Handbook of Psychotherapy and Religious Diversity

"The recognition that an understanding of religious diversity is an important aspect of multicultural competency continues to spread throughout the mental health professions. Awareness is growing that there is a strong ethical imperative for psychotherapists to develop competency in religious and spiritual aspects of diversity. Professionals want information that will help them integrate spirituality into treatment in ethical and effective ways with clients from diverse religious traditions. The second edition of the Handbook of Psychotherapy and Religious Diversity can help all of us succeed at this quest. This volume presents detailed information about the beliefs, practices, and clinical issues of clients from many of the Western and Eastern religions that are influential in the world and in North America, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, as well as some racial and ethnic traditions (e.g., African American and Asian American religions). It will help psychotherapists more fully honor and incorporate the unique religious beliefs and spiritual resources of clients who belong to a particular religious denomination or spiritual tradition. The chapters herein can serve as a primary text in courses on religious and spiritual issues in psychotherapy and as a supplemental text in graduate courses on human diversity and multicultural counseling. This book is also a valuable desktop resource for the many practitioners who encounter clients from diverse religious traditions in their daily psychotherapy practices. The second edition of this book has been updated in a number of important ways. It provides current information about (a) religious demographics, organization, doctrine, culture, immigration, and globalization; (b) mental health implications of religious theology and culture; (c) religious views of the mental health professions and of current social and moral issues; (d) guidelines and recommendations for clinical practice; and (e) published and online resources. The authors also provide new case examples that illustrate clinical issues and intervention approaches with clients from their spiritual traditions. Finally, it provides updated citations and references to the scholarly and clinical literature. The first edition of this book was widely read by mental health practitioners and researchers. We are hopeful and optimistic that our colleagues in the mental health professions throughout North America will find this, the second edition of the Handbook of Psychotherapy and Religious Diversity, a valuable resource in their clinical practices and research"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).… (more)