weltanschauung, a personal belief system, an explanatory matrix, a unique map of the world and picture of self (

Therapists' Integration of Religion and Spirituality in Counseling: A Meta‐Analysis

“…Only five studies reported the race of the therapist sample. The authors of those five studies estimated the percentage of White therapists to be 83% to 95% (Bilgrave & Deluty, 1998Case & McMinn, 2001;Forbes, 1995;Sheridan, Bullis, Adcock, Berlin, & Miller, 1992).…”

Therapy with religious couples

“…In a representative study, investigators found the following positive correlations: (a) Eastern beliefs with humanistic, existential orientations; and (b) orthodox Christian beliefs with cognitive and behavioral orientations (Bilgrave & Deluty, 1998). The ideology of Christian clinicians may conflict with concepts and injunctions of humanistic theories.…”

Selecting a Theory of Counseling: What Influences a Counseling Student to Choose?

“…The reported religious/spiritual affiliation was not representative of other religious/spiritual affiliations such as Muslim faith, Hindi, etc. According to Bilgrave and Deluty [3], there is a connection between religious affiliation and choice of therapeutic orientation. Bilgrave and Deluty [4] also made a connection between religious beliefs and found political ideologies are both predictors of theoretical orientation.…”

“…Studies on the influence of personality on theoretical orientation have been conducted (e.g. [13]), a recommendation for future research would be to look at other influences such as religious affiliation [3,4] and other factors due to the multifaceted nature of developing a theoretical orientation in counseling [15].…”

“…6,25]. Other factors observed as an influence in acquisition of theoretical orientation are cognitive style [2], religious beliefs [3,4] and personal belief systems [14]. As counselor/therapists develop over time, even their interaction with varying personal and professional life events, can cause an evolving of theoretical orientation over the span of their career [15,40].…”