Heart led psychotherapy: A biopsychosocial spiritual model for clinical practice

Abstract

This paper introduces a spiritually informed heart led psychotherapy (HLP) model as part of a biopsychosocialspiritual (BPSS) approach in clinical practice. HLP model is based on the premise that everyone is on an individual life journey to understand and experience life lessons such as assertiveness, joy, forgiveness. When clients experience traumas, these can create blocks and restrictions, resulting in repeated cycles of psychological distress in an individual’s life. HLP regards the ego as being responsible for maintaining the psychological distress. HLP teaches clients to recognise the impact of their ego, become an observer to challenges so that they can understand that the challenges are the life lesson. Honouring the ‘heart and soul’ rather than the ego enables clients to experience the lesson, make new choices in keeping with their authentic selves and freedom from suffering. HLP can be integrated into traditional psychotherapies or applied as a standalone therapy as part of the BPSS approach.