The present study utilized a comparative psychotherapy outcome design to evaluate the relative therapeutic efficacy of Christian and secular RET with depressed Christian clients. Results showed both treatments significantly reduced depression, automatic negative thinking, irrational thinking, and general pathology. These gains were maintained after three months. There were no significant differential treatment effects. Results are discussed in terms of the implications for accommodation theory.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AllportG.W., & RossJ. M. (1967). Personal religious orientation and prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 5, 432–443.
2.
BackusW. (1985). Telling the truth to troubled people.Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House.
3.
BartlettM. S. (1954). A note on the multiplying factors for various chi square approximations. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 16, 296–298.
4.
BashamR. B. (1986). Scientific and practical advantages of comparative designs in psychotherapy outcome research. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 54, 88–94.
5.
BeckA. T., SteerR. A., & GarbinM. G. (1988). Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory: Twenty-five years of evaluation. Clinical Psychology Review, 8, 77–100.
6.
BeckA. T., WardC. H., MendelsonM., MockJ., & ErbaughJ. (1961). An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 561–571.
7.
Beit-HallahmiB. (1975). Encountering orthodox religion in psychotherapy. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 12, 357–359.
8.
BerginA. E. (1980). Psychotherapy and religious values. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 48, 95–105.
9.
BerginA. E. (1988). Three contributions of a spiritual perspective to counseling, psychotherapy and behavior change. Counseling and Values, 33, 21–31.
10.
BerginA. E. (1991). Values and religious issues in psychotherapy and mental health. American Psychologist, 46, 394–403.
11.
BobganM., & BobganD. (1987). Psychoheresy: The psychological seduction of Christianity.Santa Barbara, CA: Eastgate.
12.
BrophyC. J., NorvellN. K., & KilvkD. J. (1988). An examination of the factor structure and convergent and discriminant validity of the SCL-90-R in an outpatient clinic population. Journal of Personality Assessment, 52, 334–340.
13.
CarneyM. W., RothM., & GarsideR. F. (1965). The diagnosis of depressive syndromes and the prediction of E.C.T. response. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 659–674.
14.
DerogatisL. R. (1977). SCI-90: Administration, scoring and procedure manual.Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins.
15.
DerogatisL. R., & ClearyP. A. (1977). Confirmation of the dimensional structure of the SCL-90-R: A study in construct validation. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 33, 981–989.
16.
DiGiuseppeR. A., MillerN. J., & TrexlerL. D. (1977). A review of rational-emotive psychotherapy outcome studies. Counseling Psychologist, 7, 64–72.
17.
DobsonK. S., & BreiterH. J. (1983). Cognitive assessment of depression: Reliability and validity of three measures. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 92, 107–109.
18.
DobsonK. S., & ShawB. F. (1988). The use of treatment manuals in cognitive therapy: Experience and issues. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 673–680.
19.
DoughertyS. G., & WorthingtonE. L. (1982). Preferences of conservative and moderate Christians for four Christian counselors’ treatment plans. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 10, 346–354.
20.
EllisA. (1973). Humanistic psychotherapy: A rational-emotive approach.New York: McGraw-Hill.
21.
EllisA. (1977). Rational-emotive therapy: Research data that support the clinical and personality hypotheses of RET and other modes of cognitive-behavior therapy. Counseling Psychologist, 7, 2–42.
22.
EllisA. (1980a). Psychotherapy and atheistic values: A response to A. E. Bergin's “Psychotherapy and religious values.”Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 48, 635–639.
23.
EllisA. (1980b). Rational-emotive therapy and cognitive behavior therapy: Similarities and differences. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 4, 325–340.
24.
EllisA. (1983). The case against religiosity.New York: Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy.
25.
EllisA. (1987). Religiosity and emotional disturbance: A reply to Sharkey and Malony. Psychotherapy, 24, 826–827.
26.
EllisA., & DrydenW. (1987). The practice of rationalemotive therapy.New York: Springer.
27.
FeaginJ. R. (1964). Prejudice and religious types: A focused study of southern fundamentalists. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 4, 3–13.
28.
FriedmanA. S. (1975). Interaction of drug therapy with marital therapy in depressive patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 32, 619–637.
29.
Gallup Foundation (1985). Religion in America: Gallup Report No. 236.Princeton, NJ: Author.
30.
GassS. C. (1984). Orthodox Christian values related to psychotherapy and mental health. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 12, 230–237.
31.
HaagaD. A., & DavisonG. C. (1989). Slow progress in Rational-Emotive Therapy outcome research: Etiology and treatment. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 13, 493–508.
32.
HollonS. D., & KendallP. C. (1980). Cognitive self-statements in depression: Development of an automatic thoughts questionnaire. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 4, 383–395.
33.
HollonS. D., KendallP. C., & LumryA. (1986). Specificity of depressotypic cognitions in clinical depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 52–59.
34.
The Holy Bible: New King James Version. (1982). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
35.
JacobsonN. A., & TrauxP. (1991). Clinical significance: A statistical approach to defining meaningful change in psychotherapy research. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59, 12–19.
36.
JohnsonW. B. (1992). Rational-emotive therapy and religiousness: A review. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 10, 21–35.
37.
JohnsonW. B. (1993). Christian rational-emotive therapy: A treatment protocol. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 12, 265–272.
38.
JohnsonW. B., & RidleyC. R. (1992a). Sources of gain in Christian counseling and psychotherapy. The Counseling Psychologist, 20, 159–175.
39.
JohnsonW. B., & RidleyC. R. (1992b). Brief Christian and NonChristian rational-emotive therapy with depressed Christian clients: An exploratory study. Counseling and Values, 36, 220–229.
40.
JohnsonW. B., RidleyC. R., DeVriesR. J., & PettoriniD. D. (1990, August). Rationality and religiousness in depressed religious clients. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Boston.
41.
KazdinA. E. (1979). Nonspecific treatment factors in psychotherapy outcome research. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47, 846–851.
42.
KazdinA. E., & BassD. (1989). Power to detect differences between alternative treatments in comparative psychotherapy outcome research. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57, 138–147.
43.
KeatingA. M., & FretzB. R. (1990). Christian's anticipations about counselors in response to counselor descriptions. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 37, 293–296.
44.
KendallP. C., HollonS. D., BeckA. T., HammerC. L., & IngramR. E. (1987). Issues and recommendations regarding use of the Beck Depression Inventory. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 11, 289–299.
45.
KingM. B., & HuntR. A. (1972). Measuring the religious variable: Replication. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 11, 240–251.
46.
LuborskyL., WoodyG. E., McLellanA. T., ObrienC. P., & RosenzweigJ. (1982). Can independent judges recognize different psychotherapies? An experience with manual-guided therapies. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 50, 49–62.
47.
LyonsL. C., & WoodsP. J. (1991). The efficacy of Rational-Emotive Therapy: A quantitative review of the outcome research. Clinical Psychology Review, 11, 357–369.
48.
ParloffM. B. (1986). Placebo controls in psychotherapy research: A sine qua non or a placebo for research problems?Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 54, 79–87.
49.
PecheurD., & EdwardsK. J. (1984). A comparison of secular and religious versions of cognitive therapy with depressed Christian college students. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 12, 45–54.
50.
PropstR. L. (1980). The comparative efficacy of religious and non-religious imagery for the treatment of mild depression in religious individuals. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 4, 167–178.
51.
PropstR. L. (1982). Cognitive therapy via personal belief structures. In AbtL., & StuartI. (Eds.) The newer therapies: A source book (pp. 81–94). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
52.
PropstR. L. (1988). Psychotherapy in a religious framework.New York: Human Sciences Press.
53.
PropstR. L., OstromR., WatkinsR., DeanT., & MashburnD. (1992). Comparative efficacy of religious and non-religious cognitive-behavioral therapy for the treatment of clinical depression in religious individuals. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60, 94–103.
54.
RayburnC. A. (1985). The religious patient's initial encounter with psychotherapy. In SternE. M. (Ed.) Psychotherapy and the religiously committed patient (pp. 35–45). New York: Haworth.
55.
RushD. J., BeckA. T., KovacsM., & HollonS. (1977). Comparative efficacy of cognitive therapy and pharmacotherapy in the treatment of depressed outpatients. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 1, 17–37.
56.
SacksJ. M. (1985). Religious issues in psychotherapy. Journal of Religion and Health, 24, 26–30.
57.
ShawB. F. (1984). Specifications of the training and evaluation of cognitive therapists for outcome studies. In WilliamsJ. B. W., & SpitzerR. L. (Eds.), Psychotherapy Research: Where are we now and where should we go? (pp. 173–189). New York: Guilford.
58.
ShorkeyC. T., & WhitemanV. L. (1977). Development of the Rational Behavior Inventory: Initial validity and reliability. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 37, 527–534.
59.
SpilkaB. (1986). Spiritual issues: Do they belong in psychological practice? Yes – but!Psychotherapy in Private Practice, 4, 93–100.
60.
SteinD. M., & LambertM. J. (1984). On the relationship between therapist experience and psychotherapy outcome. Clinical Psychology Review, 4, 127–142.
61.
SternE. M. (1985). Psychotherapy and the religiously committed patient.New York: Haworth.
62.
ThurmanC. (1989). The lies we believe.Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
63.
ThyerB. A., PapsdorfJ. D., HimleD., & BrayH. (1981). Normative data of the Rational Behavior Inventory: A further study. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 41, 757–760.
64.
WalenS. R., DiGiuseppeR., & WesslerR. (1980). A practitioner's guide to rational-emotive therapy.New York: Oxford.
65.
WarnockS. D. M. (1989). Rational-emotive therapy and the Christian client. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 7, 263–274.
66.
WhitemanV. L., & ShorkeyC. T. (1978). Validation testing of the Rational Behavior Inventory. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 38, 1143–1149.
67.
WilsonP. H., GoldinJ. C., & Charbonneau-PowisM. (1983). Comparative efficacy of behavioral and cognitive treatments of depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 7, 111–124.
68.
WorthingtonE. L. (1986). Religious counseling: A review of published empirical research. Journal of Counseling and Development, 64, 421–431.
69.
WorthingtonE. L. (1988). Understanding the values of religious clients: A model and its application to counseling. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 35, 166–174.
70.
WorthingtonE. L., & GascoyneS. R. (1985). Preferences of Christians and non-Christians for five Christian counselor's treatment plans: A partial replication and extension. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 13, 29–41.
71.
WorthingtonE. L., & ScottG. G. (1983). Goal selection for counseling with potentially religious clients by professional and student counselors in explicitly Christian or secular settings. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 11, 318–329.