COUNSELING

PSYCHOLOGY
Counseling & Spirituality
 COUNSELING &
SPIRITUALITY
“Spirituality is increasingly recognized as an important
cultural and coping factor that may affect counseling
relationships, processes, or outcomes” (Harris, Thoresen,
& Lopez, 2007)
Carl Jung, Victor Frankl, Abraham Maslow, and Rollo
May have emphasized the importance of spirituality in
counseling. It is a complex, multidimensional construct
COUNSELING &
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SPIRITUALITY
Spirituality includes concepts such as transcendence, self-actualization, purpose and
meaning, wholeness, balance, sacredness, altruism, and a sense of a Higher Power (Stanard,
Sandhu, & Painter, 2000)
Within counseling, there is an increased emphasis on the importance of spirituality in the
well-being of those seeking help, those wishing to maintain their own health, and those who
are aging in a healthy manner (Burke, Chauvin, & Miranti, 2005; Buser, 2013; Snyder, 2005)
For many people who seek counselors, spirituality and religion “are significant aspects of
their life” (Burke et al., 1999)
Two thirds of Gallup poll respondents indicated they would prefer to see a counselor who
held spiritual values and beliefs similar to theirs (Young, Wiggins-Frame, & Cashwell, 2007)
In a national survey of ACA counselors, these same researchers found that 82% agreed or
strongly agreed when responding to the statement “I consider myself to be a spiritual person”
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COUNSELING & SPIRITUALITY

Spirituality and religious faith can
work to the benefit or detriment of
individuals, groups, couples, and
families
It can boost “psychological well-
being, including career satisfaction,
the ability to cope, a sense of
meaning and purpose in life and
overall levels of happiness” (Rollins,
2009a, 2009b)
On the negative side, it can narrow
people’s worldview, promote fear and
hatred and even lead to the death of
believers as happened in the Jim
Jones–People’s Temple mass suicide
of 900 followers in 1978

Ingersoll (1994) was an early pioneer He pointed out the importance of

in developing a comprehensive defining spirituality, in contrast to
overview of spirituality, religion, and religion, and listed dimensions that
counseling describe it
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COUNSELING & SPIRITUALITY

The following characteristics were included in Ingersoll’s definition of spirituality:

• A concept of the divine or a force greater than oneself

• A sense of meaning
• A relationship with the divine
• Openness to mystery
• A sense of playfulness
• Engagement in spiritually enhancing activities
• Systematic use of spiritual forces as an integrator of life
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COUNSELING & SPIRITUALITY

• For most people, a spiritual journey is developmental in nature

• It involves an active search toward overcoming one’s current centricity to becoming more connected with the
meaning of life, including a oneness of ultimate being (Chandler, Holden, & Kolander, 1992; Kelly, 1995)
• Gill, Barrio Minton, and Myers (2010) found spirituality and religiosity accounted for a large percentage of the
variables for wellness among low-income rural women and provided them with a coping strategy as well as with
meaning
• Related to age, Snyder (2005) relates how personal storytelling is one way aging populations can create community
and achieve spirituality simultaneously. She recommends an exercise in which aging adults divide their lives into
sections of 5 years each and mark how decisions they made altered their fate and helped them reclaim a well-lived
life with meaning
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COUNSELING & SPIRITUALITY

The Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling (ASERVIC), a division within ACA, is devoted to exploring the
place of spirituality in counseling

In 1995, ASERVIC held a “Summit on Spirituality” and generated nine counselor competencies on spiritual and religious issues in counseling
that still influence the counseling profession (Young et al., 2007)

These competencies were revised in 2009 at a second ASERVIC summit (Cashwell & Watts, 2010)

Ingersoll (1994) stated that counselors interested in working well with clients committed to a particular spiritual view can best do so by
affirming the importance of spirituality in the client’s life and engaging in treatment that is congruent with the client’s worldview

As Briggs and Rayle (2005) emphasize, it is not whether to include spirituality in counseling when appropriate, but how to do it

The process calls for cultural sensitivity as well as ethical practices of the highest standard
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COUNSELING & SPIRITUALITY

• Clients in their spiritual quest is to assess their developmental level

• Parker (2011) recommends the use of James Fowler’s (1995) seven stages of faith through which humans may
pass as one way of determining how to help them on their journey to growth and development as a more
complete and fully functioning person
• The focus of this approach is on universal structures that belong to “all faiths that allow the counselor to
diagnose and assess the nature and role of a person’s faith apart from its specific beliefs” (Parker, 2011)
• Thus, this stage emphasis offers a growth-oriented model of spiritual and religious development
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COUNSELING & SPIRITUALITY

Asking about a client’s spirituality or spiritual resources has become more of a fundamental intake question in many counseling
practices, as counselors address the total person of the client

Exploring religious and spiritual issues with clients conveys to them that their beliefs are valued and can be discussed openly rather than
being discounted, ignored, or seen as pathological (Henriksen, Polonyi, Bornsheuer-Boswell, Greger, & Watts, 2015)

When spirituality is in the form of religious beliefs, counselors need to be respectful and work with clients to maximize the positive
nature of their beliefs and values in connection with the difficulties they are experiencing

Counselors who work best with religious issues in counseling are either pluralistic (i.e., “recognizing the existence of a religious or
spiritual absolute reality” but allowing for multiple interpretations and paths toward it) or constructivist (i.e., recognizing a client
worldview that includes God or spiritual realities) (Zinnbauer & Pargament, 2000)
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COUNSELING & SPIRITUALITY

Spiritual aspects of clients’ lives can be enhanced through creating rituals or other ways for
clients to focus on their lives that help them appreciate life rather than depreciate
themselves (Cashwell & Young, 2011; Miller, 2003)

For example, one ritual distraught clients might be invited to engage in is writing down five
things for which they are grateful (Hudson, 1998)

Such an assignment can help them move away from bitterness and transcend the adversity
of the moment. In addition to helping clients, forms of spirituality, such as meditation and
prayer, may be important aspects of counselors’ lives as well
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In many cases, a “counselor’s personal spirituality/religiousness may prove a value base for
being attuned to clients’ spiritual and religious issues”

van Asselt and Senstock (2009) found that when a counselor is more spiritually aware, his
or her ability to recognize a client’s spiritual concerns is also greater

Personal spirituality and spirituality training do make a difference when working with
clients presenting spiritual concerns. Therefore, counselors should assess their own
spirituality as well as that of their clients
THANK YOU
Kamna Yadav
kamna.yadav@jgu.edu.in