Links Between Spirituality And Mental Health
For decades, religion and psychotherapy - like oil and water - did not mix. Clinical psychologists kept spirituality and religion out of their practice, while some religious people looked askance at psychotherapy.
Not anymore.
Mental health professionals and religious workers are breaking out of their traditional ways to adopt holistic approaches - looking to see what they can learn, unlearn and cull from one another to better serve people who come to them for help. Also evident is mutual respect.
At the third national conference on spirituality and mental health, sponsored by Pasadena-based Pacific Clinics 400 people in caring professions and ministries spent a day together to talk about the importance of spirituality and religion in mental health.
In one well-attended session, the Rev. Siang-Yang Tan, a professor of psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, talked about spiritually oriented psychotherapy.
Whatever spiritual intervention that therapists might choose - Scriptures, prayer or silence - must be relevant to the disorder under treatment, said Tan, a clinical psychologist and senior pastor of First Evangelical Church in Glendale. ‘We have to be careful, because religious and spiritual interventions can be misused or abused,’ he said. ‘You have to use it carefully, ethically, professionally and gently.’
He also spoke of the new movement called positive psychology, being developed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. Its direction is toward the ‘positive sides of human experiences,’ emphasizing virtues, character strengths and learning to be grateful, he said. More about the conference here.
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