Encountering the Sacred in Psychotherapy How to Talk with People about Their Spiritual Lives

by Griffith, James L.; Griffith, Melissa Elliott

• ISBN13: 9781572309388
• ISBN10: 1572309385
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-07-29
• Publisher: The Guilford Press

Summary

This volume guides therapists and students in exploring the creative and healing possibilities in people's spiritual and religious experience, while countering ways it can do harm. The authors integrate ideas from a range of therapeutic perspectives - as well as wisdom gleaned from over 20 years of work in the field - to help therapists listen and respond when spiritual or religious themes are invoked; ask appropriate questions about beliefs, practices, and communities; and work collaboratively to identify personally meaningful resources for change. Applications are discussed for a wide variety of clinical situations, including helping people resolve relationship problems, manage psychiatric symptoms, and cope with medical illness.

Author Biography

James L. Griffith, MD, is Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at The George Washington University Medical Center Melissa Elliott Griffith, CNS, LMFT, serves on the psychiatry clinical faculty at The George Washington University Medical Center and practices psychotherapy in Vienna, Virginia

Table of Contents

New Ways of Hearing Sacred Stories	1	(27)
Opening the Door	28	(25)
Metaphor and Spirituality	53	(28)
Stories of Spiritual Experience	81	(22)
Conversations between Person and God	103	(34)
Spiritual and Religious Beliefs	137	(27)
Rituals, Ceremonies, and Spiritual Practices	164	(25)
The Community in Spirituality	189	(26)
When Spirituality Turns Destructive	215	(43)
Living beyond Medical and Psychiatric Illnesses	258	(43)
References	301	(12)
Index	313