Prayer can be a powerful therapeutic tool when

The patient requests prayer at the beginning of treatment. In so

doing a bond of trust or zone of safety is sought with the
therapist. However, care must be taken not to focus on the
therapist's faith but rather on the needs of the patient.
It is a natural and healthy part of the patient's belief and practice. He
or she sees therapy as a part of the journey of faith in which
God has to be explicitly included through prayer.
It is used to reinforce the meeting of basic needs of safety and
acceptance. We all need a place of safety from which we take risks
and make changes.
Prayer can be a summary of the therapy session and used to invoke
blessings on the patient's therapeutic homework
assignments. It facilitates behavioural, emotional and
cognitive changes (e.g. God give me courage to set
boundaries with my abusing spouse)
It serves the function of letting go of the past (e.g. a prayer of
forgiveness that releases resentment)
It helps the patient reframe suffering. God's goodness is not
measured in terms of the outcome to a difficult situation. It is seen
more in loving encounters with God through others.
It generates the hope essential to the recovery process. The hope
may be in God's care, the patient's capacity to make good
decisions, or the remembrance of past incidents where God came
through for the patient.
It makes the patient less self-absorbed and more other or community
conscious.

A change of focus can be the catalyst for a changed life. When

a prayer is used therapeutically it can be a powerful tool in
redirecting broken, hurting. and confused lives. It is not a
substitute for therapy but a way of being and practice that
presupposes the power that comes from a personal relationship with
God.

(Johnson, in Benner & Hill, 1999, pp. 895-

896)

Soul care

Benner (1998) writes that for Christian mental health professionals, interest in the
care of the soul offers the possibility for a more holistic Christian ministry.
Christian soul care that succeeds in reunifying the psychological and spiritual
aspects of persons holds the promise of relevance and potency. Soul care has four
elements:

1. Healing — which involves efforts to help others overcome some impairment

and move towards wholeness.
2. Sustaining — the acts of caring designed to help a hurting person endure and
transcend a circumstance in which restoration or recuperation is either
impossible or improbable.
3. Reconciling — the efforts to re establish broken relationships.
4. Guiding — helping people make wise choices and thereby growing in
spiritual maturity.

Psychological and spiritual growth are inextricably intertwined. Spiritual and

psychological health are intimately related.