Practice-based Research & Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy

Keep your eyes open for a forthcoming article in APA’s journal, Psychotherapy, by Danielsen Institute postdoctoral research fellow, Laura Captari; Danielsen Institute Research Director and School of Theology Albert and Jessie Danielsen Professor of Psychology of Religion and Theology, Steven Sandage; and BU clinical psychology doctorate student, Richard Vandiver. Their article, titled “Spiritually integrated psychotherapies in real world clinical practice: Synthesizing the literature to identify best practices and future research” will be in a special issue of Psychotherapy on spiritually integrated psychotherapies.

Article Abstract:

A comprehensive review of the practice-based evidence for spiritually integrated psychotherapy (SIP) is necessary in order to catalyze research and training in this important diversity area. In this paper, we identify and synthesize key findings from 35 studies in six key areas: (a) SIPs in trauma treatment, (b) SIPs in treating eating disorders, (c) SIPs in general psychotherapy, (d) existential concerns as part of SIPs, (e) patients and therapist attitudes about SIPs, and (f) SIP supervision and training models. Building on this, we propose a culturally contextual understanding of this diversity area based on the Relational Spirituality Model (RSM; Sandage, Rupert, et al., 2020). Finally, we discuss best practices for spiritually-responsive clinical care and offer a research prospectus to strengthen the evidence base for real-world effectiveness.

Funding for this project came through a grant on Mental Healthcare, Virtue, and Human Flourishing from the John Templeton Foundation.