Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy: Understanding and Addressing the Sacred [Hardcover]

Kenneth I. Pargament PhD (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1572308443 | ISBN-13: 978-1572308442 | Publication Date: July 26, 2007 | Edition: 1

From a leading researcher and practitioner, this volume provides an innovative framework for understanding the role of spirituality in people's lives and its relevance to the work done in psychotherapy. It offers fresh, practical ideas for creating a spiritual dialogue with clients, assessing spirituality as a part of their problems and solutions, and helping them draw on spiritual resources in times of stress. Written from a nonsectarian perspective, the book encompasses both traditional and nontraditional forms of spirituality. It is grounded in current findings from psychotherapy research and the psychology of religion, and includes a wealth of evocative case material.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Kudos! In the best tradition of William James, Pargament highlights the role of spirituality in the lives of clients and psychotherapists and critically examines the assessment and treatment implications. Drawing on research and clinical examples, he describes important and often overlooked ways that attention to spirituality can be integrated into psychotherapy. This book should be of interest to both the novice and seasoned psychotherapist, and will also challenge practitioners and educators in other domains to consider when and how to address issues of spirituality. This is an important book that should stimulate much debate."--Donald Meichenbaum, PhD, Department of Psychology (Emeritus), University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

 

"From one of our foremost thinkers in psychology and religion, this book provides an up-to-the minute, spiritually informed approach to helping people. The strength of the book is its general applicability for most clients who are spiritually attuned. It is the best available resource of its kind for practicing therapists, and would be a great supplemental text for psychotherapy courses. Easy reading--brilliant thinking."--Everett L. Worthington, Jr., PhD, Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University

 

"A remarkable combination of clinical acumen and spiritual sensitivity--there is nothing like it in the literature. This book is clearly the work of a mature clinician with a wide range of experiences to draw upon. It offers a wonderful balance of the theoretical and the practical, is genuinely ecumenical and open in its orientation, and is approachable by members of any religious community (or no religious community). Psychotherapists of all persuasions will welcome this book, and it would be an ideal text for any course in spirituality and psychotherapy or pastoral counseling."--James W. Jones, PsyD, PhD, Department of Religion, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

 

"Exceptional. Pargament offers a sweeping, well-balanced view of spirituality from a clinical perspective, without reducing spirituality to psychology. Through a clear command of existing theory and research, compelling clinical vignettes, wonderful quotations, practical recommendations, and his own gracious therapeutic attitude, Pargament gently reminds the reader that spirituality is a legitimate--often pivotal--dimension of clinical practice. He has 'done the work' for the rest of us who may wonder how to address spirituality within a professional context. Clinicians at all levels of experience will grow by reading, and rereading, this book."--Christopher K. Germer, PhD, private practice, Cambridge, Massachusetts

"What is spirituality, as distinct from religiousness? What is its impact on our lives? Are there psychological approaches that incorporate the client's spiritual values and yearnings? Are these approaches effective? Free of jargon and accessible to all mental health professionals, this volume speaks with clarity, sympathy, and wisdom that make it hard to put down. As a therapist, Pargament interweaves the text with delightful clinical vignettes; as a researcher, he explains the studies on spirituality in everyday life and in therapy in a most compelling way. This book is a wake-up call to the mental health profession."--David Greenberg, MD, Department of Psychiatry, Herzog Hospital, and Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

"This is a book for psychotherapists who take spirituality seriously--their own and that of their clients--and who want to include it in their scope of practice as helpers. In clear prose and with many illustrative case examples, Pargament addresses practical issues of providing spiritually integrated therapy and counseling. He cogently argues that spirituality cannot truly be separated from psychotherapy; to practice without considering this vital dimension of human nature is to risk missing, misunderstanding, and mishandling fundamental struggles of the inner life."--William R. Miller, PhD, Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry (Emeritus), University of New Mexico

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 published extensively on the vital role of religion and spirituality in coping with 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 scientists and professionals. He is a recipient of the William James Award for excellence in research in the psychology of religion, the Virginia Staudt Sexton Mentoring Award for guiding and encouraging others in the field, and the Oskar Pfister Award for his research and practice in religion and mental health.  Dr. Pargament is a practicing clinical psychologist who has worked with people from diverse spiritual backgrounds. In 2011-2012, he will serve as Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Institute for Spirituality and Health of the Texas Medical Center in Houston. 

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: The Guilford Press; 1 edition (July 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572308443
• ISBN-13: 978-1572308442
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #721,101 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating book!!, December 5, 2007

By 

Hisham Abu Raiya - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy: Understanding and Addressing the Sacred (Hardcover)

Very rarely do you come across a book written with such wisdom, humility, thoughtfulness, passion and sensitivity. If spiritual matters matter to you, if understanding human psyche is a "passionate habit" for you, if the intersection between these two intriguing human phenomena always spark your intellect, and if you want to know how practical can complicated ideas be, Spiritually-integrated Psychotherapy: Understanding and Addressing the Sacred is a must book for you. Throughout much of the history of the field of psychology, religion and spirituality, perhaps the most distinctive human phenomena, have been viewed from a stereotypic, narrow, and negative prism. "Mass delusion" and the "Opium of the masses," you know! In a gentle, thorough, balanced and precise way, Dr. Kenneth I. Pargament, an internationally known researcher in the field of psychology of religion, first challenges the basic assumptions of mainstream psychology with regard to the role spirituality plays in the well-being of the individual. Then, he brilliantly establishes the theoretical foundation of the whole endeavor by defining spirituality in an existential dynamic way, a definition that is also broad enough, and nonjudgmental, to be applicable to individuals from diverse religious and spiritual backgrounds. Drawing on his extensive readings, the empirical literature in the field of the psychology of religion, and his immense clinical work, he next evenhandedly walks the reader through the road of "hope and challenge" that leads to the integration of spirituality into psychotherapy. You will fall in love with this book! I can assure you also that after you are done reading this masterpiece, you will not wait long to joyfully read Pargament's other masterpiece, The Psychology of Religion and Coping: Theory, Research, Practice.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read!, December 11, 2007

By 

Carol Ann Faigin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy: Understanding and Addressing the Sacred (Hardcover)

In his book, Spiritually-Integrated Psychotherapy: Understanding and Addressing the Sacred, Dr. Kenneth Pargament builds the case, as the title suggests, for exploring and utilizing a spiritually-integrated approach within psychotherapy. The author introduces spirituality, provides a historical framework for its place in psychology, and introduces why and how clinicians could address spirituality with clients. The author uses empirically and clinically supported illustrations to explain how spirituality can impact clients, as part of the solution, or oftentimes, part of the problem. Regardless of its nature and outcome, one point is clear, spirituality in one way, shape, or form, enters into the treatment room with our clients. As the author points out, it is now our challenge (and opportunity), to begin to account for and address this "3000 pound elephant" in the room. This book is edifying as well as a pleasure to read. It is filled with engaging, elucidatory and diverse quotes ranging from Gandhi to Kenny Rogers! Pargament draws on his many years of clinical practice, seamlessly weaving a plethora of salient, real-life examples with his knowledge as a research scientist. The vast resources and diverse citations used throughout the book reflect a large breadth and depth of knowledge that in itself creates a lens of spiritual and psychological integration within its text, while explaining the importance of this bridging in psychotherapy. Spiritually-Integrated Psychotherapy: Understanding and Addressing the Sacred is a must-read for those who are interested in a framework for exploration of integrating spiritual issues into clinical care.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy, May 19, 2010

By 

Gordon D. Renfro (TN) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy: Understanding and Addressing the Sacred (Hardcover)

Pargament strikes a chord between the disciplines of psychology and caring ministry. His insight and research are second only in his ability to express his insights articulately and with great sensitivity to psychological/spiritual dynamics. I have found this book to be milestone in my work as a hospice chaplain, and I highly recommend it to anyone who seeks to deepen her or his insight into the work of caring ministry.