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Integrating clients’ religion and spirituality within psychotherapy: A comprehensive meta‐analysis
Author(s) -
Captari Laura E.,
Hook Joshua N.,
Hoyt William,
Davis Don E.,
McElroyHeltzel Stacey E.,
Worthington Everett L.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.22681
Subject(s) - psychotherapist , psychology , spirituality , meta analysis , psychological distress , clinical psychology , distress , mental health , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology
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.