ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores psychotherapists, counselors, counselors in training and counselor educators in working with clients within the spiritual and religious domains. It provides an in-depth discussion of counselor self-awareness and communication. The book describes culture and worldview, defines spirituality and religion, and also explores belief systems in terms of a continuum of open to closed systems, as well as examining the specifics of spiritual assessment in the counseling process. It discusses development of faith, religion, and spirituality across the lifespan and examines how to formulate a case conceptualization with spiritual and religious aspects fully integrated. The book explains existentialism, the connection with spiritual and religious issues, appropriate interventions and a case study. It analyses information about transpersonal psychology and focuses on family systems in terms of socio-metric assessments.
