Psychotherapists' Experience With Spirituality and Religiousness in Psychotherapy: A Qualitative Meta-Analysis

Spirituality and religiousness (S/R) are multicultural issues that have a complicated historical relationship with psychotherapy. This study aimed to synthesize the findings of qualitative studies focused on how psychotherapists experience S/R in psychotherapy. A sample of 52 primary qualitative studies was identified through database searches and subsequent manual searches of literature. The findings of primary studies were extracted and aggregated using qualitative meta-analysis. The experiences of S/R were summarized in 11 metacategories organized into three clusters, namely, relationship between psychotherapists' spiritual/religious and professional identity, spirituality/religiousness in session, and a spiritual/religious psychotherapist in the broader field of psychotherapy. Psychotherapists' experiences with S/R are reflected in psychotherapists' identities as well as in the psychotherapy process. Implications for psychotherapeutic practice, training, and supervision are discussed.