Spirituality in therapists and its relationship to mindfulness, empathy, and social desirability

Spirituality is an expanding area of interest for researchers as well as a growing area for evaluation with mental health clients (Stanard, Sandhu, & Painter, 2000). Further, spirituality is believed to be an important component of psychotherapy from the clients' perspective (Rose, Westefeld, & Ansley, 2001). Spiritual clinicians may be more effective in their ability to be present with the client and aware of the client's needs, offering greater levels of hope and understanding (DiLalla, Hull, & Dorsey, 2004; Maciak, 2002). This study sought to examine the relationship among spirituality, mindfulness, empathy, and social desirability in clinicians. Further, this study continued to validate the ISI, a measure of spirituality that differs from others by examining spirituality separate from religion. Two hundred and five student and practicing clinicians completed the surveys. The results of the study demonstrated positive correlations among spirituality, mindfulness, and empathy, and small correlations with social desirability, which supported the hypotheses. The implications of these results for clinical practice and future research are discussed.