Sacred adolescence: Practical suggestions for psychologists working with adolescents’ religious and spiritual identity.

Abstract

This article explores the relevance of adolescents' spiritual, religious, atheist, and agnostic identity development in the therapy process and the potential difficulties that psychologists face in effectively working with adolescents around spiritual/religious issues. Psychologists' limited personal and professional opportunities for increasing their self-awareness around their spirituality and religion may impact their ability to adequately address issues related to the spiritual/religious identity development of their adolescent clients. Psychologists' limited knowledge, awareness, and skills in reference to the process of adolescents' spiritual/religious/nonreligious identity may result in their neglect of spiritual/religious issues in psychotherapy. In such cases, adolescent clients may feel unsure if therapy is a safe place to discuss spiritual, religious, atheist, agnostic questions or issues that arise for them. The article concludes with practical suggestions that are framed around six critical concerns that are relevant for adolescents: (a) the relationship between spirituality/religion and health and coping, (b) negotiating multiple social identities, (c) religious cults, (d) religious conversion experiences, (e) anti-religious sentiment or religious discrimination, and (f) ethical considerations.

Afrontamiento, afecto y tabaco en una muestra de adolescentes españoles

“…En referencia a las estrategias de afrontamiento menos adaptativas, considerándolas como aquellas estrategias que conllevan un tipo de afrontamiento caracterizado por la falta de compromiso (disengagement), los resultados obtenidos en este trabajo al igual que en la evidencia científica existente sobre el tema (ver Ashby, 1986;Carpenter, Laney, & Mezulis, 2012;Compas, Connor-Smith, & Jaser, 2004;Csibi & Csibi, 2011;Eisenberg et al, 2011;Epstein-Ngo, Maurizi, Bregman, & Ceballo, 2013;Führ, 2002;Lazarus & Folkman, 1986;Magaldi-Dopman & Park-Taylor, 2013), apuntan cómo la puesta en marcha de tales tipos de estrategia favorece la realización de menos conductas saludables y, por tanto, que desplieguen más frecuentemente conductas de consumo.…”

An “Afterthought”: Counseling Trainees’ Multicultural Competence Within the Spiritual/Religious Domain

“…Especially absent were opportunities to develop skills and self‐awareness around spiritual/religious identity issues and conflicts. Academic institutions may seek to develop clinical training and research agendas around this topic, along with relationships with religious institutions, as increasingly diverse client populations may want care across mental health and faith‐based communities (Magaldi‐Dopman & Park‐Taylor, ). Understanding that trainees may feel confused regarding their role with spiritual/religious clients, counseling supervisors and faculty may seek to initiate a discussion of spirituality/religion in course work and clinical training experiences.…”

“…Given that spiritual issues are often interwoven with psychological and relational issues, trainees require skills for deftly working within these domains and with acute awareness amid the complexities of spiritual/religious discussions (Johnson, Hayes, & Wade, ). Although trainees’ spiritual/religious skills and awareness are viewed as important amidst burgeoning multicultural research, there appear to be significant lags and lapses in trainees’ preparation within these domains (Magaldi‐Dopman & Park‐Taylor, ). Training programs maintain their importance yet have been slow to integrate spiritual/religious training into multicultural curriculum, practicum training experiences, supervision, and research (Olson, ).…”

The meanings older adolescents attach to spirituality

“…Discussion builds a common vocabulary that allows for co‐construction of understanding. Nurses may aid adolescents in identifying spiritual experiences in daily life and in seeing these experiences as a source of strength and resourcefulness (Magaldi‐Dopman & Park‐Taylor, ). Such activities as yoga, meditation, creative writing, and guided visualization have been identified by adolescents as day‐to‐day activities that provide opportunity for spiritual introspection (Wilson, ).…”