Practice of the Presence of God (Brother Lawrence)

1. Introduction

Version followed: the Conversations and Letters of Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, OCD, as gathered after his death by Fr Joseph de Beaufort, read in public-domain English translations (Fleming H. Revell edition, copyright 1895, introduction by Hannah Whitall Smith; the 2002 Project Gutenberg text). The modern Carmelite reference edition is The Practice of the Presence of God, critical edition by Conrad De Meester, OCD, translated by Salvatore Sciurba, OCD (ICS Publications), which adds the complete Spiritual Maxims and further testimonies; the Maxims' detailed content is not reproduced below [uncertain: not verified]. Letter and conversation numbers below follow the older English editions and may differ in the critical edition [uncertain]. [source: Revell 1895 text on archive.org; ICS Publications product page; Gutenberg #5657]

What it is. A Catholic (Discalced Carmelite) way of prayer in which a person tries to keep a continual, loving awareness of God during every activity, not only at set prayer times. Brother Lawrence (born Nicolas Herman in Lorraine, 1614; died 12 February 1691) was a former soldier who entered the Discalced Carmelites on the Rue de Vaugirard in Paris as a lay brother, worked as the community's cook and later its sandal-maker, and wrote no books; his letters, maxims and recorded conversations were preserved by others. The teaching spread widely beyond Catholicism, especially among English-speaking Protestants. [source: Carmelite Spirit biography page; ICS Publications; Mulhern 2018, Christian History 127]

Core idea of change, as the tradition states it. Brother Lawrence describes the practice as "an habitual, silent, and secret conversation of the soul with God" (Second Letter) and "a simple attention, and a general fond regard to God". It begins with deliberate effort: acts of turning to God, repeated after every lapse, which "by often repeating" become habitual (First Letter), until remembering God is easier than forgetting Him (Fourth Conversation). The motive is love rather than technique: God "regards not the greatness of the work, but the love" with which it is done (Fourth Conversation). In the tradition's own terms, the presence of God is a reality to be recognised, and change is the work of grace met by a person's faithful attention; this is the tradition's account, described here and neither asserted nor disputed. [source: Revell 1895 text]

Clinical framing. For the psychotherapist this is a religious practice that belongs to the client, not a therapy. It is used only when a Christian client asks to draw on it, inside spiritually integrated psychotherapy, with consent, in the client's own language and tradition. No published clinical protocol built specifically on Brother Lawrence's practice is described in the sources consulted; the clinician's procedures in section 4 are mostly [synthesis] built on the tradition's texts and on general guidance on spiritual competence, scrupulosity and meditation-related difficulties. Cross-refer Domain II (MBSR, MBCT, MSC, CFT) for secular attention-training formats and Domain VII (spiritually integrated psychotherapy, contemplative psychotherapy).

2. Framework

The tradition gives no fixed stages, session counts or durations; Brother Lawrence explicitly preferred a simple practice over many methods and forms (Seventh Letter: do not bind oneself rigidly to particular rules or forms of devotion). What the texts do describe is a developmental arc in his own life and advice, set out below, followed by the clinician's frame [synthesis]. [source: Revell 1895 text; Gutenberg #5657; Mulhern 2018]

The tradition's arc (as described in the Conversations and Letters)

Resolve and beginning. A firm decision to make God the aim of one's actions and "nevermore wilfully to forget Him" (Fifth Letter, to a nun before profession). At first one must turn to God "with some diligence" (Second Conversation). Goal: an intention, not a feeling. Advice to an elderly correspondent: it is "better late than never" to begin (Sixth Letter).
Practice with frequent lapses. Repeated small acts of turning to God during work, quiet return after distraction, honest admission of faults without discouragement. Brother Lawrence reports a long period of inner struggle: a four-year trouble of mind about his salvation (Second Conversation) and "for the first ten years I suffered much" (Second Letter). Goal: persistence; he expected beginners to fail often (Fourth Conversation).
Habitual presence. Attention to God becomes largely effortless; set prayer becomes "only a continuation of the same exercise" (Second Letter); the time of work and of prayer no longer differ (Fourth Conversation). He describes reaching a profound inward peace after the long struggle (Second Letter).
Moving between phases. The tradition's marker is not a time span but the growing ease and peace of the habit and love as its motive. Discernment of where someone is belongs to the person's confessor or spiritual director, not the therapist [synthesis].

The clinician's frame [synthesis]

Assessment and consent. Take a spiritual history as routine (Vieten et al. 2013, competency 12); ask whether and how the client wants faith included; agree that the therapist supports the client's practice but does not direct it. Format: within ordinary individual sessions; no session count is given in any source.
Integration. Brief, client-chosen anchors of the practice are linked to treatment goals (low mood, rumination, work stress, grief, caregiving), reviewed each session for benefit and distress.
Consolidation and handover. The client continues the practice with their parish, a spiritual director or Carmelite resources; therapy focuses on remaining clinical goals.

Criteria to proceed: the client reports the practice as freely chosen, steadying or meaningful; no signs of scrupulosity, compulsive checking, intrusive-thought escalation, dissociation or worsening mood. Criteria to pause or slow: distress linked to the practice, guilt spirals, fear of God's punishment, or experiences the client cannot integrate (see section 5).

3. Guiding principles

Tradition principles [source: Revell 1895 text; Gutenberg #5657; Mulhern 2018]:

Love over technique. Actions matter by the love behind them, not their size → keep the practice about the client's relationship with God as they understand it, not performance.
Simplicity and few words. He advises against "multiplicity of words" in prayer (Eighth Letter) and saw many set devotions as confusing (Mulhern) → favour one simple anchor over many new rituals.
Ordinary life is the place of prayer. "The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer" (Fourth Conversation) → link the practice to the client's real routines (commute, chores, caregiving, work).
Gentleness on return. "Trouble and disquiet" distract further; the will should bring the mind back "in tranquillity" (Eighth Letter) → model non-punitive refocusing; never frame distraction as failure.
Faults admitted, then released. He confessed faults to God and set his mind right again without discouragement, and had no scruples about them (Second and Fourth Conversations) → help the client distinguish this from rumination or compulsive confession.
Holy freedom, no violent constraint. Small self-denials only "in a holy freedom" and without forcing (Sixth Letter); bodily mortifications are useless unless they serve love (Second Conversation) → do not recommend or reinforce austerities; any such question goes to the client's confessor and doctor.
Perseverance through dryness. He kept on through years of difficulty, even when it felt like wasted time (Second Letter; Mulhern) → normalise dryness as the tradition does, while still screening for depression.
Brief acts suffice. "A little lifting up of the heart suffices" (Third Letter, to a soldier) → keep anchors short and compatible with demanding lives.

Clinical principles:

Client-led, in the client's tradition. The practice is introduced only at the client's request and in their own words and theology [synthesis; see Vieten et al. 2013, competencies 1, 3, 13].
Not spiritual direction. Helping clients use their own spiritual resources is in scope; spiritual direction is outside most psychologists' scope (Vieten et al. 2013, competency 13) → refer to a spiritual director, priest or Carmelite community for questions of discernment.
Self-awareness of the therapist's own beliefs (religious or secular) and how they shape judgements (Vieten et al. 2013, competency 3) → avoid both endorsing and dismissing the client's experience of God.
Distinguish experience from pathology (Vieten et al. 2013, competency 6) → neither pathologise devotion nor miss illness.
Watch for harm from practice (Vieten et al. 2013, competency 9; Lindahl et al. 2017, PLOS ONE; Farias et al. 2020, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica) → track distress as well as benefit.
Know limits; consult or refer (Vieten et al. 2013, competency 16).
No health claims. The practice is a prayer, not a treatment for physical or mental disease; benefits are the client's own report and are not presented as treatment effects [synthesis].
Ethics. Respect for religion as a dimension of diversity, informed consent, avoiding dual roles and imposing values [synthesis; exact wording of the professional ethics code: uncertain: not verified].

4. Intervention inventory

Part A gives the practices the tradition itself teaches, in the order a beginner meets them, described in the clinician's own words from the Conversations and Letters, with notes on how a therapist supports a client who chooses them. Part B gives the clinician's own procedures around the practice. Brother Lawrence did not teach a numbered method; the step lists below organise his advice for clinical use [synthesis], and the content of each step is sourced to the texts. Nothing here involves breath control, bodily austerity or initiation. [source: Revell 1895 text; Gutenberg #5657]

Part A. Practices taught in the tradition

A1. The initial resolve (self-offering)

Purpose and when to use: The tradition's starting point: a decision to direct one's life and actions toward God out of love. Brother Lawrence advised a nun before profession to make a firm resolution never wilfully to forget God (Fifth Letter); he describes his own start as renouncing whatever was not God (First Letter). Use when a client says they want to begin or renew the practice.
Steps: (1) Invite the client to state, in their own words, what they want the practice to be for (closeness to God, peace, meaning in work). (2) If they wish, they make the resolve as a short prayer in their own words, privately or in session. (3) Agree one realistic scope for the coming week (for example, one daily task). (4) Note that, in the tradition, beginning late is fine (Sixth Letter).
Example language (illustrative): "You've said you'd like to live more aware of God during the day. How would you put that intention in your own words? You can keep it between you and God; I'm only here to help it fit your week."
Watch for: A resolve framed as a vow the client fears breaking, or perfectionist language ("never again"); the text's resolve is about not wilfully forgetting, which leaves room for lapses. Working: the client describes the intention as freely chosen and hopeful.

A2. Offering a task before beginning

Purpose and when to use: In the Fourth Conversation, before starting work he thought through what the task needed, then turned to God asking for grace to stay in His presence and help to do the work well, and offered the action to God. Useful for clients who dread duties, procrastinate or feel their work is meaningless.
Steps: (1) Pick one recurring task (cooking, a shift, a school run). (2) Before starting, the client pauses briefly to consider what the job requires. (3) They address God briefly in their own words, asking for help and offering the task. (4) They begin the task. A sample prayer from the text: "Lord, I cannot do this unless Thou enablest me" (Second Conversation); clients use their own words.
Example language (illustrative): "Which part of your day feels most like drudgery? Brother Lawrence disliked kitchen work too. Would you like to try pausing before it to offer it in your own way, and see what changes?"
Watch for: The offering becoming a ritual that must be done perfectly before a task can begin (a scrupulosity sign; see B5). Working: tasks feel less burdensome or more meaningful; procrastination eases.

A3. Small acts done for the love of God

Purpose and when to use: Central to the tradition: small, ordinary acts gain worth from love. Brother Lawrence turned the cake in the pan and picked up a straw from the ground for the love of God (Second and Fourth Conversations; Mulhern). Use with clients in caregiving, routine or low-status work, or with low mood and loss of meaning.
Steps: (1) The client names two or three small everyday acts. (2) While doing one, they hold the intention of doing it for God, as they understand Him. (3) Afterward they briefly notice what it was like. (4) In session, review which acts carried meaning. This overlaps with values-based behavioural activation [synthesis; cross-refer Domain I/II as relevant].
Example language (illustrative): "Brother Lawrence said even picking up a straw could be done for love of God. Is there something this small in your day you'd like to try that with?"
Watch for: Over-functioning or self-neglect justified as service; guilt for 'not loving enough'. Working: increased engagement, sense of purpose, less resentment.

A4. Continual conversation and "simple attention"

Purpose and when to use: The heart of the practice: an ongoing, quiet, wordless or few-worded turning toward God through the day; "a simple attention, and a general fond regard to God" (Second Letter); "continually conversing with Him" (First Conversation). Use when the client is already praying and wants to carry prayer into daily life.
Steps: (1) The client chooses natural reminders (a doorway, a phone notification, the start of a meal; the Seventh Letter suggests lifting the heart even at meals). (2) At each reminder they briefly turn their attention to God, with or without words. (3) They return to the task. (4) No counting, scoring or targets; the tradition stresses ease and love over effort as the habit grows.
Example language (illustrative): "This isn't about thinking of God constantly. It's more like glancing toward someone you love who's in the room. What reminders might fit naturally into your day?"
Watch for: Constant monitoring of whether one is 'aware enough' (compulsive checking); intrusive or frightening images of God; dissociative absorption. Working: the client describes a background sense of companionship or calm, not strain.

A5. Brief interior acts (short prayers, lifting the heart)

Purpose and when to use: Very short acts of worship, love or petition in busy or stressful moments. To a soldier: "A little lifting up of the heart suffices" (Third Letter), even on a march; short prayers such as "My God, here I am all devoted to Thee" (Fourth Letter). Useful for clients in high-stress jobs, carers, or anyone with little time.
Steps: (1) The client chooses a short phrase from their own tradition or composes one. (2) They use it at moments of stress or transition. (3) They return to what they were doing. (4) Review in session: when it helped, when it felt forced.
Example language (illustrative): "Would a short prayer of your own help in those moments before a hard meeting? Something just a few words long that's yours."
Watch for: Phrases repeated to neutralise intrusive thoughts or to 'undo' sin, or a need to say them 'exactly right' (scrupulosity; see B5). Working: the phrase steadies and connects rather than reduces anxiety in a compulsive cycle.

A6. Gentle return from distraction

Purpose and when to use: For wandering thoughts during set prayer or the day. The Eighth Letter says anxiety distracts the mind further and the will should bring it back "in tranquillity"; he advises using few words and keeping the mind from straying far at other times. The Second Conversation: reject useless thoughts as soon as noticed and return to God.
Steps: (1) Notice the mind has wandered. (2) Without self-criticism, turn back to God. (3) If it happens again, return again. (4) In session, explore the client's self-talk when distracted.
Example language (illustrative): "When your mind drifts, Brother Lawrence's advice was to come back calmly rather than fight it. What do you usually say to yourself when you notice you've drifted?"
Watch for: Thought suppression; harsh self-criticism; misreading 'reject useless thoughts' as instruction to suppress intrusive thoughts (counterproductive in OCD; see B5). Working: lapses provoke less distress; return becomes quicker and kinder. Compare attention-return instructions in MBSR/MBCT (Domain II).

A7. Review after a task: thanks, pardon, resume

Purpose and when to use: After work he examined how he had done; if well, he thanked God; if not, he asked pardon and, without discouragement, resumed the practice (Fourth Conversation). He said he had no scruples about faults (Second Conversation) and expected beginners to fail often. Useful for clients prone to shame or self-attack.
Steps: (1) At the end of a task or the day, brief look back. (2) Give thanks for what went well. (3) Name a fault simply, ask forgiveness in one's own way. (4) Move on; no repeated going over. (5) Sacramental confession, where the client wishes, remains with their priest.
Example language (illustrative): "In his practice, a mistake got one honest sentence and then he moved on. How does that compare with what happens for you after a mistake?"
Watch for: Rumination, repeated reviewing, need for certainty of forgiveness, increased confession frequency (scrupulosity signs per IOCDF; see B5). Working: shorter, calmer reviews and less shame.

A8. Set prayer as a continuation of the same practice

Purpose and when to use: He kept set prayer times as his superiors directed, but described them as "only a continuation of the same exercise" (Second Letter): a simple sense of God's presence, holding oneself before God like a beggar at a rich man's gate (Eighth Letter), with few words. Use when the client has a set prayer time that feels dry, effortful or anxious.
Steps: (1) The client keeps their usual prayer time and form (Mass, the Rosary, the Divine Office, personal prayer). (2) Within it, they allow simple, quiet attention to God rather than many words. (3) Distraction is met as in A6. (4) Length and form are the client's and their spiritual guide's choice; no duration is given here.
Example language (illustrative): "You mentioned prayer has felt like a chore. Brother Lawrence spoke of simply being before God with few words. Would that be worth raising with your spiritual director?"
Watch for: Long, unstructured silence in clients with trauma, dissociation or psychosis risk (see B6, B7). Working: prayer feels less like performance.

A9. Offering suffering and illness

Purpose and when to use: In the later letters, written to correspondents who were ill, he urges accepting suffering as coming from God, praying for strength to bear it with courage and love, and says God is nearer in sickness than in health (Eleventh to Fourteenth Letters). Relevant to clients with chronic illness or pain who already hold this view.
Steps: (1) Explore the client's own theology of suffering, without imposing one. (2) If they wish, support offering pain in prayer alongside medical care. (3) Help distinguish acceptance from resignation, self-blame or avoidance of treatment.
Example language (illustrative): "For some people, offering their pain to God gives it meaning; for others it can feel like being told to put up with it. How is it for you?"
Watch for: One letter speaks of seeking healing from God rather than relying only on physicians (Eleventh Letter). The practice is not a treatment for physical disease; any question about delaying or declining medical care is routed to the client's doctor, and the therapist does not advise on medicines [synthesis]. Also watch for depression, hopelessness or suicidal thinking presented as spiritual acceptance. Working: the client reports meaning, less isolation, continued engagement with care.

A10. Holy freedom in self-denial

Purpose and when to use: He valued small, voluntary self-denials only as they serve love, "in a holy freedom" and without violent constraint (Sixth Letter), and called bodily mortifications useless unless they lead to union with God by love (Second Conversation). Use when a client asks whether they 'should' do more penance.
Steps: (1) Explore what the client is considering and why. (2) Note the tradition's own emphasis on freedom and love over severity. (3) Refer questions of penance to their confessor or spiritual director; health questions (eating, sleep) to their doctor. (4) Give no austerity targets.
Example language (illustrative): "Brother Lawrence was wary of penance done out of strain rather than love. That's a question to take to your confessor; I can help you notice what's driving it."
Watch for: Disordered eating, sleep restriction or self-harm framed as penance; scrupulosity. Working: decisions taken freely, with guidance, without health risk.

Part B. The psychotherapist's work alongside the practice

B1. Spiritual history and consent to integrate

Purpose and when to use: At intake and whenever faith is raised. Taking a spiritual and religious history is a routine part of history-taking, and spiritual and religious background is a dimension of diversity (Vieten et al. 2013, competencies 2 and 12). The DSM-5-TR Cultural Formulation Interview, with its supplementary module on spirituality, religion and moral traditions, can structure this [uncertain: not verified].
Steps: (1) Ask open questions about the client's faith, community, prayer life and what Brother Lawrence's practice means to them. (2) Ask whether they want faith included in therapy, and how. (3) Clarify roles: the therapist supports, the client and their spiritual guides decide matters of faith. (4) Record consent and revisit it. (5) Note who else supports their faith life (parish, spiritual director, Carmelite secular community) [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "You mentioned The Practice of the Presence of God has mattered to you. Would you like that to be part of our work? If so, I'll follow your lead on what it means for you; I'm not a spiritual director."
Watch for: Clients who feel they 'should' include faith to please the therapist; therapist assumptions about what Catholic or Protestant readers believe (Vieten et al. 2013, competency 4: membership in a tradition does not equal competence in it). Working: the client names their own goals for including faith.

B2. Client-led integration into treatment goals

Purpose and when to use: When the client wants the practice to support specific clinical goals (low mood, work stress, grief, caregiving fatigue, loneliness). Helping clients identify and use their own spiritual resources is within scope (Vieten et al. 2013, competency 13).
Steps [synthesis]: (1) Link one practice from Part A to a goal (for example A3 with values-based activity scheduling for low mood; A6 with attention-return work for rumination). (2) The client chooses the reminder, wording and frequency. (3) Review weekly: helpful, neutral, harmful. (4) Adjust or drop without implying spiritual failure.
Secular and clinical adaptations: No published secular adaptation specific to this practice is described in the sources consulted. Related, separately documented approaches are in Domain II (MBSR, MBCT, MSC, CFT: attention training and self-compassion without religious content) and Domain VII (spiritually integrated psychotherapy; contemplative psychotherapy). Do not relabel Brother Lawrence's practice as 'Christian mindfulness' unless the client uses that framing [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "We've been working on getting back into activities. Would it fit with your faith to try doing one of them the way Brother Lawrence did his cooking, as an offering? Or would you rather keep the two separate?"
Watch for: The practice being used to avoid difficult feelings or decisions ("spiritual bypassing", Vieten et al. 2013, competency 14); the therapist steering the content of prayer. Working: improvement on the clinical goal and a client-reported sense that faith and therapy fit together.

B3. Referral and collaboration with a spiritual director, priest or pastor

Purpose and when to use: When questions concern discernment, doctrine, confession, penance, vows or the depth of the practice; when the client wants a teacher; or when issues exceed the therapist's competence (Vieten et al. 2013, competency 16: consult, collaborate with clergy or refer). The Carmelite family (Discalced Carmelite friars, nuns and secular Carmelites) publishes and teaches this tradition; ICS Publications is the Carmelite publisher of the critical edition [source: ICS Publications; Carmelite Spirit page].
Steps: (1) Ask whether the client has a confessor or spiritual director. (2) If not and they wish, suggest they ask their parish or a Carmelite community for a recognised spiritual director [synthesis]. (3) With written consent, agree what may be shared and why. (4) Keep roles distinct: the therapist addresses mental health; the director addresses spiritual guidance.
Example language (illustrative): "That's a real question about your spiritual path, and it deserves someone trained in that. Would you be open to talking it over with a spiritual director? If you'd like us to coordinate, we can agree together what I share."
Watch for: Conflicting advice between therapist and religious guide; a guide who discourages medical or psychological care; power imbalance in the guiding relationship (see section 5). Working: clear roles and consistent messages to the client.

B4. Screening for and working with scrupulosity

Purpose and when to use: Practices involving self-examination, confession and continual attention to God can be captured by OCD with moral or religious themes. The IOCDF describes scrupulosity as excessive concern that thoughts or acts might be sinful, with compulsive prayer and frequent confession, practice driven by fear, guilt or shame rather than meaning, and long concealment from shame. Screen when A4, A5 or A7 show checking, repetition or reassurance-seeking. [source: IOCDF 'For Faith Leaders']
Steps: (1) Assess for OCD using standard clinical assessment (described here without reproducing instruments). (2) Help the client distinguish value-driven from fear-driven practice, as the IOCDF frames it. (3) If OCD is present, use exposure and response prevention: reduce compulsive prayer, re-confession and reassurance gradually, ideally coordinated with one designated confessor or faith leader (the IOCDF mentions, for example, stepping confession frequency down on a schedule and grading exposure to avoided places). (4) Agree with the client and their faith leader which practices are core and which are compulsive [synthesis]. (5) Obtain informed consent for exposure, explain temporary anxiety increase, and do not schedule exposures that require acting against the client's sincere beliefs [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "Brother Lawrence named a fault once and moved on. What you're describing sounds different: going back again and again to be sure. That pattern is something OCD often does with faith, and it's treatable. Would you like your confessor involved in planning?"
Watch for: Therapist or faith leader giving reassurance, which the IOCDF says maintains the OCD cycle; validation instead (acknowledging distress without agreeing the thought is sinful). Working: fewer compulsions, a return to value-driven practice, the client grieving and rebuilding what OCD took from their faith (IOCDF).

B5. Trauma-sensitive adaptation

Purpose and when to use: For clients with trauma histories, including religious trauma or abuse in a church setting. Trauma-sensitive mindfulness (Treleaven 2018) is a published adaptation for meditation practices [uncertain: not verified]; principles below are [synthesis].
Steps [synthesis]: (1) Ask how the client experiences images of God (safe, punishing, absent) before encouraging continual attention to God. (2) Keep practice eyes-open, active and task-linked (A2, A3, A5) rather than long silent prayer. (3) Offer choice and the right to stop at any moment. (4) Pair practice with grounding (feet on floor, naming objects in the room). (5) If attention to God triggers fear, shame or abuse memories, pause the practice and work on safety and stabilisation; revisit only if the client wishes.
Example language (illustrative): "You're in charge of this. If turning toward God brings up something frightening, it's completely okay to stop, open your eyes and come back to the room with me."
Watch for: Flashbacks, dissociation, numbing, fear of divine punishment, or links between God-images and an abuser. Working: the client can approach the practice with choice and return to the present easily.

B6. Monitoring adverse and challenging experiences

Purpose and when to use: Throughout, and especially if the client increases practice, attends retreats or reports unusual experiences. Lindahl et al. (2017, PLOS ONE) documented 59 kinds of meditation-related challenge across seven domains (cognitive, perceptual, affective, somatic, conative, sense of self, social), including fear, anxiety, panic, insomnia and hypersensitivity, lasting days to over a decade, and not explained by intensity, psychiatric history or supervision alone; that study was of Buddhist meditators, and its relevance to Christian prayer is [synthesis]. A systematic review (Farias et al. 2020, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica; 83 studies) found an overall adverse-event prevalence of 8.3%, most often anxiety, depression and cognitive anomalies, including in people with no prior mental-health history. [source: Brown University news release; PubMed abstract]
Steps: (1) Ask at review: "Has anything about the practice been difficult or unsettling?" (2) If challenges arise, reduce the amount and intensity of practice, favour active and task-linked forms, and add grounding [synthesis]. (3) Before an intensive or silent retreat, screen for recent psychosis, mania, severe depression, trauma symptoms, sleep problems and medication changes, and discuss with the retreat leader if the client wishes [synthesis]. (4) Coordinate with the client's spiritual director or retreat leader when the client wishes. Britton's Cheetah House resources and a support group for meditators in difficulty are reported [uncertain: not verified].
Example language (illustrative): "Sometimes prayer brings difficult experiences as well as good ones, and that isn't your fault or a sign you're doing it wrong. Let's look at what's happening and adjust."
Watch for: Sleep loss, agitation, depersonalisation, intrusive imagery, voices, grandiosity, mood change. Working: distress settles with adjustment; the client keeps practising in a form that suits them, or pauses without guilt.

B7. Telling spiritual darkness apart from depression and other illness

Purpose and when to use: Brother Lawrence reports years of inner suffering, fear about his salvation and a sense of his sins before he found peace (Second Conversation; Second Letter; the Carmelite Spirit biography calls it "spiritual darkness"). Carmelite tradition has its own language for such dryness and darkness [uncertain: not verified]. Intense spiritual experiences can resemble psychiatric symptoms and must be told apart (Vieten et al. 2013, competency 6). DSM-5-TR includes a category for a religious or spiritual problem that is not a mental disorder (Z65.8).
Steps [synthesis]: (1) Respect the client's spiritual interpretation. (2) In parallel, assess for depression, anxiety disorders, OCD, psychosis, mania, dissociation and suicide risk using current standard practice. (3) Look at functioning, sleep, appetite, hopelessness, guilt out of proportion, and whether the client's community sees the experience as typical. (4) Treat any disorder present while respecting the spiritual meaning; collaborate with the spiritual director if the client wishes.
Example language (illustrative): "Your tradition has words for seasons when God feels far away, and I take that seriously. I also want to make sure we're not missing depression, which can feel similar and which we can treat. Can we look at both?"
Watch for: Pathologising normal religious experience on one side; missing a treatable depression, psychosis or suicidal crisis on the other. Working: a shared understanding that holds both frames.

B8. Therapist role, boundaries and self-disclosure

Purpose and when to use: Throughout. The therapist is not the client's spiritual director, confessor or teacher (Vieten et al. 2013, competency 13), and is aware of how their own beliefs shape judgements (competency 3).
Steps [synthesis]: (1) Avoid dual relationships (for example, also being the client's prayer leader or fellow parish officer) or address them openly. (2) Disclose one's own faith only if it serves the client, briefly, and return the focus. (3) Neither recommend nor discourage the practice on the therapist's own religious grounds. (4) Seek consultation when unsure.
Example language (illustrative): "My own beliefs aren't the point here; what matters is what this practice means to you and whether it's helping."
Watch for: Over-identification with a client of the same faith, or subtle disapproval from a secular or different-faith therapist. Working: the client feels free to talk about faith without being steered.

5. Handling problems

The Conversations and Letters address dryness, distraction, faults, self-denial and illness; responses drawing on them are sourced. Most clinical responses below are [synthesis], informed by Vieten et al. 2013, the IOCDF and the adverse-effects literature cited in section 4.

Dryness, 'nothing is happening'. The tradition expects long difficulty; Brother Lawrence reports years of struggle before peace and urged perseverance (Second Letter; Mulhern 2018). Response: normalise in the client's terms, simplify to one brief anchor (A5), and suggest discussing it with a spiritual director; screen for depression in parallel (B7) [synthesis].
Forgetting, non-adherence. He expected beginners to fail often and to resume without discouragement (Fourth Conversation). Response: link practice to existing routines (A2, A4), drop the expectation of continuity, and treat lapses as part of the practice; never set targets or scores [synthesis].
Guilt about 'failing' at prayer. Response: contrast the client's self-attack with his one-sentence admission and moving on (A7); if guilt is persistent, repetitive or fear-driven, assess for scrupulosity and depression (B4, B7) [synthesis].
Scrupulosity takes over the practice (checking whether one is aware of God enough, repeating prayers until they feel right, frequent confession). Response: pause the continual-attention elements, follow B4, coordinate with one designated confessor, and avoid reassurance, which the IOCDF says maintains OCD [source: IOCDF; synthesis].
Overwhelm, anxiety, unusual or frightening experiences. Response: reduce or pause, shift to active and task-linked forms, ground, assess for psychosis, mania, dissociation and trauma symptoms, and coordinate with the spiritual director if the client wishes (B5, B6). Do not dismiss the experience or label it spiritual without assessment [synthesis; see Lindahl et al. 2017, PLOS ONE; Farias et al. 2020, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica].
Images of God are punishing or bound up with abuse. Response: practice is not pushed; work on safety, shame and trauma first; the client decides whether and when to return to prayer, possibly with a trusted pastor [synthesis].
'Resistance' to including faith, or to leaving it out. Response: treat it as information about the client's values and past experiences of therapy or religion; renegotiate consent (B1); faith is never a condition of treatment, nor excluded against the client's wishes [synthesis].
Rupture: the client feels judged (for being religious, for not being religious enough, or for the 'wrong' denomination; the practice is valued across Catholic and Protestant readers). Response: name it, acknowledge any misstep, clarify that the therapist's own beliefs do not set the agenda (B8), and invite the client to correct the therapist's understanding of their faith [synthesis; Vieten et al. 2013, competencies 1, 3].
The client asks the therapist to be their spiritual guide. Response: explain the difference in roles warmly, keep supporting the client's own spiritual resources, and refer for spiritual direction (B3) [synthesis; Vieten et al. 2013, competency 13].
Practice used to avoid feelings or decisions ("I just give it to God" as a way of not facing grief, conflict or risk). Response: respect the faith statement and explore what it allows the client not to feel or do; the concept of spiritual bypassing (Vieten et al. 2013, competency 14) can be offered gently [synthesis].
Health decisions. If the client is considering delaying or declining medical care on spiritual grounds (one letter favours seeking healing from God rather than relying only on physicians), respond with respect, explore the decision, encourage discussion with their doctor and, if they wish, their priest; do not advise on medicines; no practice is presented as a treatment for physical disease [synthesis].
Self-denial becomes harmful (restrictive eating, sleep loss, self-injury framed as penance). Response: assess risk directly, involve the client's doctor, and invite the confessor's guidance; the tradition itself rejects forced or violent constraint (Sixth Letter) [source: Revell 1895 text; synthesis].
Suicidal thinking framed as longing for God or for death. Response: take seriously; carry out risk assessment according to current standards and safety planning while respecting the religious language; do not interpret it as only spiritual [synthesis].
Coercive or harmful spiritual guidance. Misconduct linked to this practice's teaching: none found in the sources consulted. If a client describes a guide or group that isolates them, controls their decisions, discourages therapy or medical care, or demands secrecy, explore safety, support the client's autonomy, and consider safeguarding or reporting duties where they apply; support clients leaving a group or recovering from religious harm without pressing them to keep or drop their faith [synthesis].
Children and adolescents. If a young person uses the practice, involve parents or guardians as law and policy require, obtain the young person's assent, keep practice brief and optional, and watch for scrupulosity, which can begin in youth [synthesis].
Conflict between therapist's and religious guide's advice. Response: with consent, talk directly with the guide, clarify roles (mental health versus spiritual guidance), and agree consistent messages; where advice risks harm, put the client's safety first [synthesis; Vieten et al. 2013, competency 16].

Sources

Web sources:

Published works cited:

Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection. The Practice of the Presence of God. Critical edition by Conrad De Meester, OCD; translated by Salvatore Sciurba, OCD. ICS Publications.
Lindahl, J. R., et al. (2017). The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists. PLOS ONE 12(5): e0176239. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0176239.
Farias, M., et al. (2020). Adverse events in meditation practices and meditation-based therapies: a systematic review. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 142(5), 374–393. doi:10.1111/acps.13225.
Vieten, C., Scammell, S., Pilato, R., Ammondson, I., Pargament, K. I., & Lukoff, D. (2013). Spiritual and religious competencies for psychologists. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 5(3), 129–144. doi:10.1037/a0032699.
Treleaven, D. A. (2018). Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness [uncertain: not verified].
American Psychiatric Association (2022). DSM-5-TR, including the Cultural Formulation Interview [uncertain: not verified].
ICD-10-CM Z65.8, Other specified problems related to psychosocial circumstances (includes 'Religious or spiritual problem'), https://www.unboundmedicine.com/icd/view/ICD-10-CM/945432/all/Z65_8___Other_specified_problems_related_to_psychosocial_circumstances
Britton, W., Cheetah House resources for meditators in difficulty [uncertain: not verified].

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