Religion, Spirituality and Psychotherapy

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on religion and spirituality in individual and group psychotherapy. It is clear enough that religion and spirituality can promote mental health, or aspects thereof, but can also be a source of struggle and confusion. Therefore, it is said that incorporating religion and spirituality into psychotherapy can be valuable and influence both the therapeutic process and the treatment outcome. Despite the research and evidence, there is still much ambiguity about this (Hook et al., 2019; Constantino et al., 2021).

There is also another side, the so-called ‘therapeutic turn’ (Taylor, 2007): "the transition from a hermeneutic of sin, evil or spiritual deception to one of disease" (620). How do psychotherapeutic schools view religion and spirituality, religious themes such as sin and evil, responsibility and self-understanding (metapsychology)?

The purpose of this Special Issue is to provide an interdisciplinary forum for theoretical and empirical examples of current research. We invite scholars from different psychotherapeutic orientations to submit high-quality papers that focus on the impact of religion and spirituality in psychotherapy. Our perspectives on religion and spirituality are as broad as possible, including being religious with no affiliation, humanistic spirituality, nature or cosmos spirituality and lived religion. Potential topics include those that are currently being researched, such as:

• Religious/spiritual struggle and psychotherapy;
• Religious/spiritual adaptations in psychotherapy;
• Religious/spiritual content within secular psychotherapeutic techniques;
• Religious/spiritual practices added to psychotherapy;
• Sacred or special (religious/spiritual) moments in psychotherapy;
• Religious/spiritual impact on the working alliance in psychotherapy;
• Religious attitudes of clients/ patients/ therapists in (various) psychotherapeutic treatments;
• Conflicting values in psychotherapy;
• (Psychotherapeutic) metapsychologies regarding religion and spirituality; 
• Collaboration with spiritual caregivers and psychotherapy;
• God image in psychotherapy;
• Religion/spirituality and psychotherapeutic treatment of specific disorders (e.g., personality disorders);
• Study protocols of religion and spirituality in psychotherapy.

Papers should examine the potential impact and value of incorporating religion and spirituality into psychotherapy on the therapeutic process and outcome or develop new methodological approaches. As such, both empirical and theoretical articles are welcome.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editors (verhagen.p@wxs.nl) or to the Religions Editorial Office (religions@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of this Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

References

Constantino, M.J.; Boswell, J.F.;  Coyne, A.E. Patient, Therapist, and Relational Factors. In Bergin and Garfield’s Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavioral Change; Barkham, M., Lutz, W., Castonguay, L.G., Eds.; Wiley: Hoboken, NJ, USA, 2021; pp. 225–262.

Hook, J.N.; Captari, L.E.; Hoyt, W.; Davis, D.E.; McElroy, S.E.; Worthington, E.L. Religion and spirituality. In Psychotherapy Relationships That Work Volume 2: Evidence-Based Therapist Responsiveness, 3rd ed.; Norcross, J.C., Wampold, B.E., Eds.; Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, 2019; pp. 212–263.

Taylor, C. A Secular Age; The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press: Harvard, MA, USA, 2007.

Prof. Dr. Peter J. Verhagen
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• psychotherapy
• religion
• spirituality
• meaning-making
• sacred or meaningful moments
• spiritual struggle
• God-image
• values