The treatment of religious issues in psychotherapy : an investigation into the expiences of psychotherapy patients

Despite the consensus that some form of free association is a useful psychotherapeutic enterprise in most talk therapies, there is nevertheless both anecdotal and empirical evidence that certain topics, including religion, are rarely therapeutically explored. Indeed, some evidence exists that therapists,perhaps inadvertently, sometimes display bias against their religious patients. Ifthis is the case, it is particularly striking given that 96% of the Americanpopulation endorses a belief in God. To address this concern, an exploratory project was designed to assess the real life experiences and perceptions of actual psychotherapy patients via existential-phenomenological perspectives and techniques. Patients were interviewed and their transcripts were evaluated by thematic analysis. Ten themes emerged from this process and the results indicated that the vast majority of this sample had indeed experienced at least one negative encounter when attempting to discuss religious issues with therapist. Other themes which emerged included the patients' beliefs that religious exploration is necessary for effective psychotherapy outcome, that patients are often afraid to bring up religious topics, that they wish to know theirtherapist's religious orientation, and that they prefer therapists who have some interests or characteristics similar to their own. Each theme was illustrated by verbatim case examples, and a post-interview questionnaire was utilized to provide further verification of the findings. Future research should explore whether the themes found in this exploratory study also emerge in a more representative population. Implications of the findings and further suggestions for future research are also presented.