Psychotherapy and Spirituality
Those of you who are regular readers of my blog know I have written about hypnotherapy and spirituality in the past. Whilst I do have a spiritual side, I do not generally bring that into my practice. However, I thought today might be a good day to extend this theme to spirituality and psychotherapy.
I have said to my students many times, that things have changed in a sociological way in recent decades. Often in the past, the psychotherapist was not the first port of call when you were in any kind of crisis. Indeed, the local priest or even a good neighbour was the first place you went to when you had an emotional or psychological crisis. The great psychotherapist Carl Jung was really the first in our field to start looking at spirituality within the context of good mental health.
With the decline of religion in the western world. I have noticed that my clients will often consult me about more than their clinical issues like anxiety or low self esteem. In the past decade or so, many of my clients ask me questions which I refer to as the “Big Questions” you know meaning of life, and other such philosophical and even spiritual questions. We are not qualified to offer spiritual guidance, but I do believe that the therapist’s office is a good place for the client to do some self exploration of their own which might help them to come to some conclusions on their “Big Questions”.
