Psychotherapy and spirituality : integrating the spiritual dimension into therapeutic practice / Agneta Schreurs.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schreurs, A. (Agneta)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Psychotherapy--Religious aspects.

Psychotherapy.

Psychotherapy--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Psychotherapy patients--Religious life.

Psychotherapy patients.

Group psychoanalysis.

Spiritual life.

Spirituality.

Psychotherapist and patient.

Physical Description:

313 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; Philadelphia : J. Kingsley Publishers, 2002.

Contents:

Part 1 Spirituality in the Therapeutic Session

1 Flight, Fright or Faith? 27

2 Groundless or Reasonable Fear? 29

3 Psychological or Spiritual Trauma? 34

4 Vision or Hallucination? 37

5 Depression or Spiritual Darkness? 43

6 Narcissism or Misdirected Worship? 47

Part 2 A Grammar of Western Consciousness

7 The Past Complicates the Present 61

1 Exploring the discrepancy between religious and secular subcultures

2 Plausibility structures

3 Losing our sense of unity

4 The break-up between spirituality and theology

5 The impoverishment of religious language

6 Symbolic miscommunication

7 The problematic situation of the contemporary religious believer

8 Bringing the Background to the Fore 74

1 The foundation matrix

2 A group acting out themes of the foundation matrix

3 Foundation matrix and spiritual concerns

4 Metacommunication

5 Why concern ourselves with the foundation matrix?

9 Psychotherapy and Cultural Root Metaphors 85

1 Foundation matrix and metaphors

2 Root metaphor theory

3 How cultural root metaphors may become problematic

4 Cultural root metaphors in psychotherapy

5 Spirituality and cultural root metaphors

6 How cultural root metaphors can shape spiritual concerns

10 Psychotherapy and Spiritual Root Metaphors 97

1 Spiritual root metaphors

2 What is the function of spiritual root metaphors?

3 Criteria for adequate spiritual root metaphors

4 When spiritual metaphors are disconnected from their context

5 Excursus: journeys and laws

6 The consequences of disconnecting the trial metaphor

7 Therapy and spiritual root metaphors

8 Psychotherapy and the Bible

11 Spiritual Root Metaphors and Modern Western Consciousness 112

1 Spiritual metaphors as hidden navigators

2 When the journey metaphor goes underground

3 When the trial metaphor goes underground

4 When the warfare metaphor goes underground

5 Psychotherapy and disconnected spiritual root metaphors

Part 3 Existential and Cognitive Aspects of Spirituality

12 Spirituality as a Change Process 129

1 An ancient theory of spiritual development

2 Adapting the ancient systematisation to modern experience

3 Why 'aspects' rather than 'phases'?

4 Psychotherapy and the spiritual change process

5 Spirituality and customary religious behaviour

13 The Existential Aspect of Spirituality 138

1 Psychotherapy and the existential dimension

2 Existential consciousness

3 Spiritual True Self

4 Characteristics of the existential aspect

5 How the existential interacts with psychotherapy

6 Discernment at the existential level

14 Psychotherapy and the Struggle for Authentic Spirituality 148

1 Deciding about spiritual True Self

2 Spiritual self-doubt and ambivalence

3 The existential aspect of spiritual change

4 'Transcendental' anorexia nervosa

5 Anorexia as failed spiritual change

6 Willingness and wilfulness in the spiritual change process

15 The Cognitive Aspect of Spirituality 161

1 God as 'object'?

2 Illumination as intuitive experiential knowledge

3 'Religious experience' research

4 The validity of religious experience

5 'Broad theism

6 Extrasensory perception or special spiritual powers?

16 Psychotherapy and Illuminative Experience 174

1 The structure of illuminative experience

2 Illuminative experience as a learning process

3 'Illuminative learning' in psychotherapy

4 Illuminative experience and self-knowledge

5 Positive after-effects of illuminative experience

6 Negative after-effects of illuminative experience

7 The struggle for intellectual integrity

8 Discernment at the cognitive level

9 Spiritual doubt

10 Resistance to spiritual truths

Part 4 Relational Aspects of Spirituality

17 The Analysis of Spiritual Relationships 199

1 Spiritual and therapeutic relationships

2 Learning receptivity

3 Learning inwardness

4 Learning trust

5 Convergence between therapeutic and spiritual change

6 Divergence between therapeutic and spiritual change

7 The need for discernment

8 Finding balance in therapy and spirituality

18 Spirituality as a Negative Therapeutic Factor 216

1 Conflict between therapeutic and spiritual change

2 Who is afraid of theology?

3 What is the connection between a spiritual relationship and a specific theology?

4 What are your own criteria for evaluating other people's theologies? A preliminary question

5 Where to draw the line between psychotherapy and spiritual direction? Another preliminary question

6 Back to the main question: how to deal with counterproductive theologies?

7 Assessing spiritual relationships

8 Three relational categories

19 Impersonal (or Manipulative) Relationships 232

1 The category of impersonal (or manipulative) human relationships

2 Impersonal or manipulative spiritual relationships: magic and determinism

3 Exploring the potential for therapeutic change in impersonal spiritual relationships

4 Latent possibilities for spiritual and therapeutic change within determinism

5 Looking for counterbalancing elements in a manipulative spiritual relationship

6 Composite relationships

20 Predestination and Double Predestination 240

1 Predestination as a theoretical problem

2 Predestination as a spiritual and psychological problem

3 Predestination and coping with misfortune

4 Predestination and depression

5 Predestination and prejudice

21 Mutual Agreement (or Contractual) Relationships 250

1 The category of mutual agreement (or contractual) human relationships

2 Spiritual relationships of mutual agreement

3 Satisfaction theology

4 Contractual spiritual relationships as a negative therapeutic factor

5 Exploring the potential for therapeutic change

22 Mutual Love (or Fellowship) Relationships 263

1 The category of mutual love (or fellowship) human relationships

2 Spiritual relationships of mutual love or fellowship

3 Characteristics and learning aspects of spiritual relationships of mutual love or fellowship

4 Spiritual relationships of mutual love or fellowship as a negative therapeutic factor

5 Spiritual non-fulfilment

6 Doctrine and spiritual metaphor: an example.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 293-305) and indexes.

ISBN:

1853029750

OCLC:

46822346