The role Spiritual Psychology plays in Psychotherapy: An Explorative Study in Cape Town

Abstract

Background. Spirituality is a growing research field believed to have an essential contribution to human health and wellbeing. The role spiritual psychology represents in psychotherapy was investigated through a qualitative research design to obtain rich data from registered clinical psychologists in Cape Town. Spiritual psychology is seldomly incorporated in practice. A lack of literature and education programs leads to incompetent psychologists concerning incorporation. Objectives. To report on the role of spiritual psychology to psychologists. Establish the use of spiritual psychology as a therapy method in psychotherapy. Delineate different spiritual therapy methods incorporated. Bridging gap in South Africa’s literature. Method. The study utilised semi-structured, in-depth interviews to assess the objectives. Inductive content analysis showcased five relevant themes. Results. Spiritual psychology does represent an overall important role for the studied psychologists in Cape Town. The degree of role representation varies, as well as the spiritual therapy methods, incorporated. Mostly, mindfulness, inner child work, and guided meditations were incorporated. Most psychologists delineated that all work they do, is spiritual of nature and that healing occurs when subjectively working with the psyche in a more spiritual manner. This report extends awareness of the inclusion of spirituality in mental health care through spiritual literature and rising trends.