Religiousness and Spirituality in Intercultural Psychotherapy. Effects, methods and the identity of the therapist

Abstract

The social interculturalisation and the greater influence of Islam in Central Europe, including religious beliefs in the public and private spheres, have given the religious orientations of psychotherapists and their intercultural patients greater topicality. Empirical studies have shown that pronounced religious convictions for depressive, anxiety and somatisation disorders as well as addiction correlate with increased psychological resilience across religions. Religions can be understood as plural symbolic systems that combine a world order with a lifestyle. The subtle knowledge of the beliefs allows a look at the inner psychic processes and opens wide and individual scope for therapeutic interventions involving religiosity and spirituality. The psychological psychotherapist’s coping with the interreligious experiences of foreignness is indispensable for the positive connection to the patient and the development of an authentic attitude as an expression of his own therapeutic and religious identity.