Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Understanding Religion and Spirituality in Clinical Practice Reviewed by Margaret Clark

Understanding Religion and Spirituality in Clinical Practice Reviewed by Margaret Clark ISBN 978 1 85575 870 4 doi: 10.1017/aft.2012.21 This very thought provoking book is one in a series of clinical monographs developed by The Society of Analytical Psychology. These single subject monographs were produced mainly to support trainees on psychotherapy and psychodynamic training courses to integrate a range of psycho-analytic and Jungian analytic ideas. If Margaret Clark’s current contribution to this series is reflective of the other works, the collection may well be a valued addition to the professional libraries of clinical practitioners, whether in training, new to practice or experienced. The need to attend to spirituality and religion is becoming more prominent in practice within the context of our multi-cultural society and with the increasing acceptance of transpersonal beliefs, and the growth of fundamentalist religions. The author presents a broad definition of spirituality which includes a longing to find meaning and significance in day-to-day life and to find a purpose of life itself that is beyond the physical: Along with the physical, the emotional, and the intellectual/rational, it is the fourth major mode by which we respond to our environment and to the facts of our existence, (p. xi). Religion is understood in this book as a ‘particular formulation of the spiritual question which includes a focus on “God”. There is an emphasis throughout the writing upon the uniqueness of each person’s image of God or spiritual quest, and the importance of the clinician’s recognition that their image of God may not be the same as their client’s. Margaret Clark’s command of this terrain is conveyed by the simplicity of the language used to explain the application and usefulness of the theoretical positions of Freud, Jung and Winnicott to the clinical understanding of a ‘search for meaning’. Each position is explored through the use of case vignettes which illustrate the different manifestations of spirituality from the mystical and numinous to despair and emptiness. Most critically, there is a careful consideration of the differentiation of mystical experience from the psychotic. As a monograph, this book is not a comprehensive text on the subject of religion and spirituality in clinical practice. It is, however, a very intellectually accessible starting point or stepping off point, for clinicians of any theoretical persuasion to think through the implications of understanding religion and spirituality for their clinical practice. Reviewer: Dr. Ingrid Wagner Kelvin Grove, Queensland Private Practice Therapist and lecturer in social work assessment and intervention and mental health practice, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove. i.wagner@qut.edu.au THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF FAMILY THERAPY Volume 33 Number 2 2012 pp. 183–186 c The Authors 2012 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy Wiley

Understanding Religion and Spirituality in Clinical Practice Reviewed by Margaret Clark

Download PDF
1 page

Loading next page...
 
/lp/wiley/understanding-religion-and-spirituality-in-clinical-practice-reviewed-SNT9NMn0m0

References (0)

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
2012 Australian Association of Family Therapy
ISSN
0814-723X
eISSN
1467-8438
DOI
10.1017/aft.2012.21
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

ISBN 978 1 85575 870 4 doi: 10.1017/aft.2012.21 This very thought provoking book is one in a series of clinical monographs developed by The Society of Analytical Psychology. These single subject monographs were produced mainly to support trainees on psychotherapy and psychodynamic training courses to integrate a range of psycho-analytic and Jungian analytic ideas. If Margaret Clark’s current contribution to this series is reflective of the other works, the collection may well be a valued addition to the professional libraries of clinical practitioners, whether in training, new to practice or experienced. The need to attend to spirituality and religion is becoming more prominent in practice within the context of our multi-cultural society and with the increasing acceptance of transpersonal beliefs, and the growth of fundamentalist religions. The author presents a broad definition of spirituality which includes a longing to find meaning and significance in day-to-day life and to find a purpose of life itself that is beyond the physical: Along with the physical, the emotional, and the intellectual/rational, it is the fourth major mode by which we respond to our environment and to the facts of our existence, (p. xi). Religion is understood in this book as a ‘particular formulation of the spiritual question which includes a focus on “God”. There is an emphasis throughout the writing upon the uniqueness of each person’s image of God or spiritual quest, and the importance of the clinician’s recognition that their image of God may not be the same as their client’s. Margaret Clark’s command of this terrain is conveyed by the simplicity of the language used to explain the application and usefulness of the theoretical positions of Freud, Jung and Winnicott to the clinical understanding of a ‘search for meaning’. Each position is explored through the use of case vignettes which illustrate the different manifestations of spirituality from the mystical and numinous to despair and emptiness. Most critically, there is a careful consideration of the differentiation of mystical experience from the psychotic. As a monograph, this book is not a comprehensive text on the subject of religion and spirituality in clinical practice. It is, however, a very intellectually accessible starting point or stepping off point, for clinicians of any theoretical persuasion to think through the implications of understanding religion and spirituality for their clinical practice. Reviewer: Dr. Ingrid Wagner Kelvin Grove, Queensland Private Practice Therapist and lecturer in social work assessment and intervention and mental health practice, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove. i.wagner@qut.edu.au THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF FAMILY THERAPY Volume 33 Number 2 2012 pp. 183–186 c The Authors 2012

Journal

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy – Wiley

Published: Jun 1, 2012

There are no references for this article.