Psychotherapy and Spirituality Panel Frances Vaughan; Bryan Wittine; Leslie Gray; Brant Cortright

 
We will discuss the value of addressing spiritual questions in psychotherapy, and practical methods of spiritual inquiry. Common problems associated with spirituality will be identified. In addition to strategies for encouraging healthy spiritual growth, the value of the therapist's development of a transpersonal context for psychotherapy, whether or not spiritual questions are expressly addressed, will be addressed. Often a profound transformational process is taking place in the unconscious during therapy, and it comes out later in the form of numinous spiritual experiences which can become a focus in therapy. We will also discuss the way in which the zeitgeist--the "spirit of the times" or the "cultural moment"--impacts spiritually oriented psychotherapy at start the 21st century.