Buddhist Counseling: Implications for Mental Health Professionals

Abstract

Buddhist counseling is a process of reducing suffering in individuals using teachings and interventions from Buddhism, which aims to train the human mind to attain a state of equanimity, joy, and liberation. Since the Buddha started preaching to help people alleviate their suffering 2,500 years ago, Buddhism has become a choice of healing for millions of individuals throughout human history (Bodhi, 1999). However, little is known about the process of Buddhist counseling from a psychological perspective. Many empirically supported contemporary psychotherapies such as Mindfulness Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy incorporate various Buddhist practices and ideas into their treatment modalities, but some Buddhist scholars and experts criticized the western application of mindfulness and Buddhist ideas to be a distortion of Buddhist philosophy and practices (Farb, 2014). For example, the extracted practice of mindfulness does not constitute any Buddhist ethics which can potentially facilitate people to mindfully cause harm to oneself and others (Dunkley & Loewenthal, 2013). In addition, Buddhist counselors that use meditation as an intervention are advanced practitioners who are experienced in guiding clients through meditation but this degree of experience and cultivation is not required for most psychological practices (D. Hong, 2014). Furthermore, there is a number of articles comparing Buddhism (e.g. Nickerson & Hinton, 2011) and psychology but very few resources exist on the practical application of Buddhism-derived interventions. Other scholars also suggested that many Buddhist concepts and practices such as Buddhist ethics, self-compassion, and the view of impermanence can be effective interventions in psychotherapy (Lee et al., 2016). According to the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principle of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (American Psychological Association, 2010), psychologists should avoid imposing their religious values and biases on their clients while valuing clients’ spirituality and religious beliefs. Due to these very reasons, it is crucial to demystify the process of traditional Buddhist counseling to increase mental health professionals’ cultural awareness of this fourth largest religion in the world, provide considerations and recommendations for professionals who are interested in applying Buddhist ideas and practices in treatment, and to provide more guidance for mental health professionals to practice Buddhism-informed interventions in an effective and ethical manner. This skill-building session will introduce a) the common processes of Buddhist counseling in terms of three major components: important concepts in Buddhism, process of self-cultivation for Buddhist counselors, and counseling interventions in various Buddhist traditions, and b) the clinical applications of Buddhist interventions and concepts into the counseling process.