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Some religious or spiritual (R/S) clients seek psychotherapy that integrates R/S values, while others may be reticent to disclose R/S-related aspects of struggles in a presumably secular setting. We meta-analyzed 97 outcome studies (N = 7,181) examining the efficacy of tailoring treatment to patients' R/S beliefs and values. We compared the effectiveness of R/S-tailored psychotherapy with no-treatment controls, alternate secular treatments, and additive secular treatments. R/S-adapted psychotherapy resulted in greater improvement in clients' psychological (g = 0.74, p < 0.000) and spiritual (g = 0.74, p < 0.000) functioning compared with no treatment and non R/S psychotherapies (psychological: g = 0.33, p < 0.001; spiritual: g = 0.43, p < 0.001). In more rigorous additive studies, R/S-accommodated psychotherapies were equally effective to standard approaches in reducing psychological distress (g = 0.13, p = 0.258), but resulted in greater spiritual well-being (g = 0.34, p < 0.000). We feature several clinical examples and conclude with evidence-based therapeutic practices., (© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

The role of spirituality in post-stroke aphasia recovery has been ignored despite its potential contribution to positive health outcomes, particularly stroke recovery. The present study examines the spiritual experience of adults with aphasia in an effort to better understand the role of one's spirituality in the aphasia recovery process. Thirteen adults with aphasia completed a modified spirituality questionnaire and participated in semi-structured interviews. All participants considered themselves spiritual and reported improvements in communication during post-stroke recovery. Two themes related to spirituality that emerged from the interviews were (a) a greater power being in control of events and (b) a greater power as helper.

Most measures of spirituality privilege religious spirituality, but people may experience spirituality in a variety of ways, including a sense of closeness, oneness, or connection with a theistic being, the transcendent (i.e., something outside space and time), oneself, humanity, or nature. The overall purpose of the present 4 studies was to develop the Sources of Spirituality (SOS) Scale to measure these different elements of spirituality. In Study 1, we created items, had them reviewed by experts, and used data from a sample of undergraduates (N = 218) to evaluate factor structure and inform initial measurement revisions. The factor structure replicated well in another sample of undergraduates (N = 200; Study 2), and in a sample of community adults (N = 140; Study 3). In a sample of undergraduates (N = 200; Study 4), we then evaluated evidence of construct validity by examining associations between SOS Scale scores and religious commitment, positive attitudes toward the Sacred, and dispositional connection with nature. Moreover, based on latent profile analyses results, we found 5 distinct patterns of spirituality based on SOS subscales. We consider implications for therapy and relevance of the findings for models of spirituality and future research., ((c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).)

Many clients highly value religious and spiritual (R/S) commitments, and many psychotherapists have accommodated secular treatments to R/S perspectives. We meta-analyzed 51 samples from 46 studies (N = 3,290) that examined the outcomes of religious accommodative therapies and nonreligious spirituality therapies. Comparisons on psychological and spiritual outcomes were made to a control condition, an alternate treatment, or a subset of those studies that used a dismantling design (similar in theory and duration of treatment, but including religious contents). Patients in R/S psychotherapies showed greater improvement than those in alternate secular psychotherapies both on psychological (d =.26) and on spiritual (d = .41) outcomes. Religiously accommodated treatments outperformed dismantling-design alternative treatments on spiritual (d = .33) but not on psychological outcomes. Clinical examples are provided and therapeutic practices are recommended., (© 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

This article evaluated the efficacy status of religious and spiritual (R/S) therapies for mental health problems, including treatments for depression, anxiety, unforgiveness, eating disorders, schizophrenia, alcoholism, anger, and marital issues. Religions represented included Christianity, Islam, Taoism, and Buddhism. Some studies incorporated a generic spirituality. Several R/S therapies were found to be helpful for clients, supporting the further use and research on these therapies. There was limited evidence that R/S therapies outperformed established secular therapies, thus the decision to use an R/S therapy may be an issue of client preference and therapist comfort.

There is a dearth of empirical research distinguishing gratitude to God (GTG) from interhuman gratitude (IHG). This study explored linguistic (quantitative) and thematic (qualitative) differences in letters of GTG and letters of IHG. Participants (N = 326 undergraduate students) were randomly assigned to write (a) a letter of GTG, (b) a letter of IHG, or (c) a description of their daily morning routine. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count 2015 was used to examine linguistic differences and conventional content analysis was used to explore thematic differences. Few linguistic differences were observed between the gratitude-writing conditions, but both gratitude conditions reported more affective, cognitive, and past-focused time-oriented language compared to the control condition. Qualitative analyses revealed participants in the GTG condition identified a greater breadth and depth of benefits compared to the IHG condition, and there were unique differences pertaining to non-gratitude expressions. Limitations and areas for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the flourishing psychological literature on gratitude that has accumulated over the past several decades, researchers have only recently started to programmatically study Gratitude to God (GTG). Given that gratitude has consistently demonstrated positive relationships with relational virtues, the current study examined the degree to which GTG is associated with forgiveness, relational humility, and altruism, above and beyond domain-general gratitude and religious commitment. Participants (N = 582 undergraduates) rated themselves on measures of religious commitment, domain-general gratitude, GTG, forgiveness, relational humility, and altruism. GTG positively predicted forgiveness over and above domain-general gratitude. GTG positively predicted relational humility over and above domain-general gratitude in participants with high levels of religious commitment. For altruism, neither GTG nor domain-general gratitude was a significant predictor, but religious commitment was a positive predictor. We conclude with a discussion of methodological limitations and suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In two pre-registered studies we investigated the cognitive context of gratitude to God (GTG) and fading positive affect of grateful memories. Although gratitude has been shown to causally impact happiness, few studies have investigated how the nature of the benefactor might affect experienced gratitude. Participants first recalled a positive event, a human-caused benefit, or a God-caused benefit. After recall they reported their current momentary emotions, recalled past emotions from the time of the event and emotion appraisals. Grateful memories showed less fading positive affect over time compared to other positive memories. Appraisals of value and altruism predicted both GTG and gratitude to humans (GTH). Positive spiritual appraisals (e.g. positive interpretations about one's relationship with God, the sacred giftedness of the event) were uniquely associated with GTG. When it comes to felt gratitude, the nature of the benefactor does matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors used a prospective design to investigate how gratitude to God predicts religious well-being over time. Gratitude to God is a central aspect of monotheistic religions, and thus may be particularly important to the religious/spiritual well-being of believers. Participants completed online measures of trait and state gratitude to God, along with spiritual well-being, nearness to God, and religious commitment scales over a one-to-two-month period. General well-being, trait gratitude, and the Big Five personality traits were also assessed. After controlling baseline levels, trait gratitude and the Big Five personality traits, dispositional gratitude to God at Time 1 predicted increased religious well-being, nearness to God, and religious commitment at Time 2. Although gratitude to God was significantly related to general well-being variables in cross-sectional analyses, it did not predict these variables over time. Validity data for the gratitude to God measures are also presented. The results suggest that gratitude to God is important to religious/spiritual well-being, and gratitude to God may be a critical variable for research on positive psychology and the psychology of religion/spirituality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research finds an association between spirituality and subjective well-being. However, the widespread use of poorly defined concepts of spirituality, tautological spirituality scales, and heavy reliance on cross-sectional samples cast doubts on prior findings. Here, we leverage ten waves of panel data from a nationally diverse longitudinal study to systematically test whether having spiritual beliefs leads to growth in personal well-being and life satisfaction (N = 3257, New Zealand, 2010–2020). Contrary to previous research, we find that belief in a spirit or life force predicts lower personal well-being and life satisfaction. However, in support of previous speculation, belief (relative to disbelief) in a spirit or life force predicts increasing personal well-being and life satisfaction over time. These findings are robust even while accounting for known demographic influences; they even hold among those who believe in a God but disbelieve in a spirit or life force. The recent growth in spiritual beliefs and decline in traditional religion across many industrial societies motivates further causal investigations of the mechanisms by which spiritual beliefs lead to growth in subjective well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Positive psychologists have used science to understand many virtues but have only just started to study grace, recently defined as ' ... the gift of acceptance given unconditionally and voluntarily to an undeserving person by an unobligated giver'. The purpose of the current article is to provide a systematic review of all empirical studies (published and unpublished) on grace. Broadly, the empirical study of grace has focused on what people believe and how people experience both divine and human grace. Additionally, empirical attention has shifted to explore outcomes of grace-based interventions (e.g., congregation-wide interventions, marital interventions). In general, beliefs and experiences of grace were associated with (a) positive mental health outcomes, (b) religiosity, (c) virtue development, and (d) interpersonal functioning. Human grace has not been extensively explored and divine grace has been studied mostly among Christians; future studies should address these limitations and explore causal relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural disasters can disrupt and challenge survivors' core belief systems, leading to negative health consequences. People often rely on religion/spirituality to help them cope and make meaning, but to date very few studies have specifically focused on exploring spiritually oriented expressive writing interventions with natural disaster survivors. Therefore, the current longitudinal, mixed-methods study utilized an experimental design with random assignment of 132 survivors of the 2016 Louisiana flooding. Quantitative measures were completed before and after the writing intervention, then at 1-month and 6-month follow-up time points. Results indicated that the spiritually oriented intervention was effective in promoting meaning in life but not life satisfaction. Survivors with lower preintervention positive attitudes toward God evidenced the strongest growth over time regarding meaning in life. Qualitative analyses, using a directed content analysis approach, revealed six themes in the experimental group's written responses that expanded previous research. Finally, we discuss implications for counseling and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Enneagram is a typology that many clients use to understand their personality and interpersonal patterns, despite some concerns about its validity. Thus, the purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive and clinician‐friendly review of the extant empirical work on the Enneagram. After reviewing 104 independent samples, we found mixed evidence of reliability and validity. In terms of strengths, some factor analytic work has shown partial alignment with prior theorizing, and subscales show theory‐consistent relationships with other constructs such as the Big 5. Also, several studies found the Enneagram was helpful for personal/spiritual growth. However, factor analytic work has typically found fewer than nine factors, and no work has used clustering techniques to derive the nine types. Also, there is little research supporting secondary aspects of Enneagram theory, such as wings and intertype movement. We conclude by highlighting directions for future research and implications for clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Religious/spiritual (R/S) growth is a core domain of posttraumatic growth (PTG). However, research on R/S growth following disasters has over‐relied on retrospective self‐reports of growth. We therefore examined longitudinal change in religiousness/spirituality following two disasters. Method: Religious survivors of Hurricanes Harvey (Study 1) and Irma (Study 2) completed measures of perceived R/S PTG, general religiousness/spirituality ("current standing"‐R/S PTG), and subfacets of religiousness/spirituality (spiritual fortitude, religious motivations, and benevolent theodicies). In Study 1, 451 participants responded at 1‐month and 2‐month postdisaster. In Study 2, participants responded within 5‐days predisaster and at 1‐month (N = 1,144) and 6‐months postdisaster (N = 684). Results: In both studies, perceived R/S PTG was weakly related to longitudinal increases in general religiousness/spirituality and in most of its subfacets, but reliable growth in any R/S outcome was rare. Additionally, Study 2 revealed evidence that actual change in psychological well‐being is associated with actual (but not perceived) R/S PTG, but disaster survivors tend to exhibit declines in their religiousness/spirituality, spiritual fortitude, and religious motivations. Conclusions: Results suggest disaster survivors are only modestly accurate in perceiving how much positive R/S change they experience following a disaster. We discuss implications for clinical practice, scientific research, and empirical and conceptual work on PTG more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this longitudinal qualitative study was to develop a grounded theory of religious meaning making and attachment in a disaster context. At 1-month (T1; n = 36) and 6-months postdisaster (T2; n = 29), we conducted in-depth interviews with a highly religious sample of adult survivors of the 2016 Louisiana flood, using a disaster-adapted version of the Religious Attachment Interview. We utilized Corbin and Strauss's grounded-theory approach for data analysis. At both timepoints, results revealed that survivors who were theistic believers engaged in postdisaster religious meaning making in which they drew on benevolent God representations and theodicies to appraise the disaster's cause, purpose, and religious-attachment effects, thereby contributing to positive religious-attachment outcomes (religious meanings made; e.g. renewed beliefs and experiences of God's benevolence and providence). Findings are discussed in terms of theories and research on disasters, meaning making, and religious attachment, including implications for research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop the Trait Sources of Spirituality Scale (TSSS), which assesses experiences of closeness to the sacred, within and outside a religious tradition. After using factor analysis to finalize the scale, we examine evidence of construct validity, including latent profile analysis that reveals 5 patterns of how spirituality is experienced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the impact of losing tangible resources on psychological resources in a sample of college students (n = 160) affected by Hurricane Katrina. The data was collected approximately five months after the storm. Based on conservation of resources theory, we tested whether the loss of tangible resources (e.g., food, water) would be positively related to the loss of psychological resources (e.g., optimism, hope), and whether this association would be exacerbated by having an insecure (anxious or avoidant) attachment to God. As predicted, loss of tangible resources was related to the loss of psychological resources, and this relationship was amplified in participants who had an avoidant attachment to God. We conclude by discussing implications of the present study and areas for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The present study explored the relationship between (a) intellectual humility toward religious beliefs and values and (b) religious tolerance. Pastors who identified as Christian (N = 196) completed measures of conservatism, religious commitment, intellectual humility toward religious beliefs and values, and religious tolerance. Intellectual humility was a positive predictor of religious tolerance, even when controlling for conservatism and religious commitment. An interaction was found between exposure to religious diversity and intellectual humility, such that exposure to religious diversity was positively related to religious tolerance only for participants who reported high levels of intellectual humility. We conclude by discussing limitations, areas for future research, and implications for interfaith dialog and engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging adulthood is a period of development characterized by the maturation of more complex sexual and religious/spiritual (r/s) identities. In some cases, r/s may enhance positive sexual experiences; however, r/s may also exacerbate problems that result from sexual difficulties. In the current study, a cross-sectional survey was administered to university students (N = 295) to test whether the associations of hypersexual behavior with spiritual struggle and with sexual self-concept would differ based on sexual congruence. We found that the associations of hypersexual behavior with sexual anxiety and with some facets of spiritual struggle were more strongly positive among participants who perceived their sexual values and behaviors as incongruent. Also, the association between hypersexual behavior and sexual esteem was more strongly negative among those who perceived their sexual values and behaviors as incongruent. We discuss implications for future examinations of the intersectionality of sexuality, religiousness, and spirituality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present article, we extend a model of relational spirituality and forgiveness to the context of major offenses by clergy. In Study 1, undergraduate students (N= 208) described a major offense that they had experienced by a religious leader and then completed several questionnaires in relation to the offense and the religious leader. Appraisals of relational spirituality were significantly associated with forgiveness, after controlling for known predictors of forgiveness (i.e., hurtfulness, time since the offense, and commitment to God or another source of spirituality). In Study 2, we replicated and extended the findings from Study 1 using an independent sample of undergraduates (N= 365). In a series of structural equation models, we found that relational engagement of God (or another source of spirituality) partially mediated the relationship between anger toward God (or another source of spirituality) and unforgiving motivations. We conclude by discussing implications for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the relationships between religious coping, coping resources, and depressive symptoms. The authors tested whether coping resources explained the link between religious coping and depressive symptoms in a sample of 349 college students. Results indicated that coping resources partially mediated the relationship between negative religious coping and depressive symptoms, primarily through decreased social ease. The results offered no evidence that coping resources mediated the relationship between positive religious coping and depressive symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spirituality is one's intimacy and closeness with something beyond the self that is held to be sacred (i.e. God, humankind, nature, the cosmos). Workplace conflict and lingering resultant unforgiveness disrupt individuals' senses of spirituality in the workplace - both in their individual lives and their sense of shared spiritual closeness. Forgiveness is one important way to restore spiritual harmony. We define forgiveness, and briefly review the literature addressing forgiveness in organizations. We also present a model of relational spirituality and forgiveness that addresses how spiritual appraisals around transgressions can help or hinder forgiving and communication around transgressions. We apply this model of spirituality and forgiveness to organizations. We conclude by noting areas of future research needed in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multicultural orientation (MCO; Owen, Psychotherapy, 50, 2013, 496; Owen et al., Psychotherapy, 48, 2011, 274) is a framework for understanding how psychotherapists engage with their clients' cultural identities within session and focuses on interpersonally humble processes rather than implementing specific skills that are unique to specific cultural groups. Clients who have therapists with higher MCO report better mental health outcomes and better therapeutic alliances (for a review, see Davis et al., Psychotherapy, 55, 2018, 89). Moreover, religious and spiritual (R/S) clients whose R/S wellness is addressed in session have higher mental health outcomes (Captari et al., Journal of Clinical Psychology, 74, 2018, 1938). However, little is known regarding how psychotherapy processes and MCO align when therapy dyads are discussing religious and spiritual (R/S) issues in session. This empirical case study reviews qualitative and quantitative data from two psychotherapy dyads wherein the clients had similar presenting problems, demographics, and discussed R/S issues with their therapists. Coder ratings of MCO and client-reported mental health and working alliance outcomes of selected sessions were analyzed to understand how these processes occur in actual psychotherapy sessions and what clinical gains were made. While both dyads discussed R/S issues and made clinically significant gains via self-reports of wellbeing, the dyads differed in MCO ratings of humility and comfort. Content analysis of session transcripts unpacked these differences and identified the psychotherapists' interventions and responses to their clients. Key takeaways for psychotherapists working with R/S clients are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]