[spiritual_emergency]

The following may be helpful for those who have found it beneficial to include some aspect of spirituality or religious practice in their personal program of recovery.

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<font color="#880000"> Spiritual Interventions in Psychotherapy
Spiritual interventions can be essential to facilitating recovery and change. At times these could include:<ul type="square">[*] Educating the patient about the spiritual emergence process that is part of a spiritual journey with a potentially positive outcome
[*] Encouraging the patient's involvement with a spiritual path or religious community that is consistent with their experiences and values
[*] Encouraging the patient to seek support and guidance from a credible and appropriate religious or spiritual leaders
[*] Encouraging the patient to engage in religious and spiritual practices consistent with their beliefs (e.g., prayer, meditation, reading spiritual books, acts of worship, ritual, forgiveness and service)
[*] Modeling his/her own spirituality (when appropriate), including a sense of spiritual purpose and meaning, hope, and faith in something transcendent[/list]
Role of Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy can help patients with religious and spiritual problems to shape their experience into a coherent narrative, to see the "message" contained in their experiences, and to create a life-affirming personal mythology that integrates their spiritual problem. These three phases of psychotherapy directed toward that integration are described below. In addition, spirituality plays a special role in psychotherapy with such patients.<ul type="square">[*] Phase 1: Telling the Story of the Experience [*] Phase 2: Tracing its Symbolic/Spiritual Heritage[*] Phase 3: Creating a New Personal Mythology[/list]
Read more: Spiritual Interventions in Psychotherapy

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Hey.

Some people feel that spiritual development / intervention is best offered by church leaders etc rather than by mental health professionals...

You might find the religion forum supportive with these notions.

:-)

Although I have tried religion and come away feeling "less than" most of the time, I do like to think about spirituality as it adds an interesting dimension to life and can add meaning to one's life and relationships. It doesn't need to be a separate issue unless it is a very specific dogma, imo.

From the site www.VIAstrengths.org, a site about positive psychology I was looking at yesterday. This is #6 of 6 and it is interesting:

"Transcendence - strengths that forge connections to the larger universe and provide meaning

Appreciation of beauty and excellence [awe, wonder, elevation]: Noticing and appreciating beauty, excellence, and/or skilled performance in various domains of life, from nature to art to mathematics to science to everyday experience

Gratitude: Being aware of and thankful for the good things that happen; taking time to express thanks

Hope [optimism, future-mindedness, future orientation]: Expecting the best in the future and working to achieve it; believing that a good future is something that can be brought about

Humor [playfulness]: Liking to laugh and tease; bringing smiles to other people; seeing the light side; making (not necessarily telling) jokes

Spirituality [religiousness, faith, purpose]: Having coherent beliefs about the higher purpose and meaning of the universe; knowing where one fits within the larger scheme; having beliefs about the meaning of life that shape conduct and provide comfort "

Just thought I'd share It is an interesting site.

ECHOES

[sunrise]

My T has made it known that I can talk about spirituality with him. It is entirely up to me because he always lets me choose the focus of my sessions. I am glad to know that option is available. I would like to explore spirituality more with him at some point, as my home is currently a hostile environment for anything spiritual. Right now, though, I have so many other things going on in therapy, that spirituality is on the "back burner," but I look forward to engaging more with it in the future.

[downsolong]

I don't think it's a good idea at all.
http://www.quackwatch.org/01Quackery.../quackpro.html
http://www.quackwatch.org/12Web/healthfinder.html
http://www.sullivan-county.com/nf0/y2k/illness.htm

[spiritual_emergency]

alexandra K: Some people feel that spiritual development / intervention is best offered by church leaders etc rather than by mental health professionals...

You might find the religion forum supportive with these notions.

I did consider placing that post in the Spiritual Support section because it deals with aspects of spirituality. I also considered placing it in the Schizophrenia section because religious identification and imagery is a common component of many psychotic experiences.

However because it deals specifically with spiritual interventions in psychotherapy, I thought it was best suited here. The author of that article is Dr. David Lukoff who also co-authored the new diagnostic category in the DSM IV of Spiritual Emergency

.

It is a 'V' code - which is to say it is an axis V problem (not an axis I problem).

Other things considered on axis V include problems with social functioning, problems with occupational functioning, relationship problems etc etc etc.

I was getting a little concerned that the suggestion was that people who experience themselves as having a spiritual crisis were now regarded as being mentally disordered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad that isn't so :-)

Yeah, I understand why you posted it here :-)

Methinks... It will be verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry controversial indeed about how much clinicians should focus on this when it comes to their training, however. Might be that the best thing to do is to... Refer people to talk to a pastor etc.

[spiritual_emergency]

alexandra k: I was getting a little concerned that the suggestion was that people who experience themselves as having a spiritual crisis were now regarded as being mentally disordered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad that isn't so :-)

Then again, do you think you would be capable of quantifying what kind of experience the following is...

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... nothing around us seems solid or trustworthy. On all levels, our consciousness becomes attuned to endings and death. We notice the end of conversations, of music, of encounters, of days, of sensations in the body on a powerful cellular level. We sense the dissolution of life moment to moment.

As our outer and inner worlds dissolve, we lose our sense of reference. There arises a great sense of unease, leading into a realm of fear and terror. "Where is there any security? Wherever I look, things are dissolving."

We can experience this dissolution and dying within our own body. We may look down and see pieces of our own body seeming to melt away and decay, as if we were a corpse. As the realm of terror deepens, periods of paranoia may arise. In this stage, wherever we look, we become fearful of danger...


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The above is an excerpt from the book A Path With Heart by Buddhist teacher, Jack Kornfield. He is describing a process known as ego death.

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[sunrise]

I am not part of a church and I don't have a pastor or other religious leader, so alexandra, your suggestion wouldn't apply to me. I'm not religious, but I do have a spiritual side, which someday, I would like to develop. If therapy can offer that to me, then great, I may take advantage when I am ready.

Transpersonal Psychology is a branch of psychology that accommodates developing the spiritual side in therapy, although it doesn't necessarily push it.

This quote from http://www.itp.edu/about/tp.cfm explains it better:
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Transpersonal psychology is an approach to the whole person. It seeks a balanced development of the intellectual, emotional, spiritual, physical, social, and creative expression aspects of a person's life. Thus, all six areas are addressed scholastically and therapeutically, and integration or balance is sought.

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Right now my work in therapy seems to be mainly on the emotional, physical, intellectual, and social aspects. I hope someday to get to creative expression and spiritual. Baby steps.

[mlyn]

grrrrrrrrrrrr sooo frustrated here with both ideas let alone combining them.

[spiritual_emergency]

Thanks for that terrific link, sunrise. I've bookmarked it for my self.

.

[Rapunzel]

Spirituality is becoming more and more recocognized as an important part of mental health. Some theories incorporate it routinely, such as Lazarus's Multi-modal therapy. We have developed a habit of thinking that religion has to be separate from everything, but religion is part of our lives. Religion is a way of life, and it is important. That was one of the reasons for having this forum here.

In therapy, spiritual issues should be addressed if they are concerns for the client. What is important is that spirituality is addressed accordint to the client's beliefs, and the therapist does not impose his or her own beliefs on the client.

Here is another link about spirituality and religion in spiritual practice: http://www.ssa.uchicago.edu/publicat.../peterson.html