The John Templeton Foundation awarded me a $3.57 million grant in 2017 for the Enhancing Practice-Based Evidence for Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapies project. This project addressed the question, “Can the wisdom, values, and spiritual practices of the world’s great religious traditions enhance the effectiveness of psychotherapy?” My team and I awarded approximately $1.8 million of our funding to 19 research teams worldwide. These teams were composed of researchers, mental health practitioners, and clergy from many spiritual traditions, all based at prestigious universities, hospitals, or mental health treatment facilities.
Our research teams employed practice-based evidence research designs to evaluate the processes and outcomes of spiritually integrated treatment approaches at over 60 mental health facilities across eight countries in North America, Europe, and Asia. We collaboratively gathered client outcome and therapist process data from more than 32,000 therapy sessions involving approximately 9000 unique clients. This represents the most comprehensive dataset currently available on spiritually integrated treatment approaches.
The data have enabled us to address several key research questions: (1) What spiritual approaches and interventions do mental health professionals implement during treatment? (2) When and how often do mental health professionals apply spiritual approaches and interventions in treatment? (3) Do spiritual approaches and interventions improve treatment outcomes?
We reported some of our project’s findings in an article published in 2024 in the American Psychological Association’s Journal of Counseling Psychology, 71(4), 291-303. The table below shows that the psychotherapists used a wide variety of spiritual interventions during their treatment sessions with clients. The spiritual interventions they used could be grouped into four general categories: (1) Basic Skills; (2) Spiritual Practices; (3) Discuss Virtues; and (4) Religious Attachment. Therapists listened to spiritual issues, discussed spiritual dimensions of problems and solutions, discussed compassion and hope, and affirmed clients’ divine worth and attempts to trust God in 20% to 40% of the sessions. Our analysis also revealed that 90% of the clients participated in one or more of the spiritual interventions, and in total, the therapists used spiritual interventions with 50% to 75% of their clients.
We also reported our analysis of some client outcome findings, which revealed that clients, on average, experienced significant reductions in psychological distress during treatment, with the most rapid improvements occurring in the first month. We also found that clients struggling with their religious faith and/or spirituality reported higher levels of psychological distress and showed slower improvement. Additionally, several spiritual interventions (i.e., spiritual assessment, self-control discussions, encouraging acceptance of divine love) predicted clients’ rates and durations of improvement in psychological and spiritual distress. Overall, our findings support the effectiveness of spiritually integrated psychotherapies and provide insights into specific spiritual interventions that offer potential value in facilitating recovery among clients with spiritual and/or religious identities.
We have presented additional research findings at professional conferences and published over two dozen articles in respected scholarly journals. Additionally, I edited the Handbook of Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapies, released in 2023 by the American Psychological Association, which is based on our project. I also founded the Bridges Institute for Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapies to make the findings from the grant project more accessible to professionals and the public, and to ensure that people worldwide have better access to competent, spiritually integrated mental health treatment.
Further posts on this page will highlight more key findings and insights from the Bridges-Templeton Foundation grant project. I will also:
- Describe major historical events, important contributors, and landmark research studies and publications that have helped advance the effort to mainstream spirituality into psychotherapy over the past 50 years.
- Share my experiences participating in this “Dissent from Freud” movement.
- Provide excerpts from interviews with prominent mental health professionals, clergy, and members of the public regarding spirituality, psychotherapy, and mental health.
- Describe evidence-based spiritual resources that can help clients and other individuals cope, heal, and thrive in the face of emotional and relational challenges.
Copyright © 2025 by P. Scott Richards, All Rights Reserved.
