Nichole A. Murray-Swank

Religion and the sanctification of family relationships

Despite ample evidence that global indexes of religiousness are linked to family functioning, the mechanisms by which religion uniquely influences family dynamics are not well understood or empirically documented. To advance the scientific study of religion role in families, we delineate how the construct of sanctification applies to marital and parent-child relationships as well as to the entire family systems according to diverse religious traditions. We define sanctification as a psychological process in which aspects of life are perceived as having spiritual character and significance. We summarize the psychotmetric properties of two sets of measures that we have developed to assess the sanctification of marriage, parent-child relationships, and sexuality: Manifestation of God and Sacred Qualities scales. We hypothesize that sanctification has desirable implications for family life, supporting this assertion with initial empirical findings from our program of research. We also highlight the potential harm that may result from the sanctification of family relationships and discuss circumstances that may present particular risks (unavoidable challenges, violations by family members, loss. conflict, and intrapsychic and institutional barriers). Finally, we discuss future research directions to study more closely the influence of religion and sanctification on family life.

Religion and HIV: a review of the literature and clinical implications

Despite substantive research documenting the connection between various religious dimensions and physical and mental health, surprisingly little attention has been given to the study of religion among individuals with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Although initially considered to be a white, “gay man’s” disease, today women and ethnic minorities are subgroups that are the most severely affected by the HIV pandemic. Importantly, these disenfranchised subgroups report greater use of religion in their everyday lives. A small but growing number of studies conducted mostly within the past few years have recognized the importance of religion in the lives of individuals with HIV. In particular, research has noted the frequent use of religious coping by men and women with HIV to deal with the loss of their loved ones to AIDS, to overcome their sense of guilt and shame in engaging in risky behaviors, and to find a renewed sense of purpose in life. However, clinical interventions with persons with HIV have largely neglected religiousness and spirituality as resources for treatment and, to date, few spirituality-based interventions exist that can be empirically evaluated. In this paper, we review the literature on religious coping among individuals with HIV and outline a clinical intervention that incorporates religious issues relevant to this population. We first provide an overview of religious coping.

God, where are you?: Evaluating a spiritually-integrated intervention for sexual abuse

This study evaluated the effectiveness of an 8-session, spiritually-integrated intervention for female survivors of sexual abuse with spiritual struggles. Two clients (ages 39 and 49) participated in manualized sessions from the intervention, Solace for the Soul: A Journey Towards Wholeness©, with an individual therapist. An interrupted time-series design included daily measurements of positive and negative religious coping, spiritual distress, and spiritual self-worth, as well as comprehensive measures of spiritual well-being, religious coping, and images of God pre and post-intervention, and 1–2 months later. Both clients increased in positive religious coping, spiritual well-being, and positive images of God. In addition, ARIMA intervention analyses revealed significant changes during the course of the intervention (e.g., increased daily use of positive religious coping). Spiritually-integrated programs, such as Solace for the Soul, show promise in enhancing spiritual recovery from childhood sexual abuse.

RESEARCH: "A Higher Purpose: The Sanctification of Strivings in a Community Sample"

Most adults in a community sample (N = 150; ages 25-56) perceived their top 10 strivings as being connected to God (theistic sanctification) and having sacred, transcendent qualities (nontheistic sanctification), with highest ratings given to religious goals, family relationships, altruistic endeavors, and existential concerns. Greater sanctification of strivings correlated positively with the importance, commitment, longevity, social support, confidence, and internal locus of control of strivings. Based on 5 phone interviews about the prior 48 hr, people invested more time and energy in their 2 most highly sanctified strivings than their 2 least sanctified strivings. Greater sanctification of strivings related to a greater sense of life purpose and meaning and joy yielded by strivings but not fewer psychological or physical health difficulties.

Spirituality, Religiosity, Shame and Guilt as Predictors of Sexual Attitudes and Experiences

This study examines the relationship among levels of spirituality, religiosity, shame, and guilt on sexual attitudes and experiences. A convenience sample that included graduate and undergraduate students (N = 176; mean age = 37) completed a five-factor measure of personality as well as measures of spirituality, religiosity, shame, guilt, and sexual attitudes and experiences. Spirituality was negatively correlated with sexual permissiveness, and engaging in high risk sex. The moral emotion of shame increased when people had multiple sex partners within the past three months while those more spiritual or connected to God were less likely to have had sex after use of alcohol and/or drugs. Also, the more often someone attended religious services the less likely they were to have had multiple partners within the past three months. A sense of alienation from God predicted shame and guilt, but shame and guilt themselves did not predict sexual practices. These findings suggest that sexual attitudes and experiences are related to both spirituality and religious practices independently of personality, whereas they have no relationship to shame and guilt.

An empirically-based rationale for a spiritually-integrated psychotherapy

In this paper, we offer an empirically-based rationale, for a particular kind of psychotherapy, spiritually-integrated psychotherapy. Drawing on several lines of research we note that: (1) spirituality can be a part of the solution to psychological problems; (2) spirituality can be a source of problems in and of itself; (3) people want spiritually sensitive help; and (4) spirituality cannot be separated from psychotherapy. We then discuss the defining characteristics of spiritually-integrated psychotherapy. It is based on a theory of spirituality, empirically-oriented, ecumenical, and capable of integration into virtually any form of psychotherapy. The paper concludes by considering potential problems associated with spiritually-integrated psychotherapy, including the risks of trivializing spirituality as simply a tool for mental health, reducing spirituality to presumably more basic motivations and drives, imposing spiritual values on clients, and overstating the importance of spirituality. Perhaps the greatest danger, however, is to neglect the spiritual dimension in psychotherapy. This paper sets the stage for the articles in this special issue of MHRC which describe the development and evaluation of several innovative approaches to spiritually-integrated psychotherapy.