Psychology & Spirtuality

I'd like to point out that I have two.. yes 2 people who have read my blog!! Woohoo.. actually it's nice to know that your life is worth reading about ;) Thought I already knew that.. right?!? haha If it's not quite apparent from my posts.. I'm a Psychologist-to-be, actually WILL BE in about 4 years.. but right now I'm hacking away at the last few classes of my Bachelors degree. I did an assignment for my "Guidance and Counseling" class today that I thought was interesting and relates to some of my posts.. here it is for your viewing pleasure:

-------------------------------------------------------

I was recently reading an article in the May/June issue of Psychology Today. The title of the article was “With God As My Shrink” written by Pamela Paul. There is an increase in Christian counseling these days that raises the question, how much should spirituality play in therapy. I think more so in counseling than any clinical setting, but maybe a little in both. There is no doubt that while most of the world’s population has some kind of faith in a higher being, psychology tends to shy from the idea because the field is having hard enough a time with being objective and scientific without bringing God in the mix. However, I can’t see how God isn’t in the therapy room with believers. In order to empathize with a client who has a strong spirituality, a counselor or therapist would definitely need to understand where they are coming from and appreciate how that faith plays into the psychological makeup of the presenting dilemma/disorder.

I would be lying if I denied having a slight conflict with my own spirituality while studying psychology. It is very hard to separate the two thing and sometimes even harder to reconcile them. Since we do live in our own experiential worlds, God should be recognized when applicable to the specific client. It can be a great tool in self-motivation, to believe in an entity that loves unconditionally and saves (in Christianity). The Christian counselors that I read about in Psychology Today do need to be careful not to lose their grounding. Clients must take responsibility for their thoughts, behaviors, and life. Quite easily, instead of becoming more whole and grounded in reality, a client could place their hopes in the healing powers of the divine without taking an active role in the process. Personally, I do believe in those healing powers – that’s why God created people who become psychologists, medical doctors, and the like.