Effects of Sexual Orientation on Spiritual Psychotherapy for Inpatient, Residential & Intensive Treatment

Abstract

Objectives Spiritual psychotherapy addresses mental health concerns by integrating spirituality/religion into treatment. There is scant research on how such approaches interact with sexual minority status. We sought to identify and compare how sexual minority and heterosexual patients respond to spiritual psychotherapy. Method We collected data from heterosexual (n = 66) and sexual minority (n = 15) patients who self‐referred to participate in Spiritual Psychotherapy for Inpatient Residential & Intensive Treatment (SPIRIT), a spiritually‐integrated, group‐based, cognitive‐behavioral treatment. Results We did not find significant differences between heterosexual and sexual minority patients across demographic/clinical variables, spiritual/religious characteristics, or effects of SPIRIT. Both groups reported notable perceived benefit of SPIRIT. Conclusions Although not specifically tailored for sexual minority patients, or intended to reconcile spiritual/religious conflicts around sexual identity, programs like SPIRIT may benefit sexual minority patients by providing a safe space to explore both sexual orientation and religious identity. In turn, this may help sexual minority patients develop frameworks to recruit spirituality/religion in the process of coping with distress, as a catalyst for clinical change.