Controversial Spiritual Encounters
Image of the shadow of a hand
Visitations and transpersonal spiritual experiences can be controversial topics for therapists.
Unlike practices grounded in the physical experience, such as religious attendance and contemplative practice (yoga, meditation), when clients describe seeing god or their deceased grandma Sally in the kitchen, and report sensory perceptions that don’t quite fit consensus reality, therapists often feel a sort of anxiety. In some clinical contexts, therapists may primarily interpret these events through the lens of delusion or paranoia. However, are these phenomena always a cause for concern?
My colleagues and I conducted a study exploring the spiritual lives of 6000+ individuals in China, India, and USA. Participants described events like the one above so frequently that we were able to identify emergent subcategories including extrasensory perception (e.g., precognition), persistence of consciousness (e.g., near death experiences, out of body experiences, spirit or ancestor visitations), and faith and energy healing (e.g., reiki and prayer) (Lau et al., 2020).
In this grounded-theory approach to the study of spiritual life (bottom-up analysis), we further considered these experiences through the lens of meaning-making around how it felt (soul-affirming, superstition invoking, overwhelming), why it occurred (to heal, inform, punish), and what psychospirtual transformations took place (a sense of connection to something vaster than the self, feelings of shame or defectiveness, alienation). There was a wide spectrum of attributions, reactions, and meaning processes that emerged in the context of these spiritual encounters.
Like all types of important relationships discussed in therapy, spirituality can be an equally complex and meaningful relationship. Whether it’s a relationship with a higher power(s), ancestors, or the soul, these dynamics contain webs of meaning that have the potential to be life constricting or life affirming.
Learn how to assess and support clients’ spiritual processes in psychotherapy.
Resources
Lau, E., McClintock, C. H. Y., Graziosi, M., Nakkana, A., Garcia, A., & Miller, L. (2020). Content Analysis of Spiritual Life in Contemporary USA, India and China. Religions, 11(6), 286.