The soul of psychotherapy : recapturing the spiritual dimension in the therapeutic encounter

Mental health professionals often struggle to understand spirituality and the role it plays in their clients' lives. Many therapists would like to take spiritual issues into account, and to incorporate them, as they do with other areas of patients' lives, into their overall approach, but feel they lack the training or competency to do so effectively.In this concise, thoughtful, and practical book, clinician Carlton Cornett describes how to integrate the issues of spirituality into everyday practice. Cornett addresses the needs of therapists and counselors who treat both clients committed to their religious beliefs, and those who initially might not identify spirituality as an area of struggle, but for whom spiritual issues are real, yet hidden, sources of distress. He shows therapists how to open the door to the spiritual dimension in their work through cases from his practice, and demonstrates the impact and relevance of religion and spirituality on the clinical process. Increasingly, psychotherapists of all professional disciplines and theoretical orientations are being confronted with dilemmas for which they are neither trained nor prepared: helping clients explore their confusion about religious and spiritual conflicts in the consulting room. The Soul of Psychotherapy addresses their needs. In this concise, thoughtful, and practical book, clinician Carlton Cornett explores the relevance of religion and spirituality to the clinical process and describes how to integrate issues of spirituality into everyday professional practice. Following a brief history of the roots of spirituality in psychoanalysis and psychology, and a look at the reasons why in the past psychotherapy turned away from spiritual concerns, The Soul of Psychotherapy provides a conceptual framework for a spiritually sensitive, culturally competent practice. Essential reading for professional psychotherapists of all disciplines, psychiatric nurses, pastoral counselors and other religious professionals, and students in mental health training programs, The Soul of Psychotherapy addresses the needs of therapists and counselors who treat clients committed to their spiritual beliefs as well as those who initially might not identify spirituality as an area of struggle, but for whom spiritual issues are real if hidden sources of distress. Explains how therapists can include the spiritual dimension in their practices, serving both patients with religious commitments, and those whose problems involve such issues.