Spiritually Oriented Psychotherapy for Trauma and Meaning Making Among Ethnically Diverse Individuals in the United States

Allen, G. E. Kawika; Richards, P. Scott; Lea, Troy

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-803015-8.00006-1

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 268 publications

(373 reference statements)

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“…In many diverse groups in the United States, spirituality is deeply entrenched in the framework of their cultures. The unification of culture and spirituality is not only prominent but also inherently permeated in their way of being (Allen et al, 2017).…”

Section: How Do We Integrate Spirituality Into Psychotherapy?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Richards¹,

Pargäment²,

Exline³

et al. 2023

Handbook of Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapies.

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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;

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Section: How Do We Integrate Spirituality Into Psychotherapy?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Richards¹,

Pargäment²,

Exline³

et al. 2023

Handbook of Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapies.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Since many survivors view their recovery process as a spiritual journey (Allen et al, 2017), it is probable that they will find meaning in spiritual frameworks and practices (Peres et al, 2007). Spirituality is described as a journey that leads the individual beyond themselves (Ronel, 2008) and toward a search for the Sublime (Pargament, 2007); it is evident in a person's attempts to identify their maladaptive patterns in a variety of situations, and accordingly to grow and alter their life for the better (Dambrun & Ricard, 2011).…”

Section: Spiritualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This should come as no surprise, since survivors suffer from multifaceted implications, including physical, psychological (cognitive and emotional), social, and contextual (Prior & Petra, 2020; Sinko et al, 2022). Among those implications are a sense of powerlessness (Ronel, 2008), self-blame and guilt (Peter-Hagene & Ullman, 2018), anger and frustration (Allen et al, 2017), loss of trust (Lahav et al, 2020), tendency to revictimization (Brenner et al, 2021), and lack of social recognition (Kirkner & Ullman, 2020). Beyond disrupting psychosocial functioning, sexual trauma has all kinds of devastating implications on survivors’ spirituality, such as negative spiritual coping (i.e., spiritual discontent, fear of punishment, or blaming God for not being a protector), alienation from God, and loss of faith and meaning (Bryant-Davis & Wong, 2013; Walker et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Looking for Reason to Finding Meaning: A Spiritual Journey of Recovery From Sexual Trauma

Eytan

Ronel

2023

J Interpers Violence

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The current study aims to describe a spiritual facet of recovery processes from sexual trauma, as manifested in the transformation from the frustration and despair of looking for reasons to the traumatic event(s) to the growth and prosperity of finding meaning. A phenomenological research was conducted, interviewing individuals with a variety of affiliations to spirituality and to trauma: female survivors who turned to spirituality as part of their recovery process ( n = 17), spiritually oriented therapists who treat survivors ( n = 10), and spiritual leaders and teachers who are often consulted by survivors and their close ones ( n = 9). Participants were asked about the nature of perceived transformation of survivors’ trauma, within the meaning context, and about the perceived relevance of such a spiritual meaning-making process to recovery. Findings suggests four stances in the process:(1) doubting, describing frustrations, denials, and struggles, (2) believing, describing the acceptance of the idea that there is spiritual meaning in the trauma, (3) knowing, describing calmness, comfort, trust, and sense of freedom, and (4) doing, describing carrying the message of spiritual recovery to other survivors. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on victimology and on spirituality. It adds to the research on the spiritual meaning-making process, on the role of spirituality in survivors’ perceptions of victimization and recovery, and on the importance of spiritual meaning as a recovery capital. Additionally, it directs therapists to broaden their discussions with survivors on their beliefs and values. The study lays the foundation for a theory entitled Spiritual Victimology.

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“…And, as social capital can be both increased or undermined, even before these concepts were described or there were scales to measure them, those belonging to powerful social groups have sought to destroy the social capital of subordinate communities. A wide variety of studies have demonstrated that social capital can be increased through community currency, social events or community architectural structures, 29,[31][32][33][34] while conversely, social capital can be damaged by things such as destroying community space. 35 Some marginalized communities use community coping mechanisms which are unique and adapted to the specific stresses faced by their societies.…”

Section: The Role Of Community In Copingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Oppression and marginalization can also injure a person's sense of spirituality and connection with the divine. With respect to meaning making after trauma, Allen et al 32 note that spiritual resources and interventions that are in line with a person's beliefs can help people cope, heal, and grow. Religious rituals can be used to enact destroying the traumatized life and nurture an experience of a renewed and more meaningful life.…”

Section: Some Therapeutic Best Practices For Minority Copingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Getting to the Root of the Problem: Supporting Clients With Lived-Experiences of Systemic Discrimination

et al. 2022

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For many marginalized people, coping with discrimination is not a temporary condition. Rather it is endemic to living in a discriminatory society and a source of ongoing stress. In this paper, we explore the need to provide people struggling to cope with the skills to tackle not just the personal consequences of discrimination, but also to understand and address the root causes of their pain, and specifically the ones that lie outside of themselves. We propose using the concept of social capital to bring greater awareness among clients, clinicians, and society in general about the need to pair the treatment of personal distress with concurrent practices to understand and tackle larger systemic issues impacting their mental health. People with marginalized identities are often expected to find ways to cope with oppression and then sent back into a broken world, perhaps with stronger coping skills, but often ones which do not address the root cause or source of the pain, which is social injustice. We propose that it is therapeutically important to problematize, pathologize and address the systems and narratives that discriminate and cause people to need to cope, instead of focusing therapeutic interventions only on the internal resources of the person doing the coping.

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Spiritually Oriented Psychotherapy for Trauma and Meaning Making Among Ethnically Diverse Individuals in the United States

Cited by 6 publications

References 268 publications

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

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

From Looking for Reason to Finding Meaning: A Spiritual Journey of Recovery From Sexual Trauma

Getting to the Root of the Problem: Supporting Clients With Lived-Experiences of Systemic Discrimination

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