Date of Award

7-6-2015

Document Type

Undergraduate Capstone Project

Degree Name

Psy.D.

Organizational Unit

Graduate School of Professional Psychology

First Advisor

Ragnar Storaasli

Second Advisor

Thomas Barrett

Third Advisor

Carolyn Zeiger

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords

Acceptance and commitment therapy, Spirituality

Abstract

Spirituality and/or religion (S/R) continue to be an important topic in mental health treatment, especially regarding their relationship to a psychotherapist’s theoretical orientation and practice with clients. Given the increased relevance of spirituality to third-wave cognitive behavioral therapies, the current study explores the S/R of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) psychotherapists and how their S/R is associated to their attitudes and behaviors within mental health and their use of ACT. Online surveys were administered, producing a sample of 97 ACT psychotherapists in the United States. Results indicated low levels of religiosity and high levels of spirituality among ACT psychotherapists in comparison to other mental health professionals. The personal S/R of ACT psychotherapists also seemed to influence their attitudes and behaviors regarding S/R within their practice. In addition, more preferred use of certain ACT processes was correlated with these S/R attitudes and behaviors. To explore the nature of these correlations, the scientific and spiritual roots of ACT are discussed.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Extent

38 pages

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