ABSTRACT
People often want to know how to discern the positive and the negative influences of spirituality on their life. In the faith-oriented approach, various religious doctrines give clear normative prescriptions to help identify these influences. Normally, members of a given faith community are taught what best serves their spiritual development as well as what could be considered obstacles on this road. The main challenge for the integration of spirituality into counseling is to develop a normative/prescriptive dimension of spirituality that is universal in that it includes all spiritual traditions but at the same time goes beyond the basic information given in social sciences. This chapter discusses these issues in depth and finishes with a set of guidelines originating in various psychological and psychiatric studies and theories. An appropriate place is also given to the psychiatric evaluation of spiritual phenomena.
