An Empirical Study of Contemplative Prayer as an Adjunct to Psychotherapy

The use of Christian contemplative prayer as an adjunct to psychotherapy was investigated It was hypothesized that (a) the use of contemplative prayer would he associated with improvement in psychotherapy; (b) the use of contemplative prayer would result in an enhancement of spirituality. A time ser...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Finney, John R. (Author) ; Malony, H. Newton (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage Publishing 1985
In: Journal of psychology and theology
Year: 1985, Volume: 13, Issue: 4, Pages: 284-290
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:The use of Christian contemplative prayer as an adjunct to psychotherapy was investigated It was hypothesized that (a) the use of contemplative prayer would he associated with improvement in psychotherapy; (b) the use of contemplative prayer would result in an enhancement of spirituality. A time series quasi-experimental design was used in which cacti subject served as his or her own control. There were nine subjects, three males and six females ranging in age from 21 to 58. All were in therapy. The dependent measures were (a) patients’ ratings of distress on target complaints: (b) the trait anxiety scale of the Speilberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; (c) the Stein and Chu adaptation of Barron's ego-strength scale; (d) Batson's inventory of religiosity; (e) Hood's Mysticism Scale; and (0 the Pauline Comparison Scale. Results gave modest circumstantial support for the research hypotheses. Evidence for psychotherapeutic improvement was a marked decrease in distress on target complaints (p<.0001). Enhancement of spirituality was suggested by a positive correlation of time spent in contemplative prayer and the Pauline Comparison scale scores (r=.76, p<.01).
ISSN:2328-1162
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of psychology and theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/009164718501300405