Spiritually Transformative Psychotherapy

Spiritually Transformative Psychotherapy offers fresh insights into counseling people with diverse spiritual and religious philosophies. Grounded in theory and research, this text focuses on building contemplative methods like meditation into practice and provides valuable applications to help clients achieve spiritual and emotional wellbeing.

How can we connect the spiritual realizations of Buddhism with the psychological insights of the West? In Toward a Psychology of Awakening John Welwood addresses this question with comprehensiveness and depth. Along the way he shows how meditative awareness can help us develop more dynamic and vital relationships and how psychotherapy can help us embody spiritual realization more fully in everyday life. Welwood's psychology of awakening brings together the three major dimensions of human experience: personal, interpersonal, and suprapersonal, in one overall framework of understanding and practice.

Reflecting the increasing recognition of the importance of the spiritual in healing, Spirituality and Art Therapy is an exciting exploration of the different ways in which the spiritual forms an essential, life-enhancing component of a well-rounded therapeutic approach. The contributors are leading art therapists who write from diverse perspectives, including Christian, Jewish, Buddhist and shamanic. They explain how their own spiritual and creative influences interact, finding expression in the use of art as a healing agent with specific populations, such as bereaved children, emotionally disturbed adolescents, and the homeless. The relationships between spirituality and visual art, art therapy and transpersonal psychology are examined. Story and image are interwoven in the spiritual journeys of therapists and clients, and suggested creative exercises make this an accessible, practical resource for those who desire to understand and execute an holistic method of therapy. Arguing that art therapists can mediate between the sacred and the mundane, this pioneering book is an affirmation of the transformative power of art therapy.

This book explains when forgiveness and spiritual transformation might be appropriate clinical goals, as well as how to facilitate these processes in psychotherapy. The model is applied to short-term therapy, long-term therapy, couple and family therapy, and group therapy.

This enlightening book integrates humanistic and transpersonal psychotherapy principles with family systems work. Transforming the Inner and Outer Family discusses a wide range of creative methodologies, such as the use of meditation, guided imagery, and energy centers in the body to bridge the inner and outer experiences of the individual and family members. Chapters explore the healing capacity of intense affect to unify significant others through the transformation of fear, anger, and grief to understanding, compassion, love, and forgiveness. The book is practical as well as theoretical, containing many case studies focusing on individual, couples, and family therapy. In addition, a special chapter is included on the use of family of origin sessions. Transcripts of actual cases show detailed methods of entering into the therapy system to promote change and demonstrate the operational definition of spirituality and its practical utilization in psychotherapy. Also included is a special candid interview between the author and Virginia Satir, mother of family therapy, nine months before she died, on her personal and professional life. Transforming the Inner and Outer Family presents an integrative family systems model that emphasizes the coordination of existential, humanistic, and transpersonal healing psychologies. This model coordinates Virginia Satir’s later thinking with Roberto Assagioli’s model of psychosynthesis. Author Sheldon Kramer blends principles of psychosynthesis with family systems work and thoroughly explains the use of his new model, Mind-Body Systems Therapy,TM including: development of internal family configurations the spiritual dimension within the systemic context integrating the use of the body with meditation in healing practices methods of healing the inner nuclear and intra-generational family bridging the inner and outer familial world stages of inner and outer healing the use of self in therapy Transforming the Inner and Outer Family is on the cutting edge of current emerging interests in alternative medicine, especially in holistic principles of healing, with emphasis on the spiritual dimension as a major healing conduit for transformation. Readers will discover in this book a solid theoretical base that integrates traditional psychology, including psychodynamic/object relations theory, with less-mainstream forms of psychotherapy, and will learn effective strategies for helping individuals, couples, and families heal.

"Written with great clarity and intelligence, this book will be of benefit to all mental health practitioners, students of psychology, and those seeking a better understanding of their own process of psychological and spiritual transformation." —Tara Brach, PhD, Author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge "In this wonderful book, Rick Johnson weaves together different theoretical perspectives in a way that welcomes religion, spirituality, and nature into the counseling and psychotherapy process. It's a delight to read Dr. Johnson's approach—an approach that teaches therapists how to empathically explore spirituality as an important dimension of human existence." —John Sommers-Flanagan, PhD, coauthor of Counseling and Psychotherapy Theories in Context and Practice and Clinical Interviewing "Rick Johnson's book Spirituality in Counseling and Psychotherapy is a rich introduction to the varied forms in which spiritual suffering enters the consulting room, the range of theories which address or fail to address this need, and specific attitudes and practices through which therapists can provide a non-doctrinal but open encounter with the spiritual needs of their clients." —James Hollis, PhD, Jungian analyst, and author of fourteen books, among them What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life A practical integration of psychology and spirituality that builds upon existing psychological theories While many clients want spiritual and philosophical issues to be addressed in therapy, many mental health professionals report that they feel ill-equipped to meet clients' needs in this area. Providing a model that is approachable from a variety of theoretical orientations, Spirituality in Counseling and Psychotherapy supports therapists in becoming open to the unique ways that clients define, experience, and access life-affirming, spiritual beliefs and practices. Drawing on the author's research into spiritual issues as well as predictors of clients' psychological health, this reflective book presents an integrative approach to discussing the topic of spirituality. An essential resource for mental health professionals of all spiritual and religious persuasions, Spirituality in Counseling and Psychotherapy discusses: Client-defined spirituality Integrating spirituality with psychological theories Why clients become spiritually lost Practical steps for spiritual health and abundance in therapy Helping clients reclaim their real self How spiritually oriented therapy helps Guidance for therapists in differentiating their spirituality from their clients' to foster a more successful therapeutic relationship Filled with numerous cases and stories illustrating how spirituality can be a natural and beneficial part of the therapeutic process, Spirituality in Counseling and Psychotherapy enables mental health professionals to nonjudgmentally invite a collaborative exploration of the role of spirituality in their clients' lives.

Drawing from her fascinating life experience and therapy practice, Farzaneh Guillebeaux offers an amazing blending of psychotherapy tools and spiritual teachings to help readers find joy and self-fulfillment, regardless of race, gender, or background. As a young Iranian student in the United States, Fafar was swept off her feet by an African-American in the 1960s, thrown into the belly of racism, and changed forever through the combined power of psychotherapy and spiritual transformation. She shares her journey here; throughout this book, Fafar expresses her love for the reader through her openness and authenticity, humor, and a personal narrative of her own struggles, pain, and inner process. Here, Fafar weaves the forces of spirituality together with a wealth of invocations from Bahá'i writings, professional expertise grounded in years of experience as a therapist, and profound lived experience on her own journey to knowing and loving herself-and applies this knowledge to the personal issues that challenge us all. This book offers wise and tested practical strategies and deep insights, bathed in her love of humanity and belief in its inherent goodness. The resulting tapestry is one which compels-and empowers-readers to embark on their journey to know and nurture their own self. The truths contained in this book are the truths that can set us all free.

In this extensive and vividly presented study, Mr. Hanhardt provides a model of how the spiritual life emerges at times of change and suffering in our lives. He presents a new view of ancient structures in the human psyche the relationships that are our greatest gifts and that emerge into the realm of the spiritual. This study is based upon decades of research into multiple traditions but fully relies on the description of the most powerful healing structures we have, which are found in each member of the Christian Trinity. To achieve the goal of the growth of love, the ultimate purpose of human suffering, we must invite God into the process. This book is designed for all who are involved in the healing process and is written in a language that is both accessible to the general public and also challenging of the traditional training and practice of psychotherapists and counselors. Mr. Hanhardt also presents throughout the book many techniques and structured self-studies and meditations for healing for clients and seekers who are directing their own healing process.