Dealing with Religious Resistances in Psychotherapy

Managing resistance to insight and change is one of the central tasks in psychotherapy. When working with religious patients, therapists face the added task of dealing with resistances which may be supported by the patient\u27s religious belief system. When this happens, therapists may be tempted to either avoid confronting the resistances for fear of undermining (or being accused of undermining) the patient\u27s faith or to interpret the resistances in ways that do either undermine the patient\u27s faith, or at least imply that faith is irrelevant to the patient\u27s emotional health. This article deals with the management of resistances with Christian patients who are using their religious faith to reinforce their defensive structure in the psychotherapeutic process