I was told by my parents that in the professional world I should avoid bringing up the topics about religion or politics because I might offend someone or someone may feel I am harassing or discriminating against their beliefs. Therefore professionally this can then get me in trouble. We live in a world where everyone has a strong opinion and belief on religion and politics. Getting into a debate in the workplace about the religion and spirituality someone may feel that you are trying to convert them to think and believe the way you believe. There has been ethical issues when therapists would use religion and spirituality in their therapy sessions. In this paper I will discuss why it is difficult to conclude what common factors that may contribute …show more content…
Across all types of counseling, 60% of clients use religious terminology to describe their personal experiences, (Shafransky & Malony, 1990). Some clients/patients believe religions are appropriate in the counseling/therapy sessions and prefer that it be integrated in the counseling/ therapy sessions.
In the past, leaders like Sigmund Freud and B.F. Skinner avoided talking about or using religion and spirituality in clinical practice. Maybe it 's because they were not trained in this area of religion and spirituality. During recent years a vast of therapists did not receive training in religion and spirituality either during their graduate and post-graduate education. Now some therapists has learned and is now more educated about the competent care that support the essential knowledge about religious and spiritual diversity. Therapists now understand how religion and spirituality can mix into adaptive and maladaptive human behavior and how religion and spirituality
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There has been many clients/patients that has been affected regarding religion and spirituality beliefs years and years ago, and there are still some that are affected today. Therapists concern is for the welfare of their clients/patients and must be eminent profession of psychology. According to (Fisher, 2013 p. 95) Standard 3.04: Avoiding Harm states psychologists should take reasonable steps to avoid harming their clients/patients...and others with whom they work, and to minimize harm where it is foreseeable and
Many personality disorders may experience spiritual distress, in particular, clients who have borderline personalities. Lack of spirituality causes clients with borderline personalities to have instability with their emotions and their actions. This makes them at risk for spiritual distress as evidence by challenged beliefs and no value system. As nurses, we must help clients who have borderline personality disorders understand how important spirituality is and how it has an effect on their lives. Nurses must display an understanding and accepting attitude, and encourage the client to verbalize any feelings including those of anger or loneliness. Expected outcomes that nurses would like to see in clients with borderline personality disorder facing spiritual distress would be that these clients would express hope and value in their belief system, and express a sense of well-being. (Gulanick & Myers, 2007). Before we can help clients who have borderline personalities, we as nurses must understand our own value and belief system and never impose these values on our clients. By understanding our own values and beliefs, we are more equipped to help clients with borderline personalities who encounter spiritually distress.
The start of this article focuses on a Christian client named George who is plagued with feelings of worthlessness, depression, low self-esteem, and suicide. His mother had also battled depression, and his father had an abusive relationship with alcohol, which caused his father to have verbally and physically abusive altercations with George and his mother. The abusive experiences that George was exposed to as a child paved the way for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as an adult (Garzon, 2005). With all of these factors present in this client’s life, a treatment plan was created that involved scripture interventions. The author made sure to touch on the fact that every client is unique in the hopes that counselors would be aware that one type of scripture intervention might work for one client and not work for another. The article highlights three guiding values when considering these types of interventions; “respect for the client’s autonomy/freedom, sensitivity to and empathy for the client’s religious and spiritual beliefs, and flexibility and responsiveness to the client’s religious and spiritual beliefs.”(Garzon, 2005). ...
Cunningham, M. (2012). Integrating Spirituality in Clinical Social Work Practice: Walking the Labyrinth (1 ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc.
I can distinguish between, various disorders and their impact on the patient such as Bipolar affective disorder and the distinct stages of mania and affect, the patient is presenting with, exposure to mental health disorders as an extension of the individual including symptoms and presentation has significantly contributing to my understanding of the mental health. the diversity and range he along the spectrum has increased my understanding as well as treatment services such as TMS AND ECT Although the analysis demonstrates the success of religious integration in group therapy and cohesion, it is necessary to consider individuals from other religions and those who are not religious or atheist. Sigurdardottir’s et al. (2016) wellness program may have shown prominent success due to the program leaning towards general activities such as yoga, art therapy and relaxation exercises with a focus on mind and body, irrespective of religious affiliation. Likewise, Tutty, Bubbins-Wagner and Rothery’s (2015) evaluation of the 14-week therapy program, You’re Not Alone also demonstrated improved mental wellbeing of the participants based on the interventions like character building, positive reinforcement and active role play which highlighted aggressive, abusive characters and the typical behaviours in relationships. the ability to interatw with a patient,
McMinn (2011) establishes the topical history of integrating psychology and theology, and promptly transitions to the necessity of inclusion for spirituality into counseling sessions; he cogitates three queries: Will this aid in establishing a healthy sense of self? Will this aid in establishing a healthy sense of need? Will this aid in establishing a healing relationship? (McMinn, 2011, pg. 32). These three components cater to psychological and spiritual health. Christian counseling helps the client move away from need, a faulty sense of self, and relationships to “an assured sense of self, a cognizance of human need and limits, and revealing interpersonal relationships with others and most importantly, God” (p. 59). McMinn (2011) provides intervention tools needed for effective therapy. However, amid the six challenges, counselors can see the risks in implementing the suggested tools with: defining relevant ethical standards, establishing a scientific base, confronting dominant views of health, expanded definitions of training, blurred pers...
My mother is a school counselor and is working on her Ph.D in psychology and counseling, my father is a marriage and drug rehabilitation counselor, and was a minister in his younger years. I agree heavily with the concerns as well as the conclusion with the article. It is important to not trust all clergymen with every problem, some are best left to psychiatrists, and many clergymen are not qualified to help. They may even make the problem worse. But it is also very important to recognize that no two psychiatric cases are the same, each require unique approaches. And, regardless of your opinion on religion, it can be a useful as a tool to help change people’s lives, as the head of a state hospital said, “I’d appoint a horse-doctor to the staff if I thought he might do my patients any good!”
The importance of considering an individual's spirituality and the confusion over definition have been emphasised by the interest shown in this subject over the past decade. A working definition to help to reduce confusion was presented at the College of Occupational Therapists' annual conference in 2004 and it was felt that it would be useful both to review the attitudes and practices of occupational therapists in this area and to evaluate how they assess and meet spiritual needs. It appeared that practical spiritual needs were often thought of only in terms of religious and cultural traditions or rituals and, as a result, the potential of everyday meaningful occupations was not considered fully. Therefore, the use of occupation was reviewed in relation to meeting spiritual needs. Finally, the perceived barriers to incorporating spirituality into practice were investigated. The review showed that: (1) Although a majority of participants recognise the importance of spirituality to health and illness and the potential benefits to treatment, the number of therapists actually incorporating spiritual needs into daily practice does not demonstrate this recognition; (2) Some occupational therapists feel confident about addressing and assessing spiritual concerns explicitly, but this tends to be situation based and dependent on factors such as client-therapist relationship, therapist awareness of spiritual issues and the expression of spiritual need by the client; (3) Further exploration of the potential of everyday occupations that address the spiritual needs of both religious and non-religious clients needs to be undertaken; and (4) Spirituality needs to be addressed more fully in undergraduate occupational therapy programmes (Johnston...
Religion and spirituality is a major essential part of one’s’ health. They have included things such as prayer in healing, counseling, and the use of meditation. Spiritual issues make a difference in an individual’s experience of illness and health. With spirituality, the health care providers can learn to support the values for the art of healing. The health care provider must have respect for their patient’s religion. (Larry Dossey. Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine. Harper Collins, San Francisco. 1993.)
Confidentiality. Confidentiality is just as important in Christian counseling as it is in secular counseling. According to the American Association of Christian Counselors (2014), “confidentiality recognizes that every client has a fundamental, moral and legal right to privacy and to have a wide range of personal thoughts, opinions, beliefs, and behaviors that are protected from public knowledge” (p. 22). It is crucial for counselors to maintain client confidentiality unless what a client discloses brings harm to themselves or other people. Confidentiality should be kept at all
In terms of counselling, Islam places a particular responsibility in helping different types of clients as well as a variety of problems faced by them. According to Islamic philosophies, one should seek advices from someone who knows better if having a problem or deadlock (meaning Al-Quran, 16: 43-44). This is because giving advice is the essence of Islam, which is the basis for the establishment of Islam. Therefore, in Islam, every Muslim is encouraged to give advice or opinions on the ability of each if requested to do so. But no doubt, techniques and styles of western counselling approaches can also be applied during a counselling session lasts as long as it is still based on the concept of good and forbidding evil deeds as prescribed by the laws of Allah S.W.T. Hence, it is reasonable to place in religious element in a counselling session. Carl G. Jung (1933:264), a psychoanalysis also believed that everyone who fell ill was due to his attitude that has deviated from the true guidance of their religion and none of them has been really healed who did not regain his religious
Over the years, society has come to evolve and progressively become more efficient as society’s viewpoints and perspectives on various aspects of life have also changed. However, the one aspect of life that has stayed constant has been religion. The impact of a constant religious opinion on a changing society has detrimental and benign effects on the populace of such a society.
Worthington, E. L. Jr., Hook, J. N., Davis, D. E., & McDaniel, M. A. (2011). Religion and spirituality. In J. C. Norcross (Ed.), Psychotherapy relationships that work (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press
Spirituality is often confused and intertwined with the concept of religion, causing health care professionals to flee (Govier 2000). It is important to avoid the stereotypical view of spirituality being purely religious, and recognize that spirituality affects all that we are and do; regardless of religious affiliation, or lack of (Govier 2000). In instances in which nurses endorsed the importance of spirituality many were still unsure as to how to go about providing such care (Nixon et al., 2013). Education and guidance facilitating the implementation of spiritual care is limited; lack of adequate training and education is evident (Nixon et al. 2013).Common in more instances, spirituality is just not seen as a priority within the healthcare system with which nurses work (Nixon et al., 2013). Spirituality continues to be seen as a burden; financially, economically, and politically (Nixon et al., 2013). Inadequate staffing and economic constraints of the highly pressurized work environment place the focus of nursing care back to the physical domain rather than the holistic, despite recognition of its importance (Nixon et al.
There is evidence suggesting that attention to one’s spirituality influences the ability to cope with illness, help in the prevention of illn...
Religion is the one element of life that has connected the races and societies of the world for hundreds of years. It has given meaning to lives that may seem otherwise hopeless. Religion has provided for a universal language and culture among those who believe in a higher power. The spirit or being receiving the worship and praise may not be the same, but the practices are usually similar and serve the same purpose--to give direction, insight, courage, and a divine connection.