Christians engaged in the fields of psychology, psychotherapy and counseling are living in a unique moment. Over the last couple decades, these fields have grown more and more open to religious belief and religion-accommodative therapies. At the same time, Christian counselors and psychotherapists encounter pressure (for example, from insurance companies) to demonstrate that their accommodative therapies are as beneficial as secular therapies. This raises the need for evidence to support Christian practices and treatments.

This essay by Fernando Garzon was originally published as chapter 4 in the book Evidence-Based Practices for Christian Counseling and Psychotherapy, edited by Everett L. Worthington Jr., Eric L. Johnson, Joshua N. Hook and Jamie D. Aten.

Garzon summarizes Christian devotional meditation, which has long been valued in the Christian church. It generally involves practices or disciplines of prayer or quiet reflection on Scripture. Garzon describes one controlled study (Carlson, Bacaseta and Simanton, 1988) and demontrates how he uses devotional meditation in psychotherapy.

Like the other essays in the full-length volume, Garzon's essay on devotional meditation as a treatment for anxiety contributes to a field of inquiry that, while still in its infancy, promises to have enormous implications for future work in Christian counseling and psychotherapy.

Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS) Books explore how Christianity relates to mental health and behavioral sciences including psychology, counseling, social work, and marriage and family therapy in order to equip Christian clinicians to support the well-being of their clients.