Spiritually Oriented Psychotherapy for Trauma

✍ Scribed by Donald F. Walker (editor), Christine Courtois (editor), Jamie D. Aten (editor)

• Publisher: American Psychological Association
• Year: 2014
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 303
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Recent years have brought broader awareness and openness to talking about traumatic life events. Survivors of these events often experience spiritual struggles in the course of healing. Likewise, in helping clients process trauma, therapists too may struggle with spiritual questions such as why people suffer.

In this book, readers will learn how to apply spiritually oriented practices within their own setting, approach to therapy, and client populations. They will also learn how to work with the ethical challenges trauma treatment can pose to their own competence and world view.

This book describes empirical research and provides case studies showing its application to sexual abuse, partner violence, and trauma resulting from war and natural disasters.

Features:

• Provides concrete advice for psychotherapists who feel uncomfortable with raising spiritual issues or discussing them when they come up.

• Illustrates how to adopt a spiritual orientation in each stage of therapy—assessment, establishing working alliance, meaning making, and change.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents
Contributors
Introduction
Chapter 1 Basics of Working on Spiritual Matters With Traumatized Individuals
Chapter 2 Spirituality, Religion, and Complex Developmental Trauma
Chapter 3 First, Do No More Harm: Ethics of Attending to Spiritual Issues in Trauma Treatment
Chapter 4 Religious and Spiritual Assessment of Trauma Survivors
Chapter 5 Religion, Spirituality, and the Working Alliance With Trauma Survivors
Chapter 6 Spirituality and Making Meaning: Implications for Therapy With Trauma Survivors
Chapter 7 Understanding and Responding to Changes in Spirituality and Religion After Traumatic Events
Chapter 8 God Images in Clinical Work With Sexual Abuse Survivors: A Relational Psychodynamic Paradigm
Chapter 9 Providing Spiritual and Emotional Care in Response to Disaster
Chapter 10 Addressing Intimate Partner Violence Within a Religious Context
Chapter 11 Faith and Honor in Trauma Treatment for Military Personnel and Their Families
Chapter 12 Responding to the Problem of Evil and Suffering
Afterword: Reflections and Future Directions
Index
About the Editors