A Portfolio of Academic, Therapeutic Practice and Research Work Including an Investigation of Psychotherapists' and Clients' Accounts of the Integration of Spirituality into Psychotherapeutic Practice.

Traditionally, psychotherapists have often pathologised spirituality and religion and have distanced themselves from this domain. However, there is evidence to suggest that contemporary psychotherapists from a range of theoretical backgrounds are becoming more interested in incorporating spirituality (both their clients’ and their own) within their practice. This poses many challenges because of lack of training and because sometimes spiritual and psychotherapeutic discourses diverge significantly. The study that will be described in this presentation aimed to produce an account of practice possibilities in this domain using a ‘key informant’ approach and to develop a localised theory of the assumptions, meanings and challenges associated with the integration of spirituality and psychotherapy. Interviews were conducted with 10 psychotherapists who described themselves as having a ‘deep interest’ in spirituality and who reported having at least sometimes integrated spirituality into their practice. Data were subjected to grounded theory analysis and a theory of the integration process was produced. At the heart of this lay five categories which related to discerning the border between spirituality and psychotherapy, seeing psychotherapy as intrinsically spiritual and integrating spirituality at discursive, theoretical and experiential levels. The implications of this study for psychotherapeutic practice and training will be considered