Running Head: BUILDING A PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL INVENTORY 1

Building a Psychological and Spiritual Inventory

Marilyn Niffin

Kaplan University
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In order to determine where you fit in the spiritual and psychological spectrum, you will

need to ask yourself some questions and most importantly, be honest about the answers to those

questions. The following are a list of questions that can help determine where your

psychological and spiritual development is and what you can do to help improve or enhance you

psychological and spiritual well-being.

1. How do you define wellness? This question will help the practitioner understand how the

client sees wellness and what they expect from a wellness plan.

2. How do you define spirituality? This question will help to determine whether the client

perceives spirituality as something separate from, or integrated with religion

3. Do you consider yourself to be spiritual? Why or why not? This question will also help

to determine if the client can separate spirituality and religion, or feels they are linked. It

will also help determine if the practitioner needs to integrate the two into a development

plan, or separate then, to help the client see them as individual things.

4. How do you think spirituality affects your health? This question will help the practitioner

understand how the client thinks about spirituality and whether or not they see a

connection between the mind, the body, and the spirit. They can integrate this

connectedness into a development program if the client currently does not realize the

connection.

5. What activities do you take part in that make you feel good? (Feed your spiritual

hunger)? This question will help the practitioner integrate activities that the client enjoys

into a spiritual development plan. They may be able to expand on things that the client

already does, or give options for similar types of activities that they may not have thought

of.
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6. What are some barriers in your life that might block your spiritual development? This

questions helps the practitioner and the client explore some of the negative emotions or

situations that the client may find themselves in that make them unhappy.

7. What are some triggers that lead to you feeling overwhelmed? This helps to determine

where the client needs help. Maybe time management, anger management, more self-

reflection etc.

8. When do you feel youre happiest or most content? This gives the practitioner an idea of

what might drive the client to search out and explore their spirituality

9. What is the most important thing you do to maintain balance in your life? This helps the

client to think about some of the activities they take part in (or dont) and whether they

currently do things to maintain a healthy psychological mentality

10. How do you feel when you encounter a challenge or difficulty in your day/life? This will

help the practitioner determine whether the client tends to look at things with a

pessimistic or optimistic outlook. This can help to develop the psychological and

spiritual plan

11. How would you describe your outlook in life? Do things happen for a reason or are they

just random and we have no control over them? This question helps to determine similar

to the above question whether the client believes they have control over events and can

make choices or whether things will happen regardless of what they do and are therefore

going to happen no matter what (ie. Bad things will happen regardless of what I do with

my life)
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12. What does mind-body-spirit connectedness mean to you? This question helps to

determine if the client believe there is a connection or not and what they may do to

support, or nurture that connectedness.

(Interview summary removed.)

Overall I think the inventory covered many of the needed questions to determine how one

views the world, and how they see the connection between the mind-body, and spirit. I think

depending on the answers to the first two questions, I would ask a couple of different

questions if they had a stronger religious belief. I might explore how they fit their God into

their spirituality, but I would also ask a question that might challenge their belief in how the

two are connected. I would want to see if the person ever struggles with their faith, could

they still bring spirituality into their life. I also found that I had to elaborate on a few

questions to provide Sara with the exact meaning of what information I was trying to elicit.

Specifically questions 6, 11, and 12. I would need to add examples of the kind of

information I was looking for without leading them to an answer. For some people if they

did not have a strong belief in spirituality or were not open to answering the questions

honestly, they might not understand what information I was trying to elicit. Overall, I think I

was able to get enough information to understand how Sara felt about spirituality and what

her triggers, blocks, and general needs for development were.

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References
Seaward, B. L. (2013). Health of the Human Spirit Second edition. Retrieved from Vital Source Bookshelf:

https://kaplan.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781284090444/cfi/0

Seligman, M. E. (2006). Learned Optimism. New York: Vintage Books .

Walsh, R. (1999). Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind. New York:

John Wiley and Sons Inc.