Antoinism

1. Introduction

Version followed: Antoinism (the Culte Antoiniste, French and Belgian branches) as described in Régis Dericquebourg's World Religions and Spirituality Project (WRSP) profile and timeline, with Belgian press and a Belgian general-practice journal for current practice. Details of present-day temple routine that rest only on secondary sources are marked [uncertain].

Antoinism is a small healing religion, not a therapy. Louis-Joseph Antoine (born 1846, Liège province, Belgium) was a former miner and metalworker. He turned to Allan Kardec's spiritism in 1888, began healing after his son's death in 1893, and in 1910 dedicated a temple at Jemeppe-sur-Meuse and named the movement Antoinism. He died in 1912 and his widow led the movement as "Mère" (Mother) [source: WRSP timeline]. One Belgian medical journal gives a different birthplace and death year; this guide follows WRSP [uncertain: sources conflict]. The widow's first name also differs between sources (WRSP gives Jeanne; the Belgian press gives Catherine) [uncertain: sources conflict].

Core idea of healing, as the movement holds it: matter and evil are not ultimately real. Suffering comes from the "intelligence" and from imagination, and illness can be a test or the result of moral error. A "fluide" (fluid), a concept taken from Kardec, flows through everything. Loving thought carries a healing "fluid of love", and negative thought carries a dark fluid. Healing is sought through faith, prayer and moral self-improvement, and the fluid is transmitted in the daily "Opération générale" (general operation) and through the movement's healers [source: WRSP timeline; La Libre 2012; Hoffman 2007]. Reincarnation (human to human only) and progress towards a divine state are part of the teaching [source: La Libre 2012]. Evidence status: no controlled evaluation of Antoinist fluid or prayer healing is published, and its healing claims remain religious claims untested by clinical research [uncertain: not verified]. Nothing in this guide presents Antoinist practice as a treatment for any physical disease, and all medical decisions belong to the client's treating doctor.

For the psychotherapist, the work is not to practise Antoinism but to understand what it means in a client's life. This includes how it sits alongside medical care, how its view of illness affects guilt and grief, and how to support autonomous health decisions [synthesis].

2. Framework

2a. The movement's own structure (as described)

• History of attitudes to medicine [source: WRSP timeline; Hoffman 2007]:
  • Early period (1890s). Antoine healed "through spirits" and mesmerism. He gave mesmerised water, a herbal tea and vegetarian advice.
  • Prosecutions. Doctors complained in October 1900. In February 1901 Antoine was fined 60 francs for illegal practice of medicine and ordered to pay damages. He was charged again in 1907, after children's deaths from enteritis in a nearby town, and acquitted.
  • After 1901. He stopped giving any remedy. He worked through touch, prayer, group healing sessions and claimed distance healing. Later he stopped the laying on of hands, and healing came to depend on the faith of healer and sick person.
  • Antoine's own view. He considered medication unnecessary and treated a patient's wish to see a doctor as an obstacle to healing. He tried, without success, to work in partnership with a doctor.
  • Present-day position (as reported). The Belgian press reports that recourse to conventional medicine is not forbidden [source: La Libre 2012]. A secondary account says the movement offers no diagnosis or prescription, practises no laying on of hands, and treats healing as a supplement to medical care [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. A Belgian general practitioner, summarising Dericquebourg's survey of people who consulted Antoinist healers, reports that most were also under a doctor's care. Physical complaints were the most common reason for consulting (47%), followed by psychological ones such as depression (19%) [source: Hoffman 2007, citing Dericquebourg 2001].
• Worship. The "Opération générale" is a short weekday office. A desservant (temple officiant, often a woman, who lives at the temple) prays and meditates in silence to transmit the beneficent fluid, and an adept then reads from Antoine's writings. A separate evening reading is held [source: WRSP timeline]. Services last under about half an hour and have no organ, candles or singing [source: La Libre 2012; RTBF]. Feast days include the Christian holidays plus the Fête du Père on 25 June and two other days of the movement [source: RTBF].
• Healing requests. Healers pray with the person to find the origin of their troubles [source: La Libre 2012]. A secondary account describes brief, unpaid consultations in temple rooms, sometimes with a hand on the shoulder or hand [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. Whether the movement still offers distance healing today, and how, is [uncertain: not verified].
• Texts. L'Enseignement (1905), L'Auréole de la conscience (1907), La Révélation d'Antoine le Généreux (1908) and Le Couronnement de l'œuvre révélée (1909). The Mother's teachings (the Tomes) are reserved for desservants. Antoine's "Ten Principles" summarise the teaching: self-knowledge, conscience over intelligence, humility, not judging, and charity without pride. They are read at funerals [source: WRSP timeline].
• Organisation. There is no paid clergy, gifts are anonymous, and the movement does not recruit. Adherents are free to remain Catholic, and the movement takes no line on sexuality, abortion or divorce [source: RTBF; La Libre 2012]. Members wear a black costume, which is optional [source: RTBF]. France recognised the movement as a religion and Belgium as a philanthropic association in the mid-1920s. The French and Belgian branches separated after the Mother's death in 1940 [source: WRSP timeline].
• Size. Estimates conflict widely. One broadcaster gives close to a million worldwide [source: RTBF]. A secondary source gives a few thousand to 200,000, and fewer than 150 regular worshippers in Belgium in 2003 [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. Treat all figures as uncertain.
• Public controversy. A 1995 French parliamentary report placed the movement on a list of "sectes"; in 2005 the French Prime Minister judged that list not pertinent. Belgium's sect-observatory (CIAOSN) reported in 2012 that it had received no complaint about the movement in twelve years [source: La Libre 2012].
• Medical neglect and child protection. The only court matters found are Antoine's own: a 1901 conviction for illegal practice of medicine, and a 1907 prosecution after children's deaths that ended in acquittal [source: WRSP timeline]. Modern court, regulator or major-news reports of medical neglect involving the movement: none found in the sources consulted. Absence of reports is not proof of absence; the safeguarding steps in section 4 apply as they would for any faith-healing context [synthesis].

2b. The therapist's framework (no published protocol exists; all [synthesis])

Antoinism has no psychotherapy manual. The phases below organise the therapist's work. No source gives session counts, so none are stated.

1. Engagement and cultural assessment. Goal: understand the client's affiliation (born into it, convert, dual Catholic-Antoinist belonging, family member, former adherent) and what brought them. Tools: informed consent, the DSM-5-TR Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) with its supplementary modules. Move on when the client's explanatory model and help-seeking map are clear and the client feels their faith is respected.
2. Health-care map and coordination. Goal: know which medical care is in place, whether any is being delayed, and what the client wants shared with the doctor. Move on when medical responsibility is clearly with the treating doctor, or a safety plan exists if care is being refused.
3. Meaning work. Goal: work on the issues that brought the client, such as guilt about illness, grief, family conflict, existential distress or religious doubt, using the client's own framework where it helps. Move on when distress is reduced and the client can hold both faith and medical care, or has made an informed, autonomous choice about them.
4. Consolidation and ending. Goal: name the resources the client keeps (community, readings, principles, medical team), plan for relapse or new diagnoses, and end or refer.

3. Guiding principles

• Respect self-determination and religion. The APA code asks psychologists to respect people's dignity and self-determination and to work against bias based on religion. In practice: the client's faith is a value to understand, not a symptom [source: APA Ethics Code, Principle E].
• Competence or referral. Where understanding a client's religion is essential, the clinician gains the competence or refers. In practice: read about Antoinism before session two, and consult if out of depth [source: APA Ethics Code]. For spiritual and religious competencies, see Vieten et al. 2013 [uncertain: not verified].
• Attribute, don't adjudicate. State healing claims as the movement's beliefs ("in Antoinism, the fluid..."), neither as fact nor as foolishness. In practice: use the client's terms with neutral framing [synthesis].
• Medical decisions belong to the treating doctor. In practice: the therapist never advises starting, stopping or changing a medicine or treatment, and routes medical questions to the doctor [synthesis].
• No dual role. The therapist is not a healer, desservant or transmitter of fluid, and does not pray the Opération or lead readings with clients. In practice: if a client asks the therapist to pray or "send fluid", decline warmly and return to the client's own practice [synthesis; see APA Ethics Code 3.05 on multiple relationships].
• Take the theology of illness seriously. Teachings that illness is a test, a moral error or imagination can comfort or wound. In practice: ask what the teaching means to this client before assuming either [synthesis].
• Do not pathologise belief. Belief in fluid, reincarnation or the unreality of evil is not delusion. In practice: assess symptoms by distress, impairment and difference from the client's community norms, not by content [synthesis].
• Autonomy-respecting decision support. An adult may combine or decline treatments. In practice: help the client clarify values and get accurate information from the doctor, without persuasion or ridicule [synthesis].
• Safeguarding over neutrality where children are at risk. In practice: a child's access to needed medical care is not a matter of family belief alone; follow local child-protection law [synthesis].
• Informed consent includes the role of faith in therapy. In practice: explain early that the therapist will discuss faith respectfully but will not provide religious services [source: APA Ethics Code].
• Community liaison only by the client's choice. In practice: contact a desservant only with explicit consent, sharing only what is needed [synthesis].

4. Intervention inventory

Antoinism has no clinical interventions of its own. The inventory below gives the therapist's procedures for clients who belong to it, grew up in it, are leaving it, or whose relatives belong to it. The movement's own practices (Opération, reading, healers' prayer, feasts, funerals) are described in section 2 for orientation only and are never performed by the therapist. All steps are [synthesis] unless a source is given.

4.1 Informed consent that names faith

• Purpose / when: first session with any client for whom Antoinism matters. It sets the frame: faith is welcome as a topic, and the therapist is not a religious provider [source: APA Ethics Code for consent content; synthesis for faith wording].
• Steps: (1) Cover the usual consent items: the nature of therapy, fees, confidentiality and its limits. (2) Add one sentence that the client's beliefs and community are welcome topics. (3) State that the therapist will not pray, transmit fluid or give religious guidance, and will coordinate with doctors only with consent. (4) Invite questions.
• Example language (illustrative): "Your faith is welcome here, and I'd like to understand what it means to you. I'm not a healer or a religious guide, so I won't pray with you or advise on doctrine. I can help you think things through, and, if you agree, work alongside your doctor."
• Watch for: the client testing whether you will mock their faith; relief or wariness. It is working when the client speaks freely about the healer, the temple or the fluid.

4.2 Cultural Formulation Interview with the spirituality module

• Purpose / when: early assessment, or whenever religion shapes the presenting problem. The DSM-5-TR CFI core interview, plus the supplementary modules on Spirituality, Religion and Moral Traditions, Explanatory Model and Coping and Help-Seeking. The spirituality module covers identity, affiliation and family background, the place of the tradition in daily and community life, how it helps with coping (including leaders, texts and practices), and whether it has contributed to the problem or to distress, discrimination or conflict [source: APA CFI Supplementary Modules].
• Steps: (1) Use the core CFI. (2) Add the spirituality module. Ask about the client's path into Antoinism, attendance at the Opération or readings, contact with healers, and dual belonging (for example with Catholicism, which the movement permits). (3) Add the explanatory-model module: what the client thinks caused the problem, for example fluid, moral error, a test, a past life or a medical cause. Ask how relatives and the community see it. (4) Add the help-seeking module: list every source of help, both healer and doctor. (5) Summarise back in the client's words. Use the modules as published, without adding items of your own.
• Example language (illustrative): "In your understanding, what has brought this illness or this difficulty? And what does your temple community say about it?" / "Who are all the people helping you with this right now, at the temple, at home and at the doctor's?"
• Watch for: discrepancies between the client's own view and the community's or family's; shame about "moral error". It is working when you can state the client's explanatory model in a way they endorse.

4.3 Health-care map (parallel-care inventory)

• Purpose / when: any client with a physical or psychiatric condition who also consults an Antoinist healer or relies on the Opération. Reported surveys suggest most such people also see a doctor [source: Hoffman 2007, citing Dericquebourg 2001]. The map checks this for your client.
• Steps: (1) Draw two columns with the client: medical care (doctors, diagnoses, treatments, next appointments) and spiritual care (temple attendance, healer contacts, readings). (2) Ask whether anything in one column has paused because of the other. (3) Note any upcoming medical decision. (4) Ask permission to contact the treating doctor (see 4.4). (5) Revisit at intervals and at any new diagnosis.
• Example language (illustrative): "Let's put all your care on one page, the doctor's side and the temple side, so we can see how they fit together."
• Watch for: missed appointments, stopped medication, or a sense that wanting a doctor shows weak faith (a view Antoine himself held, according to the historical sources) [source: WRSP timeline]. It is working when the client can describe both columns openly.

4.4 Coordination with the treating doctor

• Purpose / when: whenever there is a medical condition, a delay in care, a psychiatric medication question, or risk.
• Steps: (1) Get written consent specifying what will be shared. (2) Share only what is needed [synthesis]. (3) Tell the doctor that the client values Antoinist prayer and healing alongside medical care. (4) Route every question about medicines or treatment to the doctor. (5) Feed back to the client.
• Example language (illustrative): "Questions about your treatment are for Dr X. Would you like us to write them down together for your next appointment?"
• Watch for: the client asking the therapist to endorse stopping treatment, which you decline and route to the doctor. It is working when the client and doctor talk directly about the client's faith and choices.

4.5 Autonomy-respecting decision support

• Purpose / when: an adult client is weighing whether to delay, decline or combine medical treatment with faith healing. This is not persuasion; it is helping the client decide in line with their own values and with accurate medical information from the doctor. The Belgian GP literature urges respect for beliefs while not letting faith healing lead patients to reject care [source: Hoffman 2007].
• Steps: (1) Clarify the decision and its timeline. (2) Elicit the client's values and hopes, both spiritual and practical. (3) Ask what the movement itself expects. Reported current practice does not forbid medicine [source: La Libre 2012]. Clients may be relieved to check this with their temple. (4) Identify missing medical information and plan how to get it from the doctor. (5) Explore what each option would mean for the client and family. (6) Respect the decision of a capacitous adult, keep the door open, and document.
• Example language (illustrative): "You can hold both, your faith in the fluid and your doctor's treatment, or you may choose differently. What matters most to you as you decide?" / "Have you asked the desservant whether seeing the doctor goes against anything in the teaching?"
• Watch for: decision under pressure from family; fear that doubt will block healing; capacity concerns (refer for assessment). It is working when the client can state their reasons in their own words and has the medical facts from the doctor.

4.6 Working with guilt and the theology of illness

• Purpose / when: a client believes their illness, or a relative's, comes from their own moral error, negative thought or imagination, or a past life, and feels guilt or shame. These ideas are part of the teaching [source: WRSP timeline; La Libre 2012]. So are non-judgment, humility and charity [source: WRSP timeline].
• Steps: (1) Ask the client to explain the teaching as they hold it. (2) Distinguish the teaching from the client's harshest reading of it. (3) Explore the movement's own resources that soften blame, such as the call not to judge others and, by extension, oneself; illness as a test rather than a punishment; and "evil does not exist". Use only what the client recognises. (4) Address self-blame with standard cognitive or compassion-focused methods in the client's language. (5) If guilt is fixed, pervasive and out of keeping with community norms, assess for depression or psychosis (see 4.9).
• Example language (illustrative): "When you say the illness comes from your thoughts, does that feel like an explanation that helps you, or a judgment against you?" / "How would the principle about not judging others apply to how you judge yourself?"
• Watch for: guilt deepening when the client is "not healed"; reluctance to admit medical treatment. It is working when self-blame softens without the client feeling their faith was attacked.

4.7 Supporting the client's own practices as coping resources

• Purpose / when: the client finds meaning or calm in attending the Opération, the readings or the Ten Principles. The CFI's spirituality module treats such practices as possible coping resources [source: APA CFI Supplementary Modules].
• Steps: (1) Ask which practices help and how. (2) Help the client schedule them as they wish, as one part of a wider coping plan. (3) Do not lead, recite or interpret the texts yourself. The client brings their reading and its meaning. (4) Balance them with other supports, such as sleep, social contact and medical care.
• Example language (illustrative): "You said the evening reading leaves you calmer. How might that fit into your week alongside the other things that help?"
• Watch for: practices turning compulsive or reassurance-driven (see 4.9); the therapist sliding into a religious role. It is working when the practice adds to coping rather than replacing other care.

4.8 Grief and bereavement within the client's framework

• Purpose / when: bereavement in an Antoinist family. The Ten Principles are read at funerals [source: WRSP timeline], and reincarnation and moral progress shape how death is understood [source: La Libre 2012]. A bereaved client may also be helped by knowing that the founder's own turn to healing followed his son's death [source: WRSP timeline], but raise this only if the client does.
• Steps: (1) Ask how the death is understood in the teaching and by the client. (2) Ask about the funeral and what it meant. (3) Allow ordinary grief alongside spiritual meaning, and do not assume belief removes pain. (4) If the deceased sought healing instead of, or as well as, medical care, explore guilt, anger and blame on all sides without taking sides. (5) Screen for prolonged grief and depression as usual.
• Example language (illustrative): "Your faith tells you something about where your mother is now. What does your heart tell you, and is there room for both here?"
• Watch for: guilt that "not enough faith" caused the death; family blame over medical choices. It is working when the client can grieve without feeling disloyal to their faith.

4.9 Differential assessment without pathologising belief

• Purpose / when: belief content (fluid, unreality of evil and matter, reincarnation) raises questions, or new symptoms appear.
• Steps: (1) Hold community norms as the reference: ask whether fellow adherents would see the experience as typical. (2) Psychosis: look for fixed, idiosyncratic beliefs beyond the teaching, such as personal special-mission claims, voices and thought disorder, with functional decline. (3) Mania: grandiosity or reduced need for sleep tied to healing "powers". (4) OCD and scrupulosity: compulsive checking of thoughts for "dark fluid", reassurance-seeking, intrusive fear that negative thoughts will harm someone. Treat with ERP in the client's framework, consulting a religious advisor if the client wishes [synthesis]. (5) Depression: pervasive guilt and worthlessness framed as moral error. (6) Somatic symptom presentations and avoidance of medical investigation. (7) Where distress is mainly a religious or spiritual problem without a disorder, consider ICD-10-CM Z65.8, which includes "religious or spiritual problem" [source: Unbound Medicine ICD-10-CM Z65.8]. The DSM-5-TR wording of this category is [uncertain: not verified].
• Example language (illustrative): "Is this something others at your temple would also experience, or does it feel different, more personal to you?"
• Watch for: labelling ordinary belief as delusion, or missing illness because it is described in religious terms. It is working when the formulation separates faith from symptoms in a way the client accepts.

4.10 Family conflict and mixed-belief households

• Purpose / when: relatives disagree about the client's Antoinist practice, or about medical care. Dual belonging is permitted (for example remaining Catholic) [source: RTBF]. The movement does not recruit [source: RTBF], so conflict often concerns health choices or family tradition rather than proselytism [synthesis].
• Steps: (1) Map each person's position and fear. (2) Separate the question of faith from the question of medical care. (3) Use joint sessions with consent, with a neutral, curious stance. (4) Help the family agree how medical decisions will be made and who talks to the doctor. (5) If an adult is pressured, support the client's own choice.
• Example language (illustrative): "It sounds as if you both want her well. You differ on how. Can we look at what each of you is afraid of?"
• Watch for: the therapist being recruited as an ally against faith, or against medicine. It is working when family members discuss decisions without ultimatums.

4.11 Child safeguarding where faith healing and medical care meet

• Purpose / when: a child's medical care may be delayed or refused for faith reasons, in any family that practises faith healing. The historical 1907 prosecution followed children's deaths, though it ended in acquittal [source: WRSP timeline]. Modern cases involving the movement: none found in the sources consulted.
• Steps: (1) Ask directly about any child's current medical needs and care. (2) If care is being delayed or refused and the child may be harmed, follow local child-protection law and your service's safeguarding policy. Consult your safeguarding lead and refer to child-protection services as required [synthesis; the specific Belgian, French or other law is not set out here]. (3) Do not let "Indigo" or similar spiritual labels replace assessment for developmental or mental-health concerns. (4) Seek the child's assent and the parents' consent for referrals where possible. (5) Keep supporting the parent; safeguarding and therapy can coexist.
• Example language (illustrative): "I respect how important your faith is. When a child's health may be at risk, I have a duty to make sure they get medical care, and I'd like to work out with you how that happens."
• Watch for: concealment of symptoms; a parent's fear of community judgment. It is working when the child is under appropriate medical care.

4.12 Religious distress, doubt and leaving

• Purpose / when: a client is questioning the teaching, has left, or feels torn between family tradition and their own view. Low demands and the absence of recruitment are reported [source: RTBF; Hoffman 2007], so high-control dynamics are not a documented feature. Distress may still come from family loyalty or from the teaching on illness [synthesis].
• Steps: (1) Normalise doubt without pushing in either direction. (2) Explore what the client wants to keep, such as community, the principles and rituals of mourning, and what to let go. (3) Address family or community repercussions. (4) Consider Z65.8 coding if appropriate (see 4.9).
• Example language (illustrative): "Some of what you grew up with still matters to you, and some doesn't fit anymore. Let's sort what you want to carry forward."
• Watch for: the therapist's own views steering the outcome. It is working when the client's decision feels their own.

4.13 Community liaison and referral

• Purpose / when: the client wishes to involve a desservant or temple member, for example to check whether medical care is compatible with the teaching or to arrange support. Or the client needs referral for medical, psychiatric or specialist religious support.
• Steps: (1) Do this only at the client's request, with written consent. (2) Agree what will be shared. (3) Let the client lead any contact where possible. (4) For referral, choose clinicians able to work respectfully with religious clients [source: APA Ethics Code].
• Example language (illustrative): "Would it help to ask the desservant yourself, or would you like us to think together about how to raise it?"
• Watch for: confidentiality breaches in a small community; role confusion. It is working when the client feels supported by both networks.

4.14 Checking for dependence and exploitation

• Purpose / when: a client uses many healers, or uses healers who charge, possibly presented as Antoinist. The movement itself is reported to have no paid clergy and to take anonymous gifts only [source: RTBF; La Libre 2012]. Belgium's sect-observatory reported no complaints over twelve years [source: La Libre 2012].
• Steps: (1) Ask what the client pays any healer and how often they consult. (2) Ask whether a healer has advised against medical care. (3) If fees, pressure or advice against medicine appear, explore them and route medical questions to the doctor. Inform the client that the movement, as reported, does not charge [synthesis].
• Example language (illustrative): "Does anyone you see for healing ask for money, or tell you what to do about your doctor's treatment?"
• Watch for: escalating consultation; secrecy. It is working when the client's spending and care choices are transparent and their own.

5. Handling problems

The sources on Antoinism do not address psychotherapy. All guidance below is [synthesis] unless a source is named.

• Client fears the therapist will mock or "cure" their faith. Name your stance (4.1), ask to be taught the client's terms, and use them accurately ("fluide", "Opération", "desservant"). Avoid any word the client experiences as dismissive. Note that the French "Culte Antoiniste" is the movement's proper name and not a judgment.
• Client is delaying medical investigation or treatment. Do not argue doctrine. Use 4.5: clarify values and get the facts from the doctor. Mention, if useful, that reported current practice does not forbid medicine [source: La Libre 2012] and that many people combine both [source: Hoffman 2007]. Involve the doctor with consent. If there is acute risk to life, follow emergency procedures. If capacity is in doubt, request a capacity assessment.
• Client asks the therapist to pray, send fluid or read with them. Decline kindly, and point to the client's own temple, reading or healer. Keep the request as material: what does the client hope it would give them?
• Client asks whether the healing "works". Give an attributed, even-handed answer: in the movement healing depends on faith and the fluid; no controlled studies test it; medical questions go to the doctor. Then return to what the question means for the client.
• Not being healed triggers guilt or crisis of faith. Use 4.6 and 4.12. Screen for depression and suicide risk using standard practice, and do not treat the theology as the cause of risk without assessment.
• Overwhelm after a serious diagnosis. Stabilise first: sleep, support, practical steps, and a medical team contact. Defer meaning work until the client has some steadiness. Faith practices the client finds calming can be part of stabilisation (4.7).
• Family rupture over care choices. Use 4.10. If a child's care is at stake, safeguarding comes first (4.11). Be transparent with parents about your duties.
• Rupture with the therapist (for example the client feels judged after a safeguarding step or a referral). Acknowledge it, explain your duty, and reaffirm respect for the faith. Invite the client to say what felt wrong, and repair before continuing.
• Non-adherence to therapy tasks. Check whether tasks feel spiritually incompatible, for example cognitive work on "negative thoughts" heard as a claim that thoughts cause illness. Reframe tasks in the client's own terms, or drop them.
• Therapist's own discomfort or bias, sceptical or sympathetic. Seek supervision or consultation (with consent where identifying details are shared), and check competence [source: APA Ethics Code]. Do not self-disclose your own beliefs unless it clearly serves the client.
• Therapist who also practises energy or spiritual healing. Keep roles entirely separate; never offer such services to therapy clients [synthesis; see APA Ethics Code 3.05].
• Conflicting information about the movement (size, history, founders' names, present practice). Ask the client and, if the client wishes, their temple. Do not rely on press or online summaries as the last word, and do not repeat "sect" labels from the 1995 French list, which a later French government set aside [source: La Libre 2012].
• Small community and confidentiality. Temples are often small, and in Belgium mostly in Liège province [source: La Libre 2012]. Take extra care with group referrals and with letters or messages that could be seen by others.

Sources

• ANTOINISM TIMELINE — World Religions and Spirituality Project (Régis Dericquebourg)
• L'antoinisme, seul mouvement religieux né en Belgique — La Libre Belgique, 1 November 2012
• Qu'est-ce que l'antoinisme, cette étonnante religion wallonne… — RTBF
• Hoffman, A. (2007). Croire et guérir. Santé conjuguée, 39, 49–55
• Antoinism — Wikipedia [uncertain: secondary, unverified; used only for points so marked]
• DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview Supplementary Modules — American Psychiatric Association
• Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct — American Psychological Association
• 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

Books and other works cited:

• Dericquebourg, R. (2001). Croire et guérir (survey of people consulting Antoinist healers, as summarised in Hoffman 2007) [uncertain: not verified].
• Antoine, L. (1905). L'Enseignement; (1907) L'Auréole de la conscience; (1908) La Révélation d'Antoine le Généreux; (1909) Le Couronnement de l'œuvre révélée. Titles and dates as given in the WRSP timeline.
• Vieten, C., et al. (2013). Spiritual and religious competencies for psychologists [uncertain: not verified].