Spiritual Psychology - What Is It?

By Gabrielle Ament

What is the difference between spiritual psychology and conventional psychotherapy?

Spiritual psychology looks at you as more than a bundle of body, mind, emotions and behaviors. It includes the concept that there may be something beyond what we normally can perceive. This "something" is held to be benevolent and is often referred to as "soul," "spirit," "higher self" "god," "angels," "consciousness," "energy," "light," and so on.

This concept allows the practice of spiritually based psychology much more freedom than traditional psychotherapy can be. That means that a session may include:

• meditation


• guided visualization


• body awareness techniques


• relaxation practices


• intellectual discussions


• awareness exercises

In addition to more conventional tools. This give your therapist more flexibility in how she is able to approach you and the reasons that you came to seek support in the first place.

Another aspect of spiritual psychology is that it respects clients in their life paths and life choices. Spiritually based therapists value gentleness, kindness and a non-intrusive approach. Ideally they are completely non judgmental and their main focus is always on facilitating and empowering their clients' transformation. You'll find that a spiritual psychologist works much more as a guide than as an expert who has all the answers.

What does spiritual psychology value?

These are some of the values that set this practice apart and in the end probably make it more effective.

• Creating an authentic, kind and judgment free environment in which clients feel seen, heard and emphatically understood.


• Helping clients move forward in life more effectively and quickly.


• Supporting clients to discover and strengthen their own connection to spirituality.


• Helping clients discover their own individual uniqueness and supporting them to live that fully in the world.

How can spiritual psychology help where conventional therapy stops?

In most cases conventional psychotherapy stops at treating symptoms. Therapists are not interested in deeper personal growth or transformation. For this reason, it is not uncommon with conventional therapy for people to relapse into old behaviors after a period of time.

With spiritual psychology the potential is much greater. In sessions it is possible to heal on a deep level and to make positive changes that really do stick. Spiritual psychology deals more with changing beliefs and attitudes that are limiting you and less with treating emotional "problems" or "issues." This means that you can point yourself toward the positive rather than dwell on the negative.

The individual movement within the practice of spiritually based psychology is always toward less self criticism, more acceptance, and more kindness and love in general. These positive results are common when people meet the right therapist at the right time of their life.

In the end who is spiritual psychology for?

Spiritually based therapy works best for people who really seek change and are open to the possibility of dramatic and rapid personal growth. That said, anyone with a serious mental health issue such as psychosis or severe anxiety will almost always need to pursue other treatments before jumping into this advanced form of transformative therapy.

Gabrielle Ament is a clinical psychologist and person centered psychotherapist. She provides therapy and online counselling. Read more about her work on http://i-counselling.net

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