[Religiosity, spirituality and psychotherapy]

The quest for existential meaning constitutes a universal phenomenon traditionally manifested in official religions (religiosity) or personal modes of transcendence (spirituality). Throughout the greater part of the twentieth century, the tendency among mental health professionals was a failure to recognize or a denial of the religious experience which was frequently regarded as dated or even pathological. Over the last decades there has been an increasing number of publications pertaining to the relationship between religiosity, mental health and psychotherapy, yielding quite interesting results on both theoretical and clinical level. Consequently, it is essential that psychiatrists and psychotherapists become familiarized and sufficiently trained in managing these issues, in assessing their contribution to the development and treatment of psychopathology, as well as in the recognition of the spiritual, religious and correlated psychological needs of their clients. In this context, cognitive behavioral therapy has been the first to incorporate this set of questions, introducing modified therapeutic models which endeavor to integrate therapy through the worldview of the religious subject.