Experiences of Christian Clients in Secular Psychotherapy: A Mixed-Methods Investigation

Eleven Christian former clients were sampled to uncover factors contributing to positive versus negative experiences in secular psychotherapy. The qualitative results indicated that although many participants felt hesitant to discuss their faith due to uncertainty about their therapists' reactions, positive experiences were reportedly facilitated by therapists' openness to understanding clients' faith and giving clients control over how much, when, and how to discuss their religious beliefs and practices. Dissatisfied clients reported that their therapists expressed opposing religious views or avoided discussing religious or spiritual issues. Participants' self-reports of the working alliance and of their therapists' expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness were largely consistent with the narrative data, but the alliance scores were somewhat more sensitive to participants' positive versus negative evaluations of their therapy experience. That is, several participants rated their therapists' personal characteristics quite favorably but indicated poor agreement with their therapists on the goals or tasks of treatment.