Religiosity, Spirituality and Health

Religiosity, Spirituality and Health

Article

Walker, D.F., Gorsuch, R.L. & Tan, S. (2004). Therapists' Integration of Religion and Spirituality in Counseling: A Meta-Analysis. Counseling and Values Journal, Vol. 49 (1).

Summary

In this article, the role of religion and spirituality can be seen as an important element of treatment in any multicultural society. No doubt, many therapists in United States believe that religion and spirituality can be used as an effective tool in counseling their patients as more than 85% of Americans affiliate themselves with religion regardless of their religious sects. According to Hoge (1996), approximately 50% people in United States attend or participate in religious activities. It is also a fact that most of the American people believe that spirituality plays a significant role in their everyday life. This means, it is imperative for counselors to understand the connection between spirituality and health in different cultures. It is also vital for counselors to know how religion can make things better in their clients' lives.

Researchers, in this article, make a successful attempt to examine counselors' cultural, spiritual and religious values in relation to the integration of religion and spirituality in counseling. This research was based on meta-analysis and identifies various angles of the subject. In fact, the research allows therapists of different culture and religious background to develop more convincing and refined ways or techniques to counsel their clients of other cultures practicing very different religion than therapists. The main idea behind this research was to build a constructive approach for counseling in multicultural society. Similarly, the research was also aimed to identify and further investigate the connection between a counselor's personal religious thoughts and various counseling variables. Through this meta-analysis, it can be seen in the article that religious thoughts of a therapist impact his or her style and the way ...