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.

Full Description:   

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.

"James L. Griffith and Melissa Elliott Griffith have written a thoughtful, balanced, and often creative work describing not only how to talk about spirituality but also, perhaps more importantly, how to think about and listen to the spiritual dimension of people's lives."
-Psychiatric Services

"The very style of presentation of the subject matter awakens the reader's sensitivity to the spiritual elements in psychotherapy and to when and with whom it is appropriate to enter into the spiritual domain.
-Pastoral Sciences

320 Pages, Size: 6" x 9"

1. New Ways of Hearing Sacred Stories

2. Opening the Door

3. Metaphor and Spirituality

4. Stories of Spiritual Experience

5. Conversations between Person and God

6. Spiritual and Religious Beliefs

7. Rituals, Ceremonies, and Spiritual Practices

8. The Community in Spirituality

9. When Spirituality Turns Destructive

10. Living beyond Medical and Psychiatric Illnesses

Stock: Usually ships in 3-6 business days!