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Guide XIII-088

Empowerment (abhisheka)

Tibet
A 35 · L 51 · M 1413 interventions in the Trinity explorer
Client cardCompare
[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: empowerment as Tibetan Buddhist (Vajrayana) institutions and teachers describe it publicly, chiefly the Sakya centre Ewam Choden, Alexander Berzin's Study Buddhism explanation of samaya, a translated Tibetan guide to samaya on Lotsawa House, and the Dalai Lama's published teaching on the teacher-student relationship. Clinical procedures alongside it follow the DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) and its supplementary modules, IOCDF guidance on scrupulosity, and Vieten et al. (2013).

What it is. Empowerment translates the Tibetan wang (Sanskrit abhisheka, also rendered "initiation"). Ewam Choden describes it as a ceremony in which a lama connects the recipient with one or more tantric deities, after which the recipient may visualise that deity and recite its mantra; the stated aim is to realise the non-duality of one's own mind and the deity's mind, deities being understood as aspects of the Buddha [source: Ewam Choden, "What are Empowerments?"]. A 17th-century master, Tsele Natsok Rangdrol, is quoted as teaching that "the vital point of empowerment is to receive the blessings" [source: Rangjung Yeshe Publishing, "Empowerment and Samaya" page]. Empowerment is usually linked with oral transmission and pith instructions; a translated Tibetan samaya guide calls these three together the guru's "threefold kindness" [source: Lotsawa House, Brief Guide to Samaya Commitment].

Who leads it. A lama confers it, on the basis (as the tradition holds) of his own realisation and of rituals handed down in an unbroken lineage [source: Ewam Choden]. The content of the rite, its mantras and its practice texts are restricted; this guide describes none of them. Clients should receive them only from a qualified teacher in their lineage.

Samaya. Receiving empowerment brings samaya (Tibetan damtsig), which Berzin glosses as a "close bond" with the Buddha-figure, with the teacher, and with practices that strengthen links to Buddha-nature qualities; he treats the bond with the teacher as the most important [source: Berzin, Study Buddhism]. Traditional texts tie the fruits of practice in this and future lives to keeping these commitments [source: Lotsawa House]. A Tibetan Buddhist publisher notes that teachers are often reluctant to explain samayas and that misunderstandings "can be used to intimidate students" [source: Rangjung Yeshe page].

The therapist's role and how change happens. This is a religious rite, not a therapy. The psychotherapist does not explain, confer, interpret or judge the rite. The psychotherapist's work is to understand what the empowerment and its commitments mean in the client's life, to accommodate practice in treatment, to separate faithful religious commitment from fear-driven scrupulosity or coercion, and to collaborate with the client's teacher or a trusted Dharma friend when the client wishes. Change, from the clinical side, comes from the client holding their commitments in a way they themselves recognise as authentic to their tradition, rather than out of terror or under pressure [synthesis].

2. Framework

There is no published therapy protocol for working with clients around empowerment. The following stages organise the clinical work around the rite; they are [synthesis] built from the sources cited, with no source-given session counts.

Stage A: Before an empowerment (decision and preparation).

  • Goal: help the client make an informed, free choice about attending and about whether they are taking on practice commitments or attending mainly for blessing.
  • Tradition's own guidance: the Sakya centre advises preparing by reflecting on one's reasons for attending and one's aspiration to reduce suffering for oneself and others [source: Ewam Choden]. Berzin notes that teachers are supposed to examine students before empowering them but that this is rarely done today [source: Berzin]. The Dalai Lama teaches that a student should examine a teacher thoroughly before accepting them as guru [source: Dalai Lama, "Questioning the Advice of the Guru"].
  • Clinical tasks: CFI spirituality module; clarify what the client understands they will commit to and suggest they ask the teacher or centre directly; screen for scrupulosity and for current crisis; plan scheduling around any associated retreat.
  • Move on when the client can state in their own words why they are attending and what they believe it asks of them, or has decided to ask the teacher.

Stage B: The rite itself. Led entirely by the lama. The therapist's involvement is limited to accommodation (schedule, travel, any rescheduled sessions) [synthesis].

Stage C: After an empowerment (integration and commitments).

  • Goal: support meaning-making and sustainable practice; watch for anxiety about commitments.
  • Tradition's guidance: Ewam Choden advises quiet reflection afterwards and starting to think about how to bring the practice into daily life [source: Ewam Choden]. Berzin distinguishes samaya (a bond kept by attitude) from daily practice commitments, notes that illness does not break samaya, and advises against over-commitment [source: Berzin].
  • Move to Stage D if fear of breaking samaya, intrusive doubts, compulsive practice, or distress about the teacher relationship appear.

Stage D: Difficulties. Scrupulosity about samaya; distress about a teacher (including where misconduct is alleged); leaving a group; grief over a lost community or teacher. Each has an intervention in section 4.

Format. Ordinary individual psychotherapy sessions; collaboration with clergy or a teacher only with consent [synthesis].

3. Guiding principles

  • The rite and its content belong to the tradition. Do not ask the client to disclose restricted content (mantras, practice texts, what happened in the rite); Berzin notes the promise to keep practice private is part of the empowerment [source: Berzin]. Practical meaning: ask about meaning and feelings, not content.
  • Attribute, do not adjudicate. Describe deities, blessings, karma and samaya as the client and their tradition hold them, neither as fact nor as delusion [synthesis]. Practical meaning: use "in your tradition…" framing and the client's own terms.
  • Use the tradition's own resources against fear. Tibetan teachers themselves say samaya is broken by attitude, not by illness, and warn against fanatical over-commitment [source: Berzin]; the Dalai Lama says advice contradicting Dharma and reason "is to be rejected" [source: Dalai Lama, Shambhala excerpt]. Practical meaning: when a client is frightened, help them find what their own authorities say, rather than offering your own theology.
  • Informed commitment. An independent investigation found many students had little formal preparation for Vajrayana commitments and did not understand them until already committed [source: Lewis Silkin report, 2018]. Practical meaning: support the client to get clear answers from the teacher before committing.
  • Watch power. The teacher bond is central in this tradition, and the same investigation found samaya was understood by some students as a promise never to criticise the teacher, which kept them silent about abuse [source: Lewis Silkin report]. Practical meaning: always ask whether the client feels free to question, refuse or leave.
  • The therapist is not the lama. Do not act as teacher, confessor or judge of whether samaya is broken; refer such questions to a qualified teacher of the client's choosing [synthesis; scope of competence consistent with Vieten et al. 2013].
  • Faith-consistent versus ego-dystonic. Healthy religious practice fits a person's values; OCD conflicts with them [source: IOCDF]. Practical meaning: assess whether the client's samaya worries feel like their faith or like an intruder.
  • Health questions go to the doctor. Any retreat demands on sleep, diet or exertion are routed to the client's physician; no practice is presented as a treatment for physical disease [synthesis].
  • Name, don't pathologise. Where faith conflict shapes the presentation without causing a disorder, the DSM category Religious or Spiritual Problem (V62.89 / Z65.8) is available [source: Barrett 2020, Current Psychiatry].
  • Consent for collaboration. Speak to a teacher, centre or chaplain only with the client's explicit, specific consent [synthesis].
  • Therapist self-awareness. Notice your own religious or secular commitments and their pull; disclose only if it serves the client [synthesis; consistent with Vieten et al. 2013's attitude competencies].

4. Intervention inventory

All interventions below are the psychotherapist's own work alongside the rite. None involves teaching, conferring or interpreting the empowerment itself.

4.1 Exploring the meaning of the empowerment in the client's life

  • Purpose / when: whenever a client mentions having received, or planning to receive, an empowerment; establishes what it means to them before any clinical judgement [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Ask permission to talk about it, and say you will not ask about restricted content. (2) Ask what the empowerment is, in their words and their lineage's terms (deity, teacher, centre). (3) Ask why they attended: blessing, connection with a teacher, commitment to practice, community, family. (4) Ask what it has changed: daily practice, sense of self, relationships. (5) Ask what commitments they understand they took on and how they feel about them (relief, joy, burden, fear). (6) Reflect back using their vocabulary; note strengths (meaning, community, discipline) and any distress for later work [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "I'm not going to ask about anything you were asked to keep private. I'd like to understand what this empowerment means to you, and what it asks of you, as you see it." / "When you think about your commitments now, what comes up: more steadiness, more pressure, or both?"
  • Watch for: the client checking whether you are dismissive; volunteering restricted content out of anxiety (gently say they need not share it); signs that commitments are a source of dread rather than meaning. Working: the client speaks about the practice in their own terms and links it to their goals for therapy.

4.2 Cultural Formulation Interview, with the Spirituality, Religion and Moral Traditions module

  • Purpose / when: at intake or when religious practice seems relevant to the presenting problem. The supplementary module clarifies how spiritual, religious or moral traditions shape the problem and related stresses [source: APA, CFI Supplementary Modules].
  • Steps: (1) Use the core CFI first, or the module on its own. (2) Cover the module's domains, in paraphrase: identity and affiliation (including multiple traditions and family background); the role of the tradition in daily and family life; practices at home and in community and their importance; use of the tradition for coping (leaders, texts, personal practice); and stresses or conflicts linked to it, including discrimination or conflict with others. (3) Substitute the client's own words (e.g. "your Vajrayana practice", "your lama") for the generic placeholder, as the module instructs. (4) When specific practices emerge, ask about level of involvement and how they affect coping. (5) Skip questions already covered [source: APA, CFI Supplementary Modules]. (6) Add, for this rite: whether the client has received empowerments, from whom, and what commitments they understand they hold [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "You've mentioned your lama and your daily practice. How does your practice help you when things are hard, and are there times it adds to the pressure?"
  • Watch for: the module was published for DSM-5 [uncertain: DSM-5-TR revisions to the modules not verified]; do not reproduce item wording in client handouts. Working: a formulation that shows where the tradition helps and where it is entangled with distress.

4.3 Supporting an informed decision before an empowerment

  • Purpose / when: the client is considering attending, especially a higher empowerment that carries ongoing commitments. Supports the tradition's own call to examine a teacher [source: Dalai Lama excerpt] and addresses the finding that many students did not understand their commitments until already bound [source: Lewis Silkin report].
  • Steps: (1) Ask what the client has been told about the empowerment and its commitments. (2) Help them list questions to put to the teacher or centre themselves, e.g. whether attending as a blessing differs from taking on practice, what daily practice is expected, what samaya means in this lineage, what happens if they cannot keep up [synthesis]. (3) Explore what they know of the teacher: training, lineage, reputation, how the community handles complaints [synthesis; Dalai Lama on thorough examination]. (4) Check timing: current crisis, recent bereavement, psychosis risk, severe OCD; discuss postponing if needed, framed as the client's choice [synthesis]. (5) Note that Berzin warns against over-commitment [source: Berzin]. (6) Leave the decision with the client.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Your own tradition encourages people to examine a teacher carefully. What would you want to know before you take this on?" / "Would it help to ask the centre directly what you would be committing to?"
  • Watch for: the therapist steering the decision either way; pressure from a group to attend; pressure to keep the planned empowerment secret from family. Working: the client goes in (or decides to wait) with clear answers from a teacher.

4.4 Accommodation in scheduling and treatment

  • Purpose / when: empowerments are often given at specific events or retreats, and may bring daily practice commitments [source: Berzin on practice commitments; synthesis on scheduling].
  • Steps: (1) Ask about upcoming empowerments, retreats or practice periods; adjust session times. (2) Where daily practice is committed, build treatment homework that fits around it rather than competing with it. (3) Respect privacy: do not ask the client to bring practice texts or describe visualisations. (4) If a CBT or mindfulness task resembles their practice, ask whether it is compatible in their view, and if unsure, suggest they check with their teacher [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's plan around your retreat. Is there anything about your practice commitments that our homework should fit around?"
  • Watch for: practice being used to avoid treatment tasks (or vice versa). Working: no forced choice between practice and therapy.

4.5 Health issues and retreat demands: routing to the doctor

  • Purpose / when: practice periods or retreats linked to an empowerment can involve long sitting, early rising, travel or dietary change [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Ask what the event involves in sleep, food, exertion and medication timing. (2) Where there is a medical condition, pregnancy, an eating disorder history, or bipolar disorder (where sleep loss is a known risk) [synthesis], encourage the client to speak with their doctor before attending and to ask the centre about adjustments. (3) Do not advise on medication. (4) Agree a plan for contact if symptoms arise during or after.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Because sleep has affected your mood before, would you check the retreat schedule with your doctor before you go?"
  • Watch for: unusual experiences after intensive practice. Research on challenging meditation experiences (Lindahl et al. 2017; Farias et al. 2020; Cheetah House resources) is relevant where empowerment leads into intensive retreat [uncertain: not verified]. Working: the client attends with a health plan their doctor knows about.

4.6 Assessing samaya-related scrupulosity

  • Purpose / when: the client fears having broken samaya, repeats confession or purification practices, checks their thoughts about the teacher, or seeks reassurance about whether a thought or illness has broken the bond.
  • Steps: (1) Map the fear: what triggers it (e.g. a critical thought about the teacher, missing a practice), what the feared consequence is, what the client does to neutralise it. (2) Use the IOCDF distinction: healthy practice fits the person's beliefs; OCD is ego-dystonic and the rituals take over time and harm both religious life and daily functioning [source: IOCDF]. (3) Ask how fellow practitioners and the teacher handle similar worries; compare the client's standard with their community's [synthesis]. (4) Use a standard OCD assessment as you normally would [synthesis]. (5) If OCD is likely, move to 4.7.
  • Example language (illustrative): "When the worry about your samaya comes up, what do you find yourself doing to settle it? How often, and for how long?" / "Does this worry feel like part of your faith, or like something that's hijacked it?"
  • Watch for: the therapist offering theological reassurance ("that doesn't break samaya"), which can become a compulsion [synthesis]. Working: the client can describe the worry-ritual cycle and separate it from their practice.

4.7 ERP adapted for samaya scrupulosity, with religious consultation

  • Purpose / when: scrupulosity is confirmed. ERP is first-line; the IOCDF notes clients are not asked to oppose their faith, though exercises will be uncomfortable, and fear during exposure does not mean they are breaking their faith [source: IOCDF].
  • Steps: (1) Psychoeducation: OCD attaches to what matters most [source: IOCDF]; uncertainty is a normal part of faith. (2) With consent, the client (or you, with the client present or with written consent) consults a teacher the client trusts about what is required and what is excessive; Berzin's account, for example, holds that samaya is broken by attitude and not by illness [source: Berzin]. (3) Build a hierarchy that stays within what the client and their teacher regard as acceptable, e.g. allowing a doubtful thought about the teacher without neutralising it, keeping the agreed practice minimum rather than adding extra purifications, stopping reassurance seeking from Dharma friends [synthesis]. (4) Do not design exposures that require the client to violate commitments as the tradition defines them [synthesis; IOCDF]. (5) Contraindications and consent: explain exposure's discomfort; postpone with active psychosis, acute suicidality or severe dissociation [synthesis]. (6) Response prevention for confession or purification beyond what the teacher endorses.
  • Example language (illustrative): "We're not going to ask you to go against your practice. We're going to practise doing exactly what your teacher says is enough, and letting the doubt be there."
  • Watch for: the client turning the teacher consultation into reassurance seeking (limit to one agreed consultation) [synthesis]; exposures drifting toward disrespect the client finds wrong. Working: falling distress over repeated exposures, less time on rituals, a return to practice the client finds meaningful.

4.8 Working with fear of consequences and moral injury

  • Purpose / when: the client is not obsessional but is frightened or ashamed, for example believing that leaving a teacher, criticising misconduct or stopping practice will bring rebirth in a hell realm or harm to health or family. An independent investigation found students had been taught exactly such consequences and felt pressure to keep samaya [source: Lewis Silkin report].
  • Steps: (1) Validate the seriousness of the belief within the client's tradition; do not dismiss it. (2) Ask where they learned it, from whom, and in what context. (3) Help them find what other authorities in their own tradition teach: e.g. the Dalai Lama's teaching that advice contradicting Dharma and reason "is to be rejected" and that devotion should be "clear, rather than blind" [source: Dalai Lama excerpt]; his public statement that no teacher is beyond criticism and that misconduct should be exposed [source: Buddhistdoor, 2017]; Berzin's view that illness does not break samaya [source: Berzin]. Let the client read and weigh these; do not argue theology [synthesis]. (4) Where the client feels they betrayed values (e.g. stayed silent while others were hurt), work with guilt and shame as moral injury: acknowledge, make meaning, consider repair actions the client chooses [synthesis]. (5) If they wish, refer to a teacher outside the lineage or community involved.
  • Example language (illustrative): "That's a frightening thing to have been taught. Would it help to look at what other teachers in your tradition say about when a student may question a teacher?"
  • Watch for: the client experiencing your questions as an attack on their faith; shifting from fear to self-blame. Working: the client holds their tradition and their own judgement together, with less terror.

4.9 Exploring the teacher relationship and screening for coercive control

  • Purpose / when: the teacher bond is described as the most important samaya [source: Berzin], so the relationship deserves careful, respectful enquiry, especially where the client reports harsh treatment, secrecy or isolation.
  • Steps: (1) Ask how the client relates to the teacher: access, trust, freedom to ask questions or decline instructions. (2) Gently screen for features the Lewis Silkin investigation described: samaya understood as never criticising the teacher; harsh treatment reframed as "wrathful compassion" or as a test of devotion; tolerance of mistreatment required for higher teachings; teaching to let go of one's unease; fear that leaving would cost community and family ties [source: Lewis Silkin report]. (3) Ask about money, sleep, sexual contact, physical harm and isolation from outsiders [synthesis]. (4) If abuse is disclosed: safety first; follow your jurisdiction's adult safeguarding and reporting duties; inform the client about options (police, the organisation's complaints process, independent support) without pushing [synthesis]. (5) Never name or identify other students in notes or consultation beyond what is necessary.
  • Example language (illustrative): "In your community, can a student say no to the teacher, or raise a concern, without consequences?" / "Has anything happened there that you've felt unable to tell anyone?"
  • Watch for: fear that speaking to you itself breaks samaya; the investigation found many witnesses felt this way about speaking to the investigator [source: Lewis Silkin report]. Name this possibility explicitly and leave the client in control of what they share. Working: the client can describe the relationship openly and weigh it.

4.10 Supporting clients after teacher misconduct, leaving a group, or religious trauma

  • Purpose / when: the client has left, is considering leaving, or remains but is distressed by revealed misconduct. Documented example: an independent investigation commissioned by Rigpa (Lewis Silkin, 2018) found on the balance of probabilities that some students of Sogyal Lakar (Sogyal Rinpoche) suffered serious physical, sexual and emotional abuse and that senior figures knew of some issues and failed to act [source: Buddhistdoor, 2018; Lewis Silkin report].
  • Steps: (1) Do not presume the client should leave or stay. (2) Separate the tradition from the abuser where the client wishes to keep their faith; respect leaving altogether where they do not [synthesis]. (3) Assess trauma symptoms and treat with standard trauma-focused methods, adapted to their beliefs [synthesis]. (4) Address lost community, lost family ties within the group, and possible conflict with remaining members [source: Lewis Silkin report on loss of community; synthesis on treatment]. (5) Rebuild trust in own judgement, which the investigation found students had been taught to set aside [source: Lewis Silkin report]. (6) Offer referral to a different, trusted teacher if the client wants to continue practice [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "You can decide what you keep from your practice and what you leave. There's no rush to settle that."
  • Watch for: the therapist's own anger at the group overriding the client's pace; re-traumatising pressure to report. Working: steadier sense of self, renewed relationships, and practice (or not) by choice.

4.11 Grief, ritual and community support

  • Purpose / when: death of a teacher, loss of a community, or a client using practice to cope with bereavement. Empowerment also connects a person to a lineage and a sangha [source: Ewam Choden; synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) Ask what ritual and community resources the client has. (2) Encourage use of these where they help; support contact with Dharma friends. (3) Where the community is also a source of harm, help the client find alternative support. (4) Work with grief as usual, using the client's framing of death and continuity [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Who in your sangha could be with you in this? Are there practices that would comfort you now?"
  • Watch for: isolation after leaving; complicated grief mixed with anger at a teacher. Working: the client is connected and grieving in a way that fits their beliefs.

4.12 Collaboration with teachers, chaplains or spiritual friends

  • Purpose / when: the client wants help clarifying what their tradition requires (e.g. for ERP), or wants their teacher involved in a safety or health plan.
  • Steps: (1) Obtain explicit, specific written consent: who, what, why. (2) Agree with the client the exact question to ask. (3) Keep the contact about the tradition's requirements, not about therapy content. (4) Prefer a teacher the client trusts; if the client's own teacher or centre is implicated in harm, do not contact them; support the client to find an independent teacher or Buddhist chaplain [synthesis]. (5) Report back with the client present where possible.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Would it be useful if you asked your teacher, or I did with your permission, what the minimum practice is when someone is unwell?"
  • Watch for: the teacher becoming a source of reassurance in OCD; boundary confusion about who is treating. Working: one clear answer the client accepts.

4.13 Differentiating spiritual experience from mental disorder

  • Purpose / when: after an empowerment or retreat the client reports visionary experiences, intense devotion, or doubt and loss of faith.
  • Steps: (1) Ask how their tradition and community regard such experiences. (2) Assess for psychosis, mania, depression and dissociation in the usual way, including functioning, sleep and safety [synthesis]. (3) Spiritual distress may change behaviour without being pathological; where faith conflict shapes the presentation but no disorder is present, the category Religious or Spiritual Problem (V62.89 / Z65.8) can be used [source: Barrett 2020]. (4) With consent, consult the teacher about whether the experience is expected in the practice [synthesis]. (5) Refer urgently for psychiatric assessment if there is risk.
  • Example language (illustrative): "How would your teacher understand what you've been experiencing? And how have you been sleeping and managing day to day?"
  • Watch for: pathologising normal devotion, and missing emerging illness. Working: a shared understanding with the client and, where indicated, medical care.

5. Handling problems

The sources cited do not address psychotherapy problems directly; except where cited, the guidance below is [synthesis].

  • Client asks you whether they have broken samaya. Do not rule on it; that belongs to their teacher. If OCD is present, treat the question as reassurance seeking (4.6–4.7); if not, help them formulate the question for a teacher they trust (4.12).
  • Client wants to tell you restricted content. Thank them, say they do not need to share it for therapy to help, and steer to meaning and feelings. Berzin notes privacy of practice is promised at empowerment [source: Berzin].
  • Client fears that talking to you breaks samaya. An independent investigation found this fear among witnesses [source: Lewis Silkin report]. Name it, explore it, and let the client set the limits of disclosure; offer to proceed with general topics first (4.8, 4.9).
  • Stuck: the client cannot hold faith and doubt together. Use the tradition's own teaching on examining teachers and questioning advice [source: Dalai Lama excerpt]; normalise uncertainty as part of faith [source: IOCDF]; move slowly.
  • Resistance to ERP on religious grounds. Re-check that exposures stay within what the client and a trusted teacher regard as acceptable [source: IOCDF]; adjust the hierarchy rather than push.
  • Non-adherence because practice commitments crowd out homework. Fit homework around practice (4.4); if practice has grown beyond what the teacher asks, assess for compulsion (4.6).
  • Overwhelm after an intensive empowerment or retreat. Ground in the present, protect sleep, reduce intensity of practice in consultation with the teacher, check with the doctor, and assess for psychosis, mania or dissociation (4.5, 4.13). Published research on adverse meditation experiences (Lindahl et al. 2017; Farias et al. 2020) and trauma-sensitive mindfulness (Treleaven 2018) are relevant [uncertain: not verified].
  • Rupture: the client feels you disrespect their teacher or tradition. Acknowledge, apologise for any slight, restate that you are not judging their faith, and ask what would help [synthesis].
  • Rupture: the client feels you are protecting an abusive teacher by staying neutral. Separate neutrality about faith from clarity about harm; say plainly that abuse is not acceptable in any tradition, citing the Dalai Lama's call to expose misconduct if helpful [source: Buddhistdoor, 2017].
  • Community pressure to stop therapy. Explore the pressure as part of the coercion screen (4.9); respect the client's decision while keeping the door open.
  • Children in the household. If a client reports harm to a child in a religious setting, follow child safeguarding procedures in your jurisdiction.
  • Dual relationships and your own commitments. If you share the client's tradition, lineage or centre, consider whether you can work without a dual relationship; avoid practising together or acting as a teacher. Disclose your own religious position only if it serves the client. The 16 spiritual and religious competencies proposed by Vieten et al. (2013), covering attitudes, knowledge and skills, are a useful self-check [source: Noetic Sciences page on Vieten et al. 2013]. The relevant professional ethics code (for psychologists, the APA Ethics Code standards on competence and multiple relationships) applies [synthesis; code not verified].
  • When to refer. To a qualified teacher for questions of doctrine or commitment; to a doctor for health and medication; to psychiatry for suspected psychosis, mania or high risk; to a trauma specialist after abuse; to an OCD specialist for severe scrupulosity.

Sources

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