Cognitive Restructuring Through Contemplative Inner Healing Prayer: Clinical Demonstration and Current Research

At times, when spiritual interventions are adapted to the clinical context, the overtly spiritual dimensions of the intervention are omitted to permit research and to expand the client base available for the intervention. For example, forgiveness protocols have been developed for the clinical context (Enright, 2001; Worthington, 2001); however, these protocols are secular in that they do not intentionally use the client’s spirituality in their implementation or in the research supporting them (Garzon et al., 2002). Now is the time to examine in the clinical and research context overtly spiritual interventions in a form that intentionally uses a client’s religiously congruent resources. Many Eastern and Western religious traditions use contemplative prayer forms in the spiritual and emotional healing process. For instance, Mindfulness Therapy (Segal, Williams, & Teasdale, 2002) demonstrates the value of resources found in an Eastern religious tradition. More exploration of diverse religious faiths is needed however. This sample clinical demonstration continues the exploration through describing the specific use of resources found in a Western faith tradition. Contemplative inner healing prayer in a form that specifically uses this client’s spiritual resources in the cognitive restructuring process will be seen