Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy: Understanding and Addressing the Sacred

400 Pages·2007·1.56 MB·English

by  Kenneth I. Pargament

SPIRITUALLY INTEGRATED PSYCHOTHERAPY

S P I R I T U A L L Y
I N T E G R A T E D
PSYCHOTHERAPY
Understanding and
Addressing the Sacred
KENNETH I. PARGAMENT
THE GUILFORD PRESS
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Pargament,KennethI.(KennethIra),1950–
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Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN-13:978-1-57230-844-2(hardcover:alk.paper)
ISBN-10:1-57230-844-3(hardcover:alk.paper)
1. Psychotherapy—Religiousaspects. 2. Spirituality. I. Title.
[DNLM:1. Psychotherapy—methods—CaseReports. 2. MentalDisorders—therapy—
CaseReports. 3. Spirituality—CaseReports. WM420P229s2007]
RC489.S676P372007
616.89′166—dc22
2007019485
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Ethics,31,1–30(2003).
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CancerbyBrendaCole(Unpublisheddoctoraldissertation,BowlingGreenStateUniversity,BowlingGreen,
OH,1999).
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SpiritualLivesbyJ.L.GriffithandM.E.Griffith(NewYork:GuilfordPress,2002).
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domHouse,2004).
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To the memory of my mother, Florence,
and to my father, Sol,
who leavened our lives
with music, laughter, and love

AAbboouutt tthhee AAuutthhoorr
About the Author
Kenneth I. Pargament, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at Bowling Green
State University, where he has been on the faculty since 1979. He has pub-
lishedextensivelyonthevitalroleofreligionandspiritualityincopingwith
stress and trauma. Dr. Pargament has been a leading figure in the effort to
bring a balanced view of religion and spirituality to the attention of scien-
tists and professionals. He is author of The Psychology of Religion and
Coping: Theory, Research, Practice and coeditor of Forgiveness: Theory,
Research,andPractice(withMichaelE.McCulloughandCarlE.Thoresen).
He is a recipient of the William James Award for excellence in research in
the psychology of religion and the Virginia Staudt Sexton Mentoring
Award for guiding and encouraging others in the field. Dr. Pargament is a
practicing clinical psychologist who has worked with people from diverse
spiritual backgrounds.
vii

PPrreeffaaccee
Preface
S
everal years ago, while driving a rental car in California, I came
acrossmyfavoritebumperstickerofalltime.“Honkifyoubelieveinauni-
fied field theory,” it read. I would have honked if I could have found the
horn on the car.
For much of my career, I have been searching for the equivalent of a
unified field theory in the psychology of religion, a perspective that could
lend unity to theory, research, and clinical practice. “Trying to put things
together,”isthewaymymentorForrestTylerdescribedit.Muchofmyini-
tial work in psychology consisted of trying to put religion together with
health. Initially, I focused on empirical studies that explored the connec-
tionsbetweenvariousaspectsofreligiousnessandpositivementalhealthor
psychosocial competence. At the same time, I kept my fingers in clinical
work.OnceaweekIsawclinicalcasesand,inaddition,Isupervisedgradu-
atestudentsinpsychotherapy.Notwodayswerealike,andbetweenteach-
ing, research, and practice, my professional life was always stimulating.
Evenso,IoftenfeltthatIwaslivingseparateprofessionallives.Ontheone
hand, my research colleagues reacted with surprise when they found out
thatIwasaclinicalpsychologist.Ontheother,myclientswouldbeequally
surprised to discover that I studied religion and health. The problem was
that my research on religion had little to do with my clinical practice, and
my clinical work had little impact on my research. Of course, I wasn’t the
only one. The split between science and practice was and is commonplace
in psychology. Most clinicians are quite finicky when it comes to consum-
ingresearch,anditistherareclinicianwhoconductsresearchofhisorher
ix
x Preface
own. Researchers seem just as reluctant to involve themselves in clinical
practice. But I needed to put things together.
In particular, I needed a way to think about and study religion that
spokemoredirectlytotheproblemspeoplefaceintheirlives.Toknowthat
a measure of religiousness correlated .30 with a measure of depression or
life satisfaction said little to me about helping the client who was unsure
whetherherreligiousfaithwascallingonhertoreturntoherhusbandwho
had been cheating on her. So I began to look for a different research strat-
egy. I focused on the roles that religion plays in the process of coping. The
metaphor of “coping” was appealing to me because it challenged the all-
too-common psychological stereotype that religion is inevitably passive,
defensive, and maladaptive. Instead, it suggested another possibility—that
religion could be a positive resource to people in times of stress. Coping
also conveyed an appreciation for the interplay of (1) the person (2) facing
critical problems (3) in the context of a larger social milieu. In short, the
metaphor of coping seemed to come closer to capturing something impor-
tantaboutrealpeopleconfrontingrealproblems.Myresearchonthistopic
culminated in my book The Psychology of Religion and Coping: Theory,
Research, Practice (Pargament, 1997).
NowIfeltlikeIwasgettingsomewhere—Iwasbeginningtoputsome
thingstogether.Ifoundthatmyresearchonreligionandcopingwashelpful
in my clinical work and that my clinical work, in turn, often stimulated
new ideas for research. Nevertheless, something was still missing. I needed
a larger, more encompassing perspective to guide my work. It wasn’t
enough to know how religion expresses itself in the process of coping with
lifestressors.Ineededtoknowmoreabouttheheartandsoulofreligion—
spirituality—howitdevelopsandevolvesoverthelifespan,howitoperates
ineverydaylife,howitcanbeasourceofsolutionstoproblems,howitcan
be a problem in and of itself, and how it can be addressed in psycho-
therapy.
Over the past 10 years, I have been trying to learn more about these
issues.Thisbookistheresult.Moregenerally,itisinsomesenseaculmina-
tion of my own, very personal attempt to put things together as a re-
searcher, theorist, and practitioner. Of course, I hope this book has some
valuetootherpeopletoo.Thefieldofpsychology,Ibelieve,isinneedofa
unified perspective on human behavior, one that expands the biopsycho-
social perspective to a biopsychosociospiritual perspective. In this book, I
have tried to bring spirituality more fully into the domain of clinical
thought and practice. One of my basic assumptions has been that we can’t
work with spiritual issues in psychotherapy unless we understand what
spirituality is. Thus, I have tried to provide practitioners with an empiri-
cally grounded way to think about spirituality as a foundation for clinical
practice.Ihavealsoemphasizedtherichnessofspirituality,theimportance