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The impact of religious values on the therapeutic process
Abstract
The purpose of this dissertation was to determine how therapists of different religious denominations handle the issue of their own values in the psychotherapeutic relationship when presented with hypothetical case vignettes. The major hypothesis of this study was whether therapists that scored high in religiosity on the Religious Attitude Scale would have more difficulty interpreting and handling cases than therapists who scored low. It also investigated whether those therapists that scored high in religiosity would have their values affect their interpretation of the hypothetical cases more than those low in religiosity. Another hypothesis predicted that women high in religiosity would report experiencing more difficulties interpreting and handling the hypothetical cases than men high in religiosity. The study was conducted using a "convenience sample" of sixty experienced psychotherapists from two mental health clinics. The participants received two instruments: eight hypothetical case vignettes describing cases with different problems and the Religious Attitude Scale. The study results did not support any of the hypotheses postulated. Degree of religiosity did not affect participant's interpretation and handling of the hypothetical case vignettes. These results can be explained in two ways: it seems that therapy training program have been successful in sensitizing their students in not allowing their religious values to interfere with their work. Another possible explanation could be that those programs do not train the students to use their religious values effectively in the therapeutic process.
Subject Area
Clinical psychology|Religion
Recommended Citation
Morales-Barreto, Gisela, "The impact of religious values on the therapeutic process" (1990). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9101646.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9101646