Encountering the Sacred in Psychotherapy: How to Talk with People about Their Spiritual Lives

by James L. Griffith, Melissa Elliott Griffith

Drawing on narrative, postmodern, and other therapeutic perspectives, this book guides therapists in exploring the creative and healing possibilities in clients' spiritual and religious experience. Vivid personal accounts and dialogues bring to life the ways spirituality may influence the stories told in therapy, the language and metaphors used, and the meanings brought to key relationships and events. Applications are discussed for a wide variety of clinical situations, including helping people resolve relationship problems, manage psychiatric symptoms, and cope with medical illnesses.

Genres: Spirituality, Psychology

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 19, 2001

Reviews

[Yvonne Aburrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing, compassionate, and open-hearted book on how to bring religion into psychotherapy. The authors are Christians but hugely respectful of other religions. They deal with liminality, ritual, beliefs, spirituality, what happens when religion turns bad, and how to be open to other people’s religious language and metaphors. A must-read for therapists, ministers, and for anyone interested in how to have a meaningful conversation about religion. I’d’ve liked there to be more about dealing with trauma from fundamentalist groups, but I think the approaches detailed here would help in that situation to some extent.

[leahgrace715 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like some of the concepts introduced in this book, but the writing style and philosophical nature made many concepts really challenging to grasp. Overall, I was convinced of the importance of making space for clients spirituality in therapy, but would not recommend this book lol (my classmates agreed haha!)