"Spiritual Bypassing"

Examining the Impact of "Spiritual Bypassing" in Counseling Practices

Spiritual bypassing, a term coined by psychotherapist John Welwood, describes using spiritual concepts to avoid facing emotional issues. It's a defense mechanism where spirituality is used to dismiss unresolved problems, rather than addressing them directly.

This is complicated in working with people in recovery, as many individuals with addiction have preferred defense mechanisms (PDS) that guide their addiction career and switch to a new PDS system that guides their recovery (from John Wallace, PhD, CASAC.)

Spiritual bypassing can often be a vital component of early recovery, but often needs to be developed into a more nuanced or dynamic coping mechanism in order to sustain long-term recovery. 

There's an adage in recovery circles that "the things that get you sober aren't the same things that will keep you sober." 

One of my specialities at Holley Counseling, PLLC is working with members of spiritually-based recovery organizations (including, but not limited to 12-Step) to help them improve their overall quality of life and address difficulties in relationships with themselves and others. 

The utility of this concept isn’t limited to those practicing or working towards abstinence-based recovery, though. In working with people with non-abstinence based goals (moderation and / or harm reduction) as well as people without AOD problems, spiritually bypassing may be present and worth exploring. 

An example of this is the marked difference between “spirituality / my Higher Power / faith / religion / God / etc. can help me grieve” and “I cannot or will not grieve because of spirituality / my Higher Power / faith / religion / God / etc.“

Acknowledging how delicate the process of exploring and integrating new preferred defense mechanisms in place of old ones, including but not limited to spiritual bypassing, is one of the core principles that my therapy philosophy at Holley Counseling, PLLC is built upon.