Faith-Based ACT for Christian Clients: An Integrative Treatment Approach

Faith-Based ACT for Christian Clients balances empirical evidence with theology to give clinicians a deep understanding of not just the “why” but also the “how” of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Christian clients. Chapters include a detailed exploration of the overlap between ACT and the Christian faith, case studies, and techniques that are explicitly designed to be accessible to non-Christian as well as Christian (including evangelical Christian) counselors and therapists. Chapters present the established research on mindfulness and ACT, including a nuanced, non-dichotomous view of complex issues such as medication, and lay a firm theological foundation through the use of engaging biblical stories and metaphors.

Faith-Based ACT for Christian Clients: An Integrative Treatment Approach (Second Edition)

Faith-Based ACT for Christian Clients balances empirical evidence with theology to give mental health professionals a deep understanding of both the why and how of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for Christians. The new edition includes updated discussions in each chapter, more than twenty new and updated exercises, and new chapters on couples and trauma.

The book includes a detailed exploration of the overlap between ACT and the Christian faith, case studies, and techniques that are explicitly designed to be accessible to both non-Christian and Christian (including evangelical Christian) counselors and therapists. Chapters also present the established research on Buddhist-influenced mindfulness meditation and newer research on Christian-derived meditative and contemplative practices and lay a firm theological foundation through the use of engaging biblical stories and metaphors.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Christian Clients: A Faith-Based Workbook

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Christian Clients is an indispensable companion to Faith-Based ACT for Christian Clients. The workbook offers a basic overview of the goals of ACT, including concepts that overlap with Christianity. Chapters devoted to each of the six ACT processes include biblical examples, equivalent concepts from the writings of early desert Christians, worksheets for clients to better understand and apply the material, and strategies for clients to integrate a Christian worldview with the ACT-based processes. Each chapter also includes several exercises devoted to contemplative prayer and other psychospiritual interventions.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Christian Clients: A Faith-Based Workbook (Second Edition)

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Christian Clients, Second Edition, is an indispensable companion for mental health professionals and their clients. The new edition includes updated discussions in each chapter and more than twenty-five new and updated exercises.

The workbook offers a basic overview of the goals of ACT, including concepts that overlap with Christianity. Chapters devoted to each of the six ACT processes include biblical examples, equivalent concepts from the writings of contemplative Christians, worksheets for clients to better understand and apply the material, and strategies for clients to integrate a Christian worldview with ACT processes. Each chapter also includes several exercises devoted to contemplative practices and other psychospiritual interventions.

Contemplative Prayer for Christians with Chronic Worry: An Eight-Week Program

Contemplative Prayer for Christians with Chronic Worry presents an eight-week approach for working with recurrent worry. Each chapter offers an introduction for the week, goals, techniques, and homework. Six free audio recordings are also available to download for use when practicing the guided meditations. Clinicians and their clients will find that the workbook helps them explore ways to lessen daily worries through contemplative prayer. Relying on scriptural support, the contemplative Christian tradition, and psychological science, clients will learn how to sit in silence with God, trusting in him during moments of uncertainty, worry, and anxiety.

The Compassion-Based Workbook for Christian Clients: Finding Freedom from Shame and Negative Self-Judgments

The Compassion-Based Workbook for Christian Clients integrates contemporary research in clinical psychology on compassion-based approaches to shame with a Christian worldview, offering a wide variety of strategies for Christians to better understand and combat shame and negative self-judgments. Chapters lay out a four-step process to help clients let go of unhelpful thinking patterns that lead to shame, experience God’s compassion on a deeper level, and extend this compassion to themselves and others. Readers will find a wealth of Christian-sensitive experiential exercises, journaling assignments, biblical examples, and case examples throughout the workbook. Audio recordings for several guided meditations are also provided to help Christians practice the strategies offered in the workbook.

Christian Psychotherapy in Context: Theoretical and Empirical Explorations in Faith-Based Mental Health

Christian Psychotherapy in Context combines theology with the latest research in clinical psychology to equip mental health practitioners to meet the unique psychological and spiritual needs of Christian clients. Encouraging therapists to operate from within a Christian framework, the authors explore the intersection between a Christian worldview and clients’ emotional struggles, drawing from sources including both foundational theological texts and the “common factors” psychotherapy literature. Written collaboratively by two clinical psychologists, an academic psychologist, and a theologian, this book paves the way for psychotherapeutic practice that builds on Christian principles as the foundation, rather than merely adding them to treatment as an afterthought.

The Psychology of World Religions and Spiritualities: An Indigenous Perspective

This compendium of introductory essays invites scholars and clinicians to better understand people of various faiths from around the world. It is intended to correct the tendency among scientists to study religious behavior without accounting for its human dimension. For example: a psychologist describes a religious ceremony in a certain community as a “sociological phenomenon.” Such a technical description is likely to strike members of that community as an attempt by science to explain away their beliefs. This is counterproductive. In order to work effectively and empathetically with people of faith, psychologists should seek an intimate knowledge of how religion operates in the hearts and minds of living, breathing human beings.

With this goal in mind, editors Timothy Sisemore and Joshua Knabb have made one of the world’s major religions the subject of a separate chapter. In addition, they have arranged for each chapter to be written by a psychologist who practices—or is culturally connected with—that religion. This marks the book’s unique contribution to the field: it is the product of people who have lived the world’s religions, not merely studied them. By taking such a respectful approach, the book promotes an appreciation for the ways that religious belief animates, inspires, and instructs its adherents. Moreover, the indigenous point-of-view of these essays will help scholars identify their own biases when researching religious groups, allowing them to produce more accurate and holistic analyses.

Psychologists understand that religion and spirituality provide meaning and purpose to billions of people around the globe. But the actual experience of these beliefs eludes the grasp of the reductionistic methods of science. With this resource at their side, psychologists in academic and clinical settings will be equipped to understand religious experience from the bottom-up, and honor the beliefs and practices of the people they are trying to help.

Christian Meditation in Clinical Practice: A Four-Step Model and Workbook for Therapists and Clients

Christians are hungry for a return to their own tradition to cultivate meditation practices that are both psychologically and spiritually fruitful. In recent decades, mindfulness meditation, which originates from the Buddhist tradition, has been embraced in many settings as a method for addressing a plethora of symptoms. What would it look like to turn instead to the Christian faith for resources to more effectively identify and respond to psychological suffering?

Over the last decade, Dr. Joshua Knabb has conducted a variety of empirical studies on Christian meditation, focusing on both building theory and testing specific, replicable practices. In this overview and workbook he presents the foundations of a Christian-sensitive approach to meditation in clinical practice. Filled with practical features for immediate use by Christian clients and their therapists, Christian Meditation in Clinical Practice provides

• an introduction to the rich resources on meditation from eight major streams of the Christian tradition
• practices from the early desert Christians, Ignatius of Loyola, Celtic Christians, the Puritans, contemporary writers, and many others
• guidance for targeting transdiagnostic processes―patterns of cognition, affect, behavior, the self, and relationships that may lead to psychological suffering
• research-based evidence for the benefits of Christian meditation
• client-friendly tools for practicing meditation, including step-by-step instructions, worksheets, journaling prompts, and links to tailored audio resources

Using the approach of Christian psychology, Knabb’s model dually builds on a biblical worldview and integrates the latest research in clinical psychology. As clients engage the variety of meditative exercises in this book, they will move toward healthier responses to difficult experiences and a deeper awareness of, and contentment in, God.

Healing Conversations on Race: Four Key Practices from Scripture and Psychology

Christians today can get easily overwhelmed by the plethora of competing, fragmented ideas on race relations and racism. In this book, four authors with advanced degrees in the helping professions present a model for how to have healing conversations on race. The starting place, they argue, must be a coherent and integrated biblical view of the problem of racial disunity, grounded in the grand narrative of Scripture.

This book is the culmination of professional and personal conversations the authors have had as they’ve wrestled with current events, their own stories, and their roles in the healing process. They combine biblical teachings with psychological science to help Christians develop skills to discuss race with people who are racially different. In each chapter, the reader is guided through essential educational information, biblical examples, case studies, activities, and journaling exercises to prepare them for a healing conversation. Using the diversity literature within psychology, attachment theory, and emotionally focused therapy, the book helps readers gain foundational knowledge, self-awareness, other-awareness, and specific relational skills.

Jesus challenged injustice, welcomed the rejected of society, and engaged in healing conversations with everyone he encountered. The practices in Healing Conversations on Race will help Christians grow in Christlikeness and follow Jesus’ example in cross-racial relationships.