Out-Of-Session Prayer In Counseling

Spirituality has long been considered a sensitive topic within society, to the extent that there is a division of church in state within government. Comprising of two aspects, spirituality, is defined as a personal connection to one’s Higher Power, and religiosity may be defined as how one “performs rituals, prayers, and believes” (Piedmont, Ciarrochi, Dy-Diacco, & Williams, 2009, p.163); so, spirituality as a whole is both a personal and social experience. Thus, applied to counseling, spirituality is a vital aspect in the therapeutic process; to the extent that, according to Shumway and Waldo (2012), approximately 65% of Americans belong a church and, as such, this percentage of religious Americans claim a preference in working with therapists …show more content…
In contrast, Rose, Westefeld, and Ansley (2008) corroborate through their research that client’s possess concerns of appropriateness of spiritual and interventions within the counseling context. Some examples of interventions applicable to spirituality and counseling are described by Saenz and Waldo (2013) as including prayer in counseling sessions, integrating biblical verses into therapeutic dialogue, as well as encouragement of out-of-session prayer. Effectivity of these interventions has been shown only amongst high religious, while less religious clients have been either opposed to interventions within sessions, though open to encouragement of prayer out-of-session, as “homework”, or felt discussion of religion and spirituality inappropriate with their counselor (Saenz & Waldo, 2013; Shumway & Waldo, 2012). Furthermore, concerns amongst clients with low-spirituality of inappropriateness were coupled with question of ethicality to discuss prayer and religion in counseling sessions (Saenz & Waldo,