Atlas›Domain XIV · Western esoteric, divinatory & new spiritual movements›Guide 110
Guide XIV-110

Conversations with God (Walsch)

Neale Donald Walsch1995Ashland, Oregon, USA
A 34 · L 47 · M 1914 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: the Conversations with God (CwG) dialogue books by Neale Donald Walsch (Book 1, 1995, through Home with God, 2006, and Awaken the Species, 2017), the publisher's summary of What God Said: The 25 Core Messages (Tarcher; ebook 2013, paperback 2014), and the programmes of the Conversations with God Foundation (legal name Recreation Foundation Inc., Ashland, Oregon) as its public charity profile lists them. This is not a psychotherapy. It is a body of popular spiritual literature, an author-led movement and a small foundation. Clients meet it mainly through reading, online talks and retreats, and study with others.

What it is, as the author and publishers present it. Walsch reports that during a low point in his life (dated spring 1992 in a 1998 review) he wrote an angry letter to God on a legal pad. He says a reply came, beginning with a question about whether he really wanted answers or was "just venting", and that he kept writing the answers down. The books print his questions and God's replies as a dialogue [source: Ehlke 1998, Christian Research Journal, quoting Book 1 p. 1; Hachette author and book page]. Walsch has said the books are not "channelled" but "inspired by God" [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. Some secondary accounts call the process automatic writing [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. The publisher says the dialogue covers love and faith, life and death, and good and evil, and that it draws together the deeper meaning of different traditions [source: Hachette]. The nine CwG books are reported to have sold over 10 million copies in 37 languages [source: Alternatives, 2021 event listing].

Core ideas, attributed. Secondary summaries of the series list four central concepts from Friendship with God: we are all one; there is enough; there is nothing we have to do; and no single way is the better way [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. God "needs nothing" from humanity. Acts are called functional or dysfunctional rather than right or wrong. Souls are said to live many lifetimes [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. A 1998 review summarises further teachings in its own words, citing book pages. Feeling is God's primary voice, "the language of the soul" (1:3). There are no "shoulds" or "shouldn't's" (1:38), and readers are urged to stop making value judgements. Religious scripture is among sources called "not authoritative" (1:8). Each person is the "God You Are". The review also quotes the second book's statement that Hitler "did the best he could with the knowledge he had" (2:42) [source: Ehlke 1998]. The publisher states God's "number one message" as "You've got me all wrong" [source: Penguin Random House, What God Said]. In a 2021 online talk, Walsch offered "10 specific steps" towards what he calls "the holy experience", a direct connection with the source of divine wisdom, which CwG holds lives within everyone. The steps are not set out in the sources listed [source: Alternatives, 2021 event listing; steps uncertain: not verified].

How change happens, in CwG's terms. People change by remembering their oneness with God, by listening to feeling as the soul's guidance, by setting aside fear-based beliefs about a judging God, and by choosing to live as "the next grandest version" of who they are. The phrase comes from the Foundation's mission statement [source: GuideStar, Recreation Foundation Inc.; Ehlke 1998]. Helping others is presented as the fastest way to apply this wisdom [uncertain: secondary, unverified].

Evidence status (one line). The divine origin of the dialogue is a faith claim that cannot be tested empirically. Clinical or outcome studies of CwG reading or study groups: none found in the sources consulted [synthesis].

The psychotherapist's task. You do not teach, endorse or debunk CwG. You help the client explore what it means in their life. You assess culturally, using the DSM-5-TR Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI). You tell apart a normative spiritual experience and a disorder without pathologising belief. You watch for two CwG-specific risks: spiritual bypassing and claims of divine authority ("God told me") being used to override the client's own judgement or other people's. Bypassing means using teachings such as "there is no right or wrong", "nothing we have to do" or "feelings are the soul's language" to sidestep grief, anger, accountability or harm. You also attend to dependency, money and referral [synthesis].

2. Framework

CwG has no clinical phases, session counts or progression criteria. The phases below are a clinical framework for working with a client for whom CwG matters [synthesis]. No session numbers are given because no source gives them.

Phase A: Engagement and cultural assessment. Goal: understand the client's relationship to CwG (reader, study-group member, retreat participant, follower of online content, family member of a follower) in the client's own words. Tools: the core CFI, then the Spirituality, Religion, and Moral Traditions supplementary module (16 questions on identity and affiliation, role in daily life, relation to the problem, and stresses and conflicts) [source: APA, CFI Supplementary Modules]. Move on when: you and the client agree on what CwG contributes to coping and what, if anything, it contributes to the problem.

Phase B: Safety and differential assessment. Goal: tell apart a normative spiritual experience (including a felt inner dialogue with God) and psychosis, mania, dissociation, OCD or complicated grief. Screen for risk, for coercion by others and for financial strain. Move on when: any disorder has been treated or referred and risk is managed. Where the problem is spiritual or religious rather than a disorder, you may record Religious or Spiritual Problem, Z65.8 [source: ICD-10-CM Z65.8 (Unbound Medicine); DSM-5-TR wording uncertain: not verified].

Phase C: Working with meaning, bypassing and authority. Goal: help the client use CwG as a resource where it helps (less fear of a punishing God, self-acceptance, a frame for helping others), and notice where its teachings close down feeling, grief, accountability or decision-making. Move on when: the client can hold both their spiritual frame and the emotions and responsibilities in front of them. They make decisions they can own as theirs, whether or not they also frame them spiritually.

Phase D: Consolidation and ending. Goal: the client knows their own warning signs (bypassing, outsourcing decisions, overspending on programmes, isolation from non-believers) and has supports, including their own community if they want that. Ending criterion: treatment goals are met and the client is not relying on the therapist or a teacher as the arbiter of spiritual truth.

Format. Individual therapy is the default. Couple or family sessions help when CwG beliefs are a source of conflict, for example with relatives from a tradition that rejects CwG [synthesis].

3. Guiding principles

  • Attribute, don't adjudicate. Say "in CwG" or "Walsch writes". In practice, never tell a client the dialogue is or is not from God [synthesis; Principle E, APA Ethics Code].
  • The client's meaning first. CwG means different things to different readers: comfort after harsh religion, a self-help text, a community. In practice, ask before you assume [synthesis; CFI module].
  • Respect for religion, with your bias in check. The APA Ethics Code asks psychologists to recognise religious difference and keep their biases out of their work. In practice, notice any urge to rescue the client from CwG, or to recruit them to it [source: APA Ethics Code, Principle E].
  • Competence. Where religion is essential to effective services, get training, consultation or supervision, or refer. In practice, read the publisher's descriptions and the client's chosen passages before interpreting them [source: APA Ethics Code]. Spiritual and religious competencies for psychologists have been proposed (Vieten et al. 2013) [uncertain: not verified].
  • Normative experience is not pathology. A felt inner dialogue with God, or a sense of oneness, is not in itself a symptom. In practice, assess function, distress, other symptoms and course, not content [synthesis; CFI guidance that modules are not the sole basis for diagnosis].
  • Bypassing is a pattern, not a belief. Spiritual bypassing is a term usually credited to John Welwood (1980s). It means using spiritual ideas to avoid facing unresolved emotional issues. Writers on it say it can be a normal short-term response to acute stress [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. In practice, name the avoidance and leave the teaching alone.
  • No borrowed authority. "God told me" is respected as the client's experience. It does not replace the client's own reasoning, or other people's consent, inside therapy. In practice, ask what the client themselves thinks and wants, alongside what they sense God is saying [synthesis].
  • Accountability and safety outrank any teaching. Teachings such as "no right or wrong" never set aside safeguarding, duty-to-protect or reporting obligations. In practice, follow your local law and code [synthesis].
  • No dual role. The therapist is not a CwG teacher, coach, retreat guide or "spiritual helper" to their own clients, and does not lead God-dialogue sessions. In practice, a therapist who is also a CwG practitioner keeps those roles separate [source: APA Ethics Code 3.05; synthesis].
  • Informed consent about the frame. In practice, explain that therapy works alongside the client's spirituality and does not teach it [source: APA Ethics Code; synthesis].
  • Money and dependency are clinical data. In practice, ask about spending on books, retreats, courses or donations as you would any significant spending [synthesis].

4. Intervention inventory

What CwG itself offers is reading the books, study (the series includes companion and group-study titles), online talks with live Q&A, a monthly online "e-retreat", daily social-media content, Sunday "CWG Chapel" articles, and outreach programmes. The Foundation lists these outreach programmes as Books for Friends, CWG Helping Outreach, CWG for Parents and CWG Prison Outreach [source: GuideStar, Recreation Foundation Inc.; Alternatives 2021 listing]. Prices for these programmes are not stated in the sources listed [uncertain: not verified]. The therapist does not deliver any of these. The interventions below are the therapist's own work with a client for whom CwG matters [synthesis unless a source is tagged].

4.1 Client-led exploration of what CwG means to the client

  • Purpose / when: At intake, or when the client mentions CwG. The aim is to learn whether CwG is a comfort, a moral framework, a community or a point of conflict.
  • Steps: (1) Ask permission to talk about it. (2) Ask how the client came to the books and when; the timing often coincides with a crisis. (3) Ask which ideas or passages matter most, and invite them to bring one. (4) Ask what difference it makes day to day: what they do, feel or decide differently. (5) Ask what is hard about it, including disagreements with family or their former tradition. (6) Reflect back in the client's own terms ("oneness", "the God You Are", "functional and dysfunctional"). (7) Agree whether and how spirituality will be part of therapy.
  • Example language (illustrative): "You've mentioned Conversations with God a few times. Would it help if we talked about what it means for you?" "Which idea in it has stayed with you most?" "What changed for you after you started reading it?"
  • Watch for: idealisation of the teaching, or its wholesale rejection; a client testing whether you will mock them. It is working when the client speaks freely and links CwG ideas to their actual goals.

4.2 Cultural Formulation Interview with the spirituality module

  • Purpose / when: Early in assessment, and again later as rapport grows. The APA notes that modules can be repeated over time [source: APA, CFI Supplementary Modules].
  • Steps: (1) Use the core CFI on the cultural definition of the problem, causes, supports and help-seeking. (2) Add the Spirituality, Religion, and Moral Traditions module. Its domains are identity and affiliation (including any earlier tradition); the role of the tradition in daily and family life; its relation to the problem (coping, community leaders, helpful texts or practices); and stresses or conflicts (the tradition contributing to the problem, discrimination, disputes). Use the client's own term, e.g. "CwG" or "the New Spirituality" [source: APA, CFI Supplementary Modules]. (3) Rephrase and follow up naturally, and skip any items that repeat. (4) Do not diagnose from the module alone; the APA states it is not the sole basis for diagnosis [source: same]. (5) Write a short cultural formulation and share it with the client.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Some people find CwG helps them cope; for others it also brings stresses. How is it for you?" "Is there anyone in that community you would want involved in your care?"
  • Watch for: earlier religious affiliation and the losses or conflicts that came with leaving it; CwG used as the only coping strategy; isolation from people who disagree. It is working when you can say how CwG helps and how it hinders.

4.3 Assessing an experienced inner dialogue or divine voice

  • Purpose / when: When the client reports writing or hearing "answers" from God, as in the CwG origin account, or feels guided by an inner voice. The aim is to tell apart a normative spiritual or imaginative experience and psychosis, mania or dissociation without pathologising belief.
  • Steps: (1) Ask the client to describe the experience neutrally: how it comes (thoughts, writing, felt sense, a voice heard outside the head), when it comes, and whether they can start and stop it. (2) Ask about its content: supportive and in keeping with their values, or commanding, threatening, grandiose or persecutory. (3) Ask about function: sleep, work, relationships, self-care, spending. (4) Screen for other features: reduced need for sleep, pressured speech, grandiosity, thought disorder, other hallucinations, paranoia, loss of time, depersonalisation or derealisation, substance use and medical causes. (5) Ask about culture: is this experience understood and accepted in the client's community, the CwG readership, and do other readers see it the same way? (6) Ask whether any "answers" have told them to harm themselves or others, or to make sudden major changes. (7) Formulate. Where a disorder is likely, refer for psychiatric assessment while keeping the spiritual frame respected. Where it is a spiritual or religious problem, consider Religious or Spiritual Problem, Z65.8 [source: ICD-10-CM Z65.8 (Unbound Medicine); rest synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "When the answers come, what is that like? Is it more like your own thoughts, or does it seem to come from outside you?" "Have the answers ever asked you to do something that worried you?"
  • Watch for: commands to harm self or others; new grandiose identity (e.g. being uniquely chosen to deliver a message); escalation in hours spent writing; loss of sleep. These need urgent assessment. The experience is likely normative when it is controllable, consistent with the client's values, culturally congruent and not accompanied by other symptoms. Where a client links the dialogue to "recovered" memories or past lives, see Domain VI 110 on suggestion and false memory [synthesis].

4.4 Working with claims of divine authority

  • Purpose / when: When "God told me", "the dialogue says" or "Neale says" is used to settle a decision, close down discussion, or override someone else. This applies whether the client is the one making the claim or is on the receiving end from a partner, teacher or group member.
  • Steps: (1) Acknowledge the experience without debating its source. (2) Separate the layers: what the client senses God or the text says; what the client themselves thinks, feels and wants; what the other people involved want. (3) Look at consequences together: who gains and who bears the cost of this decision? (4) If the claim comes from another person, assess for coercive control: monitoring, isolation, financial control, threats, or spiritual justification for sex or money. (5) Help the client own the decision in their own name, which they may also frame spiritually. (6) Note that CwG itself classes religious scripture among sources that are "not authoritative" and puts weight on the reader's own feeling [source: Ehlke 1998, quoting Book 1]. Some clients use this to question any single authority, including CwG and its author. Offer this only if the client finds it useful [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "I'm not going to argue with what you sense God saying. Can we also hear what you want here?" "If this turned out badly, who would carry the consequences?" "When your partner says God has decided this, how much room is there for you to disagree?"
  • Watch for: decisions made only by appeal to divine authority, especially about money, ending treatment, leaving relationships or stopping medical care; another person using divine authority to control the client. It is working when the client can state their own reasons and tolerate disagreement.

4.5 Recognising and working with spiritual bypassing

  • Purpose / when: When CwG teachings are used to avoid feelings, conflict, grief or responsibility. Bypassing is usually credited to Welwood. Writers on it link long-term use to shame, all-or-nothing thinking, emotional confusion, tolerance of inappropriate behaviour, compulsive kindness, blind allegiance to charismatic teachers and disregard for responsibility. Motivational interviewing has been proposed as one approach (Clarke et al. 2013). The evidence is mainly anecdotal [uncertain: secondary, unverified].
  • Typical CwG-flavoured bypass statements (illustrative): "There's no right or wrong, so it doesn't matter what he did"; "I'm choosing love, not fear, so I'm not angry"; "There's nothing I have to do" (said in place of facing a real obligation); "Everyone does the best they can" (used to shut down grief or anger about harm).
  • Steps: (1) Notice the moment: a teaching appears just as an emotion or a hard topic surfaces. (2) Reflect both sides: the value the teaching holds for the client, and the feeling it is covering. (3) Ask permission to stay with the feeling for a moment. (4) Explore what the feeling needs (grief, protection, a boundary, repair) and when it is safe to feel it. (5) Invite the client to look at whether the teaching, as they understand it, actually requires suppressing the feeling. CwG itself calls feeling "the language of the soul" [source: Ehlke 1998, quoting Book 1], so some clients can see feeling the anger or grief as consistent with their own frame. (6) Use MI-style reflections on any ambivalence about change. (7) Review over time: is the teaching now a support for facing life rather than a way round it?
  • Example language (illustrative): "That idea clearly means a lot to you. I also noticed your voice went quiet when you said it. What's underneath?" "Would feeling angry about this go against what you believe, or is that something we could look at?"
  • Watch for: the therapist arguing theology, or shaming the client for bypassing. It is working when emotion can be felt and named and the client still keeps their spiritual frame.

4.6 "No right or wrong": accountability, harm and safeguarding

  • Purpose / when: When the teaching that acts are "functional or dysfunctional" rather than right or wrong, or that a perpetrator "did the best he could", is applied to abuse, violence or exploitation. This may be harm the client has suffered or harm the client has caused [teachings: Ehlke 1998; Wikipedia, uncertain: secondary, unverified].
  • Steps: (1) Hear the client's framing without challenge at first. (2) Assess safety: current risk to the client, children or others; whether abuse is ongoing. (3) Keep your legal and professional duties separate from the client's metaphysics: mandatory reporting, duty to protect and safeguarding apply whatever the client's framework [synthesis]. (4) For a client who was harmed: validate that they were harmed and that boundaries, protection and anger are legitimate. Explore whether "no judgement" is being used to keep them in danger. (5) For a client who harmed others: use the CwG vocabulary of "functional and dysfunctional" if it helps the client look at effects and repair, but do not let it replace responsibility. (6) Revisit as the client's understanding develops.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Whether or not something is 'wrong' in a cosmic sense, it hurt you, and you are allowed to protect yourself from it." "In your framework, was what happened functional for you or your children? What would make it more so?"
  • Watch for: staying with an abusive partner because judging is "fear-based"; minimising one's own harmful behaviour. It is working when the client can name harm and act protectively.

4.7 Grief and loss

  • Purpose / when: When a client facing bereavement draws on CwG's teachings on death, souls and many lifetimes. Home with God (2006) is a series title about death; its content is not summarised here [uncertain: not verified].
  • Steps: (1) Explore the comfort the beliefs bring (continuing bonds, reunion, meaning). (2) Check whether those beliefs leave room to grieve. Watch for "they're home, so I shouldn't be sad". (3) Allow both: the belief and the sorrow. (4) Screen for prolonged grief, depression and suicidal thinking, including any wish to "join" the deceased. Follow standard risk-assessment practice. (5) If the client seeks contact with the deceased through paid mediums, explore cost and dependency; see the guides on mediumship (XIV 098, 099) [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "It sounds like you believe she is safe and at home. And you still miss her terribly. Both can be true here."
  • Watch for: suppressed grief that turns into physical symptoms, irritability or withdrawal; any statements about wanting to die to be reunited, which call for a risk assessment. It is working when the client can grieve openly within their frame.

4.8 CwG as a resource after fear-based religion

  • Purpose / when: Many readers turn to CwG after leaving a tradition they experienced as punitive. The books reject a vengeful God and a hell (as reviewers summarise them) [source: Ehlke 1998; uncertain: secondary, unverified]. CwG can help such clients; it can also bring conflict with family.
  • Steps: (1) Explore the earlier religious experience, including fear, shame or religious trauma. (2) Note what CwG offers in relief and self-acceptance. (3) Process the losses: community, family closeness, identity. (4) Watch for a new rigidity: swapping one external authority for another. (5) Work with family conflict (4.12).
  • Example language (illustrative): "What was it like to read that God isn't angry with you, after what you were taught growing up?"
  • Watch for: unresolved fear or intrusive images from the earlier faith. Treat these as you would religious trauma. It is working when relief is stable and the client can hold differences with family.

4.9 Magical thinking, scrupulosity and "thoughts create reality" anxiety

  • Purpose / when: Some clients take ideas such as "we create our reality" or "choose love, not fear" in a literal, anxious way. They may fear that a negative thought will cause disaster, or blame themselves for illness or misfortune. Walsch appeared in the 2006 documentary The Secret [uncertain: secondary, unverified].
  • Steps: (1) Check whether the pattern is driven by anxiety: intrusive thoughts, neutralising rituals (re-thinking positive thoughts, affirmations to undo a thought), reassurance-seeking, avoidance. (2) If OCD is likely, use or refer for exposure and response prevention, adapted with respect for the client's beliefs [uncertain: not verified]. (3) If self-blame for illness is present, separate spiritual meaning from medical responsibility and support medical care. (4) Never advise on medicines.
  • Example language (illustrative): "When the frightening thought comes, what do you feel you have to do to cancel it?"
  • Watch for: delay of medical care because illness is seen as self-created or curable by a change of thought; guilt over illness. It is working when the client can let thoughts be and seek appropriate care.

4.10 Working with the client's own dialogue writing

  • Purpose / when: Some readers imitate the CwG format by writing questions to God and recording answers. When the client chooses to bring such writings, you can treat them as reflective material: the client's own inner resources, values and conflicts. You do not treat them as an authority [synthesis]. Walsch's own steps for "the holy experience" are not reproduced here [uncertain: not verified].
  • Steps: (1) Read only what the client chooses to share. (2) Ask what stood out to them and how it felt to write it. (3) Notice themes, such as permission, self-compassion and harsh voices, and link them to therapy goals. (4) Keep the client as the interpreter. You do not say what God meant. (5) If the writing becomes compulsive, distressing, commanding, or accompanied by changes in sleep or mood, return to 4.3.
  • Example language (illustrative): "What did you notice when you read this back?" "That answer sounds very kind towards you. Is that a voice you can reach at other times?"
  • Watch for: the therapist being drawn into co-writing or interpreting "divine" answers (a role boundary breach); hours spent writing at the cost of sleep; answers increasingly directing life decisions. It is working when the writing supports reflection and the client's own decisions.

4.11 Dependency and financial strain

  • Purpose / when: When involvement in books, online programmes, retreats, coaching or donations grows. The Foundation runs online retreats and other programmes [source: GuideStar]. Costs are not stated in the sources listed [uncertain: not verified]. The ICSA newsletter published an article (Benjamin 2004) asking whether Walsch functions as a guru for his organisation; its conclusions are not summarised here [uncertain: not verified].
  • Steps: (1) Ask neutrally about time and money spent and whether these are rising. (2) Ask whether the client consults the books, the author's content or a teacher before every decision. (3) Look for isolation from non-believers, debt, or pressure to give. (4) Problem-solve budgets and boundaries with the client. (5) If a teacher or group exerts pressure, assess for coercive control (4.4).
  • Example language (illustrative): "How much of your month goes to CwG courses and events? Does that sit comfortably with you?"
  • Watch for: debt, secrecy from family, inability to make choices without consulting a teacher or text. It is working when involvement is chosen and affordable.

4.12 Family and couple conflict over CwG

  • Purpose / when: When relatives reject CwG. Some Christian reviewers class the books as non-Christian, New Age teaching [source: Ehlke 1998]. Or the family member may be the person worried about a relative's involvement.
  • Steps: (1) Map each person's beliefs and fears. (2) Separate the theology from relationship needs (respect, contact, not being converted). (3) Agree shared rules about discussing beliefs. (4) For a worried relative: support curiosity rather than confrontation; check for genuine risk indicators (money, isolation, health decisions) as opposed to disagreement alone.
  • Example language (illustrative): "You don't need to agree about God to agree on how you speak to each other about it."
  • Watch for: ultimatums, or attempts to recruit the therapist to a side. It is working when the family can tolerate difference.

4.13 Children and parenting

  • Purpose / when: The Foundation lists "CWG for Parents" [source: GuideStar]. Walsch co-wrote the 2003 film Indigo [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. Watch for "Indigo" or similar labels being used in place of assessment for ADHD, autism or other conditions, and for any refusal of medical care for a child on spiritual grounds.
  • Steps: (1) Ask how spiritual ideas shape parenting. (2) If a child is struggling, recommend appropriate developmental, medical or psychological assessment alongside the family's beliefs. (3) Seek the child's assent and the parents' consent. (4) Follow safeguarding law where care is being withheld. Never name or describe identifiable minors in records shared outside the care team.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Whatever we call your son's gifts, an assessment could tell us what support would help him at school."
  • Watch for: delayed assessment or treatment. It is working when the child receives the help they need.

4.14 Referral and collaboration

  • Purpose / when: For psychosis, mania, severe dissociation, OCD, eating disorders, substance use or medical issues; and when the client wants their spiritual community involved.
  • Steps: (1) Refer to psychiatry or medical care as indicated, explaining that the referral does not judge their beliefs. (2) With consent, liaise with any community leader or study-group facilitator the client names as supportive. (3) Consider referral to a spiritually competent colleague if your own bias interferes [source: APA Ethics Code]. (4) Document informed consent [source: APA Ethics Code].
  • Example language (illustrative): "I'd like a psychiatrist to check your sleep and mood. That's about your health, not about what you believe."
  • Watch for: the client experiencing the referral as rejection of their spirituality. It is working when care is joined up and the client stays engaged.

5. Handling problems

The sources listed do not address therapy with CwG readers. Everything below is [synthesis] unless tagged.

  • Client wants the therapist's view on whether the books are really from God. Decline to rule on it, kindly and openly. Return to what the client believes and what it means for them. (illustrative) "I'm not in a position to say where the words came from. I'm more interested in what they've meant for you." Self-disclose your own beliefs only briefly, if at all, and only for the client's benefit.
  • Client wants you to adopt CwG language or practices, or join a study group. Keep roles clear (APA Ethics Code 3.05). Use the client's terms in session; do not participate in their CwG activities or recommend specific programmes.
  • Therapist who is also a CwG practitioner or coach. Do not offer CwG coaching, retreats or study to therapy clients. Do not refer them to your own paid activities [source: APA Ethics Code 3.05]. Seek consultation if a client discovers your involvement.
  • Stuck: every emotion is met with a teaching. Name the pattern gently and collaboratively (4.5). Slow the pace. Use bodily or emotional cues. Explore what feeling would risk. Consider whether the bypass is protecting the client from overwhelming trauma; if so, stabilise first.
  • Resistance to talking about CwG critically. Respect it. The aim is not deconversion. Focus on the presenting problem and return to CwG only where the client links it to distress.
  • Overwhelm when bypassing drops away. When suppressed grief or anger surfaces, use grounding and pacing, and stabilisation skills. Screen for trauma and refer for trauma-focused treatment if indicated. Do not push past the client's window of tolerance.
  • Non-adherence with medical or psychiatric care justified by teaching. For example: "there's nothing I have to do", or "illness is a choice". Explore the decision with curiosity. Separate spiritual meaning from medical facts. Involve the prescriber. Never advise the client to start, stop or change a medicine. Act on risk when it is present.
  • Rupture: client feels judged or pathologised. Acknowledge it directly, apologise for any impression of dismissal, restate respect for their beliefs and explain why you asked (e.g. a sleep or mood screen). Use the CFI framing of curiosity.
  • "God told me to end therapy." Respect autonomy. Explore what the client themselves wants. Check for new symptoms or third-party pressure (4.3, 4.4). Leave the door open.
  • Divine authority used by a partner or teacher to control the client. Assess coercive control, including financial, sexual and isolation dimensions. Do safety planning. Use domestic-abuse pathways where relevant. Spiritual framing does not lower the threshold for safeguarding.
  • Sudden escalation: hours of dialogue writing, grand mission, no sleep. Treat as possible mania or psychosis. Arrange urgent psychiatric assessment. Involve supports with consent, or without consent where law permits for safety.
  • Family pressing the therapist to "get them out". Clarify your role and confidentiality. Offer the family their own support or family sessions with the client's consent. Avoid labelling the group; describe the specific concerning behaviours.
  • Grief clients turning to paid mediums. Explore cost, frequency and emotional effect without ridicule. See 098 and 099 in this family on mediumship and bereaved people.
  • Client who also tries past-life or channelled "memory" work. Explain suggestion effects gently. Avoid confirming recovered memories. See Domain VI 110.
  • Therapist's own reactions. These may include irritation at relativism ("no right or wrong"), or attraction to the teaching. Take them to supervision. Get training where religion is central to the work [source: APA Ethics Code, Principle E].

Sources

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