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

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schreurs, A. (Agneta)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Group psychoanalysis.

Psychotherapist and patient.

Psychotherapy patients--Religious life.

Psychotherapy patients.

Psychotherapy--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Psychotherapy.

Psychotherapy--Religious aspects.

Spiritual life.

Spirituality.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (315 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London ; Philadelphia : Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Schreurs presents a range of therapeutic situations, analogies and case-studies in which spiritual concerns may arise, and explores them from spiritual and psychological perspectives, showing how they connect and differ. This engaging book is essential reading for all therapists who feel out of their depth when patients raise spiritual concerns.

Contents:

Cover

Psychotherapy and Spirituality

Contents

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Introduction

Part 1: Spirituality in the Therapeutic Session

Introducing Part 1

1 Flight, Fright or Faith?

2 Groundless or Reasonable Fear?

3 Psychological or Spiritual Trauma?

4 Vision or Hallucination?

5 Depression or Spiritual Darkness?

6 Narcissism or Misdirected Worship?

Concluding Part 1

Part 2: A Grammar of Western Consciousness

Introducing Part 2

7 The Past Complicates the Present

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

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

1 Foundation matrix and metaphors

2 Root metaphor theory

3 How cultural root metaphors may be 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

1 Spiritual root metaphors

2 What is the function of spiritual root metaphors?

3 Criteria for adequate spiritual root metaphors

4 When spiritual root 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

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

Concluding Part 2

Part 3: Existential and Cognitive Aspects of Spirituality

Introducing Part 3

12 Spirituality as a Change Process

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

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

1 Deciding about spiritual True Self

2 Spiritual self-doubt and ambivalence

3 The existential aspect of spiritual change

4 'Transcendtal' anorexia nervosa

5 Anorexia as failed spiritual change

6 Willingness and wilfulness in the spiritual change process

15 The Cognitive Aspect of Spirituality

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

1 The Structure of illuminative experience

2 Illuminative experience as learning 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 truth

Concluding Part 3

Part 4: Relational Aspects of Spirituality

Introducing Part 4

17 The Analysis of Spiritual Relationships

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

1 Conflict between therapeutic and spirutual change

2 Who is afriad 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

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

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

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

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

2 Spiritual relationships of mutual love or fellowship

3 Characteristics and learning ascpects 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 root metaphor

Concluding Part 4

How to Proceed Further

Recommended readings

Notes

Bibliography

Vignettes index

Author Index

Subject Index.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

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

ISBN:

9786610262182

9781280262180

1280262184

9781846420610

184642061X

9781423710462

1423710460

OCLC:

852759452