Religious Beliefs, Meaningful Spiritual

Religious and Spiritual Matters

Do accept the client’s beliefs regarding the sources of distress: ancestral disapproval, the evil eye, God’s wrath, or trouble because of misbehavior in another life. A strong relationship of trust must be established before one can determine the adaptive and maladaptive aspects of such beliefs and thereby work within the frame toward healing or growth.

Don’t assume you are being told the whole story regarding faith or belief systems early on.

Most are powerful and quite private and will not be easily or fully shared.

Do take advantage of any possible link to meaningful spiritual or religious beliefs or connections that may help address the current distress.

Don’t hesitate to allow input into the problem from religious or spiritual persons respected by the client.CULTURE BOUND SYNDROMES Because theories of human functioning are culture bound, our current diagnostic system for mental health problems is heavily culturally in?uenced . In addition, the manifestation of mental angst and distress occurs through different culturally speci?c symptom complexes that change over time. For example, in contrast to Freud’s era , not many women in the United States currently have vapors or fainting spells; however, eating disorders were almost unheard of a hundred years ago. Posttraumatic stress symptoms re?ect at least some common human responses to trauma across cultures, but the name of the disorder has varied over many centuries. In addition, to some extent, what is actually considered traumatic is culturally speci?c, and what to do in the face of trauma constitutes culturally informed advice.