Integrating clients' religion and spirituality within psychotherapy: A comprehensive meta-analysis

Abstract

Some religious or spiritual (R/S) clients seek psychotherapy that integrates R/S values, while others may be reticent to disclose R/S-related aspects of struggles in a presumably secular setting. We meta-analyzed 97 outcome studies (N = 7,181) examining the efficacy of tailoring treatment to patients' R/S beliefs and values. We compared the effectiveness of R/S-tailored psychotherapy with no-treatment controls, alternate secular treatments, and additive secular treatments. R/S-adapted psychotherapy resulted in greater improvement in clients' psychological (g = 0.74, p < 0.000) and spiritual (g = 0.74, p < 0.000) functioning compared with no treatment and non R/S psychotherapies (psychological: g = 0.33, p < 0.001; spiritual: g = 0.43, p < 0.001). In more rigorous additive studies, R/S-accommodated psychotherapies were equally effective to standard approaches in reducing psychological distress (g = 0.13, p = 0.258), but resulted in greater spiritual well-being (g = 0.34, p < 0.000). We feature several clinical examples and conclude with evidence-based therapeutic practices.

Keywords: adaptations; meta-analysis; psychotherapy; psychotherapy relationships; religion; spirituality.