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A phenomenology of spiritual bypass: Causes,

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Gabriela Picciotto, Jesse Fox & Félix Neto

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 JOURNAL OF SPIRITUALITY IN MENTAL HEALTH
https://doi.org/10.1080/19349637.2017.1417756

A phenomenology of spiritual bypass: Causes,

consequences, and implications
Gabriela Picciottoa, Jesse Foxb, and Félix Netoa
a
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal; bDepartment of
Psychology, Stetson University, DeLand, Florida, USA

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Spirituality is a fundamental dimension of wellness. However, Received 11 October 2017
scholars have noted that not all spiritual processes are healthy. Revised 12 December 2017
One of those processes is spiritual bypass, defined as a defen- Accepted 12 December 2017
sive psychological posture cultivated by a tendency to privi- KEYWORDS
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lege spiritual beliefs or experiences over and against Spiritual bypass; spirituality;
psychological needs creating a means of avoiding or bypassing phenomenology;
difficult emotions or experiences. This study’s purpose was to conventional content
explore the phenomenology of spiritual bypass through eight, analysis
semi-structured interviews. The results of the phenomenology
yielded 48 codes clustered into 10 categories, two broader
themes and one stand-alone category. Clinical implications
and directions for future research are discussed.

Spirituality is ubiquitous in human history and contemporary society. It

empowers human existence with meaning by establishing goals and value
systems that potentially organize and drive all aspects of a persons’ life
(Pargament, 2011). Because of the range and scope of spirituality, it is
difficult to define with precision. Despite this lexigraphic challenge, scholars
of the psychology of spirituality and religion have sometimes defined it in
overlapping terms including the connection to a transcendent reality which
gives meaning to life; connection to one’s community and the whole of the
human race, potentially experienced through a religious practice; or, as in the
case of Western secular culture, through meditation, nature, arts, and differ-
ent practices of personal piety based on a connection and search for the holy
or sacred (Peteet & Balboni, 2013).
In the last several decades, researchers have focused on exploring spiri-
tuality and its influence on human development (Beutler & Clarkin, 1990;
Fowler, 1981), as well as searching for how to prove the association between
spirituality and health (Levin, 1994). The integration of spirituality within the
fields of psychology and counseling has awakened the curiosity of researchers
since the mid 1990s (Parker, 2011), focusing primarily on the inherent need
and various ways to incorporate spirituality into clinical contexts (e. g.

CONTACT Gabriela Picciotto up201608739@fpce.up.pt; gabipicciotto@thesunjar.com Rua da Venezuela,

227, Hab. 2.302, Porto 4150-744, Portugal.
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
 2 G. PICCIOTTO ET AL.

Cashwell & Young, 2011; Maher & Hunt, 1993; Miller, 2003; Pargament,
2011; Parker, 2011; Richards & Bergin, 2005). This is also true of a robust line
of research building momentum over recent years exploring the relationship
between spirituality and well-being (e.g., Koenig, 2012; Larson & Milano,
1995; McCullough, Hoyt, Larson, Koenig, & Thoresen, 2000; Pargament,
Smith, Koenig, & Perez, 1998).
Though spirituality is increasingly accepted as a vital component of
wellness, often the potential shadow sides of spirituality are overlooked
(Welwood, 2000). One growing area of research in this literature is the
concept called spiritual bypass, which can be defined as, a defensive
psychological posture cultivated by a tendency to privilege or exaggerate
spiritual beliefs, emotions, or experiences over and against psychological
needs creating a means of avoiding or bypassing difficult emotions or
experiences (Fox, Caswell, & Picciotto, 2017). Within the limited num-
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ber of published works on the topic, all previous works on spiritual

bypass are etic focusing on an outsider view (from the perspective of the
observer) and not emic, from the viewpoint of those who inhabit the
particular social group (from the perspective of the subject). To address
this gap, the current study explored the phenomenology of spiritual
bypass through semistructured, individual interviews.
Phenomenological research aims to investigate and describe the lived
experience of a phenomenon from a first person perspective (Van
Manen, 1990). In the context of the current manuscript, the purpose
of using phenomenology was to understand how someone would per-
ceive, understand, and make meaning of their own experience of spiri-
tual bypass.

Background of the study: Spiritual bypass

John Welwood first coined the term spiritual bypassing in 1984, and saw it as
particularly tempting to individuals who struggle to navigate their way
through life’s basic developmental stages. Welwood observed that the net
result is that many people end up trying to use their spiritual practices to
suppress their personal needs and identity. Spiritual bypassers may read
books on spirituality, engage in spiritual practices, visit spiritual teachers
and gurus, go to spiritual retreats, be part of spiritual communities, but they
do not care for and directly nurture their psychological needs, all the while
believing that their spiritual work may deliver them one day from their
psychological suffering. As some have theorized, by ignoring their psycholo-
gical work they run the risk of stagnated emotional development and even
greater psychological suffering (Welwood, 2000; Wilber, 2000).
The term spiritual bypass was later described in the recovery literature by
Charles Whitfield (1987, 1991, 2003)), persons in recovery avoid, or bypass,
 JOURNAL OF SPIRITUALITY IN MENTAL HEALTH 3

necessary psychological work on their addiction by leaping (i.e., bypassing)

directly into spirituality (whether it be shifting the focus of conversation onto
spiritual concerns or, avoiding directly confronting psychological work
through spiritual practices). Regardless of the nomenclature used, the basic
premise of the condition has remained the same: taking refuge in spirituality
as a way of avoiding unresolved psychological problems. From his clinical
experience, Masters (2010) identified the main symptoms of spiritual bypass
as repression and emotional alienation, exaggerated detachment, overempha-
sis on the positive, blind compassion or excessive tolerance, minimization or
denial of the shadow side of one’s personality, overconfidence about self-
awakening, the notion that everything is an illusion including suffering, and
disregarding the personal or mundane.
Although researchers have yet to determine how spiritual bypass pro-
liferates, some theorists have considered it a common process for people
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who pursue a spiritual path. Though there are likely many negative
consequences to spiritual bypass (see next), authors like Forman (2010)
and Masters (2010) explained that spiritual bypass, in some cases, is
inevitable and is a natural stage of the spiritual development. However,
in the clinical fields, the exploration of this theme is still recent
(Cashwell, Myers, & Shurts, 2004). The fact that psychological work
could be derailed by spiritual bypass makes it important enough for
counselors to know how to identify, contextualize, and therapeutically
intervene (Cashwell & Young, 2011). Possible negative outcomes of spiri-
tual bypass include the need to excessively control others and oneself,
shame, anxiety, dichotomous thinking, emotional confusion, exaggerated
tolerance of inappropriate behavior, codependence, compulsive kindness,
obsession or addiction, spiritual narcissism, blind allegiance to charis-
matic teachers, and disregard for personal responsibility (2007; Cashwell
et al., 2004; Masters, 2010; Welwood, 1984, 2000). Despite these pro-
blems, scholars have also suggested that spiritual bypass functions as a
coping mechanism to minimize the effect of psychological pain suggest-
ing that there are adaptive reasons for its use (Fox et al., 2017). We
conducted this study with the specific intention in mind to explore such
nuances from the first-person perspective of individuals who have experi-
enced spiritual bypass.

Method
The purpose of this study was to develop a phenomenology of spiritual
bypass. To this end, we created five research questions. Each research ques-
tion is listed here, and we have provided examples of interview questions in
parentheses that were posed to each participant:
 4 G. PICCIOTTO ET AL.

● How did people who experienced spiritual bypass get involved with religion and spiritual-
ity? (How did you get involved with spirituality/religion?)
● In what context did spiritual bypass occur and what were its main causes and symptoms?
(Could you tell me about your spiritual/religious journey up to the moment, including how
and when you experienced spiritual bypass?)
● What were the main consequences of spiritual bypass and how did the person realize that
he or she was experiencing it? (What were the main consequences of spiritual bypass in
your life and in the lives of people around you in your social circle?)
● How did the person treat spiritual bypass and how was their spirituality affected as a result?
(How are your spiritual practices and beliefs now that you have overcome your experience
with spiritual bypass?)
● What are possible ways to prevent spiritual bypass? (Do you believe that something could
have been done in order to prevent spiritual bypass? If so, what would that be?)

Sample
This study used a sample of eight people who self-identified as having
experienced spiritual bypass sometime in their past. After receiving approval
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from our Institutional Review Board, participants were invited by mail (the
first author has a blog about human development with a newsletter list) and
Facebook communities to inform them about an online seminar by the lead
researcher on the topic of spiritual bypass. A total of 73 people attended the
seminar. During the seminar it was explained to participants the definition of
the spiritual bypass and its potential manifestations. At the conclusion of the
seminar, the purpose of the study was presented and people who in their own
view believed they had experienced the phenomenon in the past were invited
to participate. Ten people volunteered to take part in the study. Two parti-
cipants were unable to schedule an interview. The remaining eight partici-
pants completed semistructured interviews (four males and four females).
Regarding their nationality, seven participants were Brazilian and one was
Norwegian. All eight participants were Caucasian and their average age was
36 years old. In terms of religious affiliation, six participants were spiritual
but not religious and two were Buddhist. Table 1 enumerates each inter-
viewee and summarizes demographic details for each participant. All quotes
that will be presented over this article are identified with the respective
participant number mentioned in Table 1.

Data collection and analysis

The semistructured interviews were recorded through video conferencing
and lasted approximately one hour. The interviews were transcribed and
analyzed using conventional content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005).
Qualitative researchers use conventional content analysis to conduct
research on phenomena that are relatively underexplored (Hsieh &
Shannon, 2005). Consistent with guidelines put forth by Hsieh and
Shannon (2005), the lead researcher read the interview transcripts to
 JOURNAL OF SPIRITUALITY IN MENTAL HEALTH 5

Table 1. List of interviewees.

Spiritual practices/religion
Interviewee Biggest issues faced
no. Gender Age Nationality Past Actual related to spiritual bypass
1 Female 21 Brazilian Catholic Spiritual but not Depression
since birth religious for 3 years
Isolation
Blind following
2 Female 52 Brazilian Catholic for Buddhist for 38 years Avoidance of unspiritual
14 years people
Arrested development
Blindness
3 Female 21 Brazilian Catholic for Spiritual but not Emotional dissociation
17 years religious for 4 years
Exaggerated optimism
Unrealistic relationships
4 Female 30 Brazilian Catholic for Spiritual but not Anxiety
10 years religious for 20 years
Loss of self-love
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Disconnection from the

body
5 Male 42 Brazilian Catholic for Spiritual but not Disregard to familial
32 years religious for 2 years obligations
Spiritual for Depression
8 years
Unrealistic living
6 Male 26 Brazilian Catholic for Spiritual but not Avoidance of unspiritual
22 years religious for 4 years people
Arrested development
Fear of confrontation
7 Male 43 Brazilian Gnostic for Spiritual but not Depression
25 years religious for 8 years
Isolation
Spiritual narcissism
8 Male 52 Norwegian Evangelic Buddhist for 20 years Anger-phobia
for 30 years
Isolation
Rationalization

familiarize themselves with the content of each interview. Afterwards, the

lead researcher read each interview again and developed codes for each
identifiable unit of meaning. Working definitions for each code were
developed and then clustered into related meanings as categories. Each
category was also defined to get to a more precise understanding of its
specific meaning.

Threats to validity and verification strategies

Creswell (2013) recommended that all qualitative research studies should
include at least two forms of verification strategies in their methodology. In
this study we included at least five: positionality and reflexivity (see the next
 6 G. PICCIOTTO ET AL.

section), investigator triangulation (three researchers), data triangulation

(multiple semistructured interviews), thick–rich description (transcript cita-
tions reported in our findings), and peer debriefing (included under posi-
tionality and reflexivity).

Positionality and reflexivity

The research team included a doctoral student and a faculty dissertation
advisor. The lead researcher is a doctoral student conducting their disserta-
tion about spiritual bypass. While conducting each interview and reporting
their results, the lead researcher invested in a continuous process of self-
reflection and awareness of the relationship between the researcher and each
participant, acknowledging their individuality to speak to the experience of
spiritual bypass beyond a single theory of explanation. The lead researcher’s
reflexivity was encouraged through the use of a peer debriefer. The peer
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debriefer (the second author) was identified as an expert in the field of

spirituality and religion in counseling with specific research interests in
spiritual bypass who also worked with populations who have experienced
spiritual bypass. As the peer debriefer, they reviewed the research questions,
interview protocol, and data analysis to provide perspective to the lead
researcher’s thought process, development, and implementation of the
study’s aims.

Findings
In the interviews, 48 distinct units of meaning (codes) were identified, all of
which are defined in Table 2. Each code was reanalyzed within context of the
interviews and all of the codes were clustered into 10 categories. These
categories were clustered in two broader themes, and one stand-alone cate-
gory. The first theme was called the development of spiritual bypass and
included the following categories: (a) contact with spirituality/religion, (b)
causes, (c) natural, (d) insight, (e) resolving spiritual bypass, and (f) spiri-
tuality after spiritual bypass. The second theme was called effects of spiritual
bypass including the categories: (g) symptoms, (h) negative consequences,
and (i) benefits. The stand-alone category was (j) prevention. The results are
organized in Table 2 for clarity. Next, a description of each one of these
categories will be presented and thick–rich descriptions will be provided to
clarify their meanings.

The development of spiritual bypass

The first theme, the development of spiritual bypass, included all the cate-
gories and codes related directly or indirectly to how spiritual bypass evolved
overtime. It is important to note this theme does not propose a precise linear,
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Table 2. Conventional content analysis codes and categories with definitions.

Themes Category Definition Code Definition
The Contact with What made the person come into contact with Searching A quest for answers to important existential questions
development spirituality/ spirituality/religion and engage in a search for the
of spiritual religion sacred
bypass
Suppression Desire to relieve pain, reduce suffering, or to put at ease existential
emptiness
Family Influence of family’s spiritual/religious beliefs and practices on
participant spirituality
Causes Why people experience spiritual bypass Escape A desire or urge to disengage from reality or to renounce basic
needs
Avoiding pain A low level tolerance for facing, entering and working through
various sources of difficulty
Social context Living in an environment that discourages spiritual and
psychological growth
Religious/spiritual The influence of religious/spiritual leaders on their communities’
leaders and doctrines, ways of being, and habits which encouraged spiritual
communities bypass
Natural When going through spiritual bypass is something Stage Seeing spiritual bypass as a natural or inevitable step in the
necessary or even inevitable development of the person
Short-term coping Spiritual bypass as a means of effectively dealing with crisis or high
strategy stress situations or conditions
Insight How the person became aware that they were Angst A deep feeling of existential crisis as the turning point for
experiencing spiritual bypass becoming aware of spiritual bypass
Feedback When the person realizing that they are spiritual bypassing through
the help and observation of others in their social context
Concrete Activities of daily living revealed that a spiritual practice or belief
experience was unhealthy
Relational conflict Relational disagreements led the person to question their own
behaviors and develop awareness about their own spiritual bypass
JOURNAL OF SPIRITUALITY IN MENTAL HEALTH

Education Coming into contact with information about spiritual bypass

through books
(Continued )
7
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Table 2. (Continued).
Themes Category Definition Code Definition
Resolving How the person treated their spiritual bypass Professional help Utilizing the services of psychiatrists, therapists, or coaches
spiritual
bypass
Self-help Committing to personal growth and development
Help of a spiritual Working with a spiritual teacher that knows about psychological
teacher development
Spirituality How someone’s spirituality is experienced after he Holism A commitment to working on all areas of wellness
G. PICCIOTTO ET AL.

after spiritual or she developed an understanding about their

bypass spiritual bypass
Combining Conjoining spiritual practice with psychological processes
resources
Hybrid spirituality Developing their own spirituality with a foundation in many beliefs
and practices
Practical living Having a spiritual practice that allows for engagement in the real
world and with other people
Effects of Symptoms The primary ways spiritual bypass manifests Isolation Avoiding contact with common people or ordinary tasks of daily
spiritual living
bypass
Unspiritual people Avoiding contact with people considered unspiritual or spiritually
disruptive
Unrealistic Idealizing that a relationship can only be possible with an ideal
relationships spiritual partner
Confrontation Fear of putting up boundaries or conflict
Spiritual narcissism Acting as if one was spiritual superior to others, the authority of
reason, bearer of all answers, the only one who sees
Blind following Following the lead of a charismatic leader without question
Unrealistic Living Avoiding responsibilities especially related to job or finances or
refusing to take a career seriously and plan financially
Emotional Disconnection from one’s emotions
dissociation
Anger-phobia Viewing anger as an inappropriate emotion for spiritually advanced
people to experience
(Continued )
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Table 2. (Continued).
Themes Category Definition Code Definition
Exaggerated Focusing too much on the positive side of situations, being
optimism unrealistic
Shadow Side Refusing to acknowledge the darker parts of personality or personal
history
Rationalization Avoiding uncomfortable emotions by focusing on facts and logic
Embodiment A disconnection or lack of grounding in-the-body experience
Negative The negative effects or outcomes of spiritual bypass Arrested A general sense of stagnation or regression resulting from a
consequences development hyperfocus on spirituality
Familial obligations Not being able to earn enough money to help at home and fulfill
responsibilities as a parent and/or spouse
Depression Developing depression as a consequence of spiritual bypass
Anxiety Developing anxiety as a consequence of spiritual bypass
Blindness A lack of self-awareness
Social A disruption in empathic attunement
disconnection
Loss of self-love Becoming overly critical with oneself and lacking self-compassion
Benefits The positive and motivating effects of spiritual Superiority Feeling more important or more advanced compared to those who
bypass that reinforces its use don’t practice spirituality
Pain relief Using spirituality as a means of coping
Universality Spirituality attenuating the crisis of meaninglessness
Stand-alone Prevention What could have been done to avoid spiritual Psychological Viewing a lack of competition between psychological help and
category bypass. support spiritual guidance.
Psycho-spiritual Receiving more information about the phenomenon of spiritual
education bypass through texts, lectures, seminars, videos and books
Spiritual leadership The importance of spiritual leaders who are informed about
(continued) psychological and spiritual work and serve as an example to
members of the community
Spiritual Being part of a spiritual community that understands the
JOURNAL OF SPIRITUALITY IN MENTAL HEALTH

community importance of psychological work

9
 10 G. PICCIOTTO ET AL.

trajectory. Instead, the categories in this theme appear to fit into a sequence
but what that order may be is, at this point, unknown.

Contact with spirituality/religion

The first category, contact with spirituality/religion, was defined as “What
made the person come into contact with spirituality/religion and engage in a
search for the sacred.” The category captured the specific motives for making
their initial contact with spirituality/religion. Their motivation was expressed
in one of three ways. The first, searching, related to the goal of obtaining
answers to important existential questions. Participant 1 said: “I went in
search for the spiritual to acquire answers” such as “What is God?” “Why are
we here?” “Where did we came from?” The second way was suppression,
described as a desire to relieve pain or putting at ease existential emptiness.
Participant 3 stated, “I went to Church because I was suffering too much. I
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felt in distressed, sad about the ending of that relationship and I believed
religion could help me with that pain.” Lastly, the third motivation for their
initial contact with spirituality was family in which the participants framed
their closeness to spirituality or religion within the context of their family’s
beliefs and practices.

Causes
The next category identified, causes, represented “why people experience
spiritual bypass.” The interviews revealed four distinct causes. The first,
escape, indicated where participants stated that a motivation for spiritual
bypass would be an urge to escape reality by renouncing the ordinariness
of life. Participant 5 said, “Trying to escape from reality, I found an
escape route within spirituality, a way to flee my mundane life which
appeared meaningless.” The second code, avoiding pain indicated an
overall low level of pain tolerance. The third cause was social context,
referring to the use of spiritual bypass as a way to cope with difficult
familial history or other problematic social contexts. Participant 4 said,
“My family history didn’t contribute for me to reach a healthy level of
maturity. I was physically assaulted by my father, my mother passed away
and I was being sued by my sister.” The last code in this category was
religious/spiritual leaders and communities, which highlighted the nega-
tive influence of negligent practices by spiritual or religious leaders and
communities. Participant 7 stated: “The influence of the community itself
by of the doctrine I was following because it has a misguiding way to
experience spirituality, an extremist way which has no regard for the
psychological perspective.”
 JOURNAL OF SPIRITUALITY IN MENTAL HEALTH 11

Natural
Although participants identified several examples of when spiritual bypass
brought distinct negative consequences, some participants also stated that
spiritual bypass was something that was necessary for them to experience.
Thus, the category natural we defined as, “when going through spiritual
bypass is something necessary or even inevitable.” This category was made
up of two codes. In the first, stage, the person believed that spiritual bypass
was a natural or unavoidable step in their spiritual development, as the
following quoted from Participant 2 illustrates: “I think I needed it, it was
a part of my spiritual growth, it was a necessary stage, inevitable even. I had
to live through that collapse and it made me wake up.” The second code,
short-term coping strategy, captured the idea that spiritual bypass possessed
utility to cope with high stress or difficult situations for a short period of
time.
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Insight
This category was defined as “how the person became aware that they were
experiencing spiritual bypass” and was made up of five codes. The first code,
angst, captured a deep feeling of existential crisis as the turning point for
becoming aware of spiritual bypass, as Participant 5 said, “It got a point, you
know, of angst . . . that bad feeling, lack of heading, being lost . . . existential
angst. And so that was the trigger to look for that help I had.” The second
code, feedback, denoted when participants realized they were spiritual
bypassing through the help and observation of others in their social context.
Participant 2 said:
My current boyfriend started to question me . . . then I started to realize that faith
is very powerful. But when you become an extremist and only focus on the
spiritual and stop caring for the rest, it can hurt you, alienate you.

The next code, concrete experience, captured the experience of investing

time and energy in nonspiritual activity that made the exaggerated focus on
spiritual practices become apparent. Participant 3 said:
I was accepted into university and after I became a volunteer. I started to have
contact with the real world, I had to leave my isolation and I started to see new
possibilities. That almost naturally made me realize that I was alienated.

The fourth code we called relational conflict and described the distress
participants sometimes experienced in a relationship that helped them
become aware of their spiritual bypass. Participant 6 stated: “I think it started
with our fights. I was unable to hold up that mask of a person who is always
well and is very tolerant in the relationship. So I started to feel a lot of anger
and later on, guilt as well.” The last code in this category, education,
described coming into contact with more information about spiritual bypass
 12 G. PICCIOTTO ET AL.

through articles or books that raised their self-awareness, as Participant 8

said: “I recognized by reading that book from Robert Augustus Masters,
realizing that spiritual teachers can have psychological issues and also some
of the readings of Ken Wilber were very helpful.”

Resolving spiritual bypass

This category refers to those codes that clustered under a common
definition of “how the person treated their spiritual bypass.” Three
codes were identified in this category. The first, professional help, referred
to how the participants successfully treated spiritual bypass through med-
ication and therapeutic treatment or coaching. Participant 2 said: “First I
started taking a certain drug and having psychological counseling to have
conscience of my alienation. And it was then that I created the internal
condition to take care of really looking at a bunch of stuff.” The second
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code, self-help, referred to personal commitment to growth and develop-

ment that helped successfully ameliorate spiritual bypass, as Participant 3
noted: “I started to read and study about personal development and
slowly gained awareness. I dug and dug within myself until I found
these beliefs and began to work on them.” The last code in this category,
help of a spiritual teacher, denoted where participants experienced growth
through treating spiritual bypass with the help of a spiritual teacher that
knows about psychological development. Participant 8 stated, “For me it
was very important to find someone that could help me in the psycholo-
gical domain, but that was aware of a spiritual dimension to a certain
degree.”

Spirituality after spiritual bypass

The last category of the first theme grouped every code that was related to
“how someone’s spirituality is experienced after he or she developed an
understanding about their spiritual bypass.” Four codes were identified in
this category. The first, holism, described the participants’ commitment to
working on all areas of wellness, including work, family, friendships,
health, spirituality, and emotions. Participant 5 said, “Today I have a
more balanced, more integrated spiritual practice, one where I try to
pay attention to every aspect of my life.” The second code, combining
resources, captured the participants’ attempts to integrate spiritual prac-
tices with the therapeutic process. Next, hybrid spirituality, coded the
development of participants’ spirituality within a foundation in diverse
beliefs and practices, as Participant 3 shared, “I have a spirituality that
involves different beliefs and practices of yoga, meditation, and being
always studying personal development and be observant of myself.” The
final code in this category, practical living, referred to a spiritual practice
that allows for engagement in the real world and with other people.
 JOURNAL OF SPIRITUALITY IN MENTAL HEALTH 13

Participant 6 said: “I try to engage with the world and with people by
practicing being kind to those around me, empathy, and discernment. I
chose not to pull away from what’s real but to grow spiritually
through it.”

Effects of spiritual bypass

The second theme, effects of spiritual bypass, encompassed three categories
that denoted the varieties of influences of spiritual bypass in people lives.

Symptoms
Symptoms we defined as, “the primary ways spiritual bypass manifests.”
The first and most commonly referenced symptom was isolation from
people and the world. Participant 1 said, “Contact with other people was
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zero, I totally isolated myself! I wouldn’t leave the house. I would stay
locked inside studying the bible and praying.” There were a number of
identified symptoms that also referenced interpersonal relationships, such
as unspiritual people. In this code, participants spoke about avoiding
contact with people considered unspiritual or spiritually disruptive. As
participant 2 said: “I pulled far away from some people in my family or
from old friendships because I thought that those people weren’t spiri-
tual.” Similarly, unrealistic relationships, referred to the difficulty of start-
ing and developing relationships either by refusing to remain open to new
relationships, or idealizing the self as above the basic human need for
relationship, or that relationships are only possible with a spiritual part-
ner. Participant 3 said, “I placed a belief in me of not being able to relate,
that I would end up alone and that would make me shut down completely
to other people.” A fourth symptom, confrontation, described the pro-
pensity to avoid disappointment by refusing to create boundaries or
confront people appropriately, as Participant 6 said, “I would run away
from conflict, from confrontation. That state of never engaging in conflict
for fear of disappointing others.”
A fifth symptom, spiritual narcissism, described a process in which the
participant felt and acted spiritually superior to others, as the authority of
reason, or as the source of all answers—the only one who sees. Participant
4 said: “I thought I was sort of superior sometimes. I would place myself
on a pedestal of superiority, thought of myself better than the others
because of being more spiritual.” The sixth code, blind following, captures
a blind belief and trust in a charismatic, spiritual leader. Participant 1
described this as “I thought he was a superior being because he was
playing the role of spiritual indoctrinating leader. I was blind, I developed
a blind belief in him and fell completely in love.” The seventh code,
unrealistic living, described a tendency to avoid responsibilities, especially
 14 G. PICCIOTTO ET AL.

when it related to work or money, by refusing to seriously engage in

professional careers or make long-term financial plans. Participant 5
said: “I set aside my professional life, renounced the material a lot. It’s
like I was only recognizing value in my spiritual life.”
Following these codes were several symptoms that related to emotional
processes. The eighth code in this category was emotional dissociation.
This code described an avoidance of difficult emotions as Participant 3
said: “I would run away from my emotions, my pain, I was disconnected
from my feelings.” The ninth symptom was anger-phobia, understood as
viewing anger as an inappropriate emotion for spiritually advanced people
to experience, as described by the following quote by Participant 8:
“Anger-phobia! Because we label anger as, you know, you ‘shouldn’t be
angry, we should be nice,’ but then you’re dissociating from that clarity
that energy provides.” The tenth code, exaggerated optimism, identified
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instances when the individual excessively focused on the bright side of

situations, being unrealistic. Interviewee 3 said: “I would always try to
emphasize the positive side of things. My religion told me I had to see the
good side, always be well. So I would lie to myself telling me everything
was alright.” Similarly, the next code, shadow side, described the refusal to
acknowledge darker parts of personality or personal history, as Participant
6 reported: “I think it was about not wanting to deal with the pain, like, to
the shadow. It’s like, as if I didn’t have anything to heal. As I just have to
follow that practice and I would be free from all of my suffering from the
past.”
The twelfth code, rationalization, described an overemphasis on reason
(such as focusing on facts or logic) as a means of avoidance. Participants 8
said: “I was overemphasizing the mental, an excess of rationality and a
spiritual whiplash of self-criticism.” Finally, the last code in this category
was embodiment and captured a lack of grounding in-the-body experience,
as described in the following statement by Participant 4: “I was completely
disconnected from my body, disregarding it. I was aerial, I needed to land,
reconnect with my physical body and honor it.”

Negative consequences
Next, negative consequences focused on “the negative effects or outcomes of
spiritual bypass.” The participants presented eight consequences. The first,
arrested development, referred to a general sense of stagnation or regression
resulting from a hyperfocus on spirituality. Participant 6 said: “I felt sort of
paralyzed, without clarity. Not knowing where to go, what I wanted from life,
going around in circles.” The second code in this category was familial
obligations and indicated the fact of not being able to earn enough money
to help at home and fulfill responsibilities as a parent and/or spouse, as stated
by Participant 5: “The financial side is one of them, I didn’t earn enough, I
 JOURNAL OF SPIRITUALITY IN MENTAL HEALTH 15

couldn’t help my family as I should. I’m married, with two kids.” The third
code and fourth codes, depression and anxiety referred to the pathological
ramifications of spiritual bypass. The fifth code in this category, blindness,
designated the lack of a broader vision and loss of contact and access to
oneself as exemplified in the following statement by Participant 2: “The
damage was that I was blind, failing to understand myself, to see myself. I
didn’t listen to myself.” The next code, social disconnection, identified the
difficulty to connect and empathize with others. Participant 7 said: “Another
thing was, a disconnection towards other people, having trouble to relate in
general in account of being very alienated while in that spiritual superiority.”
The last consequence, loss of self-love, described an overly critical view of
oneself and lacking self-compassion, as Participant 4 said: “I ended up losing
all the love I had for me. The excess of spirituality made me disconnect from
my light.”
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Benefits
This category was defined as “the positive effects that a person experienced
from spiritual bypass that motivated them to continue engaging in it.” Three
codes were identified in this category. The first, superiority, described feeling
more important or more developed compared to those who do not practice
spirituality. Participant 1 reported, “It’s as if you felt, elevated, more impor-
tant, enlightened, more than other common people, let’s say, people who
only live in the physical world.” The second benefit identified was pain relief
defined as the use of spiritual bypass as a means of coping. An example from
Participant 7 would be: “It was important to help me deal with pain, at least
in a short term my religious practices would provide relief, would make me
forget suffering.” The last code, universality, encapsulated the sense that
spiritual bypass was attenuating the existential crisis of meaning.

Prevention
The last and our stand-alone category, prevention, was defined as “what
could have been done to avoid spiritual bypass.” The interviewees men-
tioned four distinct possibilities in their interviews. The first, psychological
support, stated that having psychological support could help avoid spiri-
tual bypass, as exemplified in the following by Participant 6: “If I had had
a bigger support psychologically, information about the importance of
working on your emotions or if I was more mature and more developed
psychologically, this would not have happened.” The second code, psycho-
spiritual education, referred to the fact that some participants received
more information about spiritual bypass through lectures, seminars,
videos, and books as a means of prevention. Participant 5 said: “If I had
known more about spiritual bypass itself, of how important is
 16 G. PICCIOTTO ET AL.

psychological development, not overrate the spiritual world in detriment

of the material world and so on, it could have been avoided.” In the code
spiritual leadership, participants described having a spiritual guide that
was informed about the importance of integrating psychological and spiri-
tual development who served as role models to their community as a way
to help avoid spiritual bypass. Lastly, spiritual community evoked the idea
of being a part of a community that understood the importance of work-
ing psychologically on oneself to prevent spiritual bypass.

Discussion
The purpose of this study was to explore the phenomenology of spiritual
bypass. Five specific research questions were posed to answer and from
which developed a protocol that would elicit phenomenological data using
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semistructured interviews. A review of each research question will now be

made in conjunction with the data unearthed.
The first research question was, “How do people who experienced
spiritual bypass get involved with religion and spirituality?” We found
that the interviewees first became involved in spirituality and religion for
three distinct reasons: (a) to search for answers to existential questions,
(b) to ameliorate feelings of pain and emptiness, and (c) because of
family influences. It is interesting to note that the second motivation
to ameliorate feelings of pain and emptiness, coincides with one of the
possible causes of spiritual bypass that not only was proposed by the
interviewees but was also hypothesized in the literature on spiritual
bypass (see Welwood, 2000). Critics of spirituality and religion have of
course long proposed that what motivates their continued proliferation
in society is that they are used almost exclusively for defensive purposes
(see Freud, 1928/1989; Marx, 1982; Nietzsche, 1881/2008; 1885/2005;
Skinner, 1971/2002). Our findings suggest that such suspicious motiva-
tions are comingled with an authentic search for answers to real and
difficult questions of the human condition that must be given their due
diligence. However, in contrast to the historic criticisms of religious and
spiritual experience, scholars of spiritual bypass have also allowed room
for authentic spirituality and thus refrain from reducing all spirituality
to mere illusion (Fox et al., 2017). The findings in this study support this
conclusion.
The second research question explored the causes and symptoms of
spiritual bypass from the viewpoint of the participants: “In what context
did spiritual bypass occur and what are its main causes and symptoms?” The
findings reinforced previous theory that spiritual bypass can be a method of
avoiding pain (Welwood, 2000) while simultaneously motivating participants
to get in touch with their spiritual experience. We also observed other causes,
 JOURNAL OF SPIRITUALITY IN MENTAL HEALTH 17

including the urge to escape mundane existence, the lack of a supportive

familial environment to promote healthy psychological and spiritual devel-
opment in unison, and the influence of spiritual or religious leaders and
communities who tended to propagate spiritual bypass. In this study, 13
distinct symptoms of spiritual bypass were identified which provided support
to previous theoretical postulations and added new content to others through
the participants’ rich descriptions.
The third research question was: “What are the main consequences of
spiritual bypass and how did the person come to realize that they were
experiencing spiritual bypass?” The participants pointed out eight negative
consequences of spiritual bypass in their lives that affected their psychologi-
cal and professional development. Other people in their social circle also felt
these consequences (e.g., lack of support to the family either with money or
care, disconnection from old friends, lower level of productivity on work). A
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final consequence reported by some participants, not previously reported in

the corpus of works on spiritual bypass, was that they experienced a loss of
self-love. Thus, in addition to the varied manifestations of symptomology,
the degradation of self-conception appears to be a potentially clinically
significant topic of exploration.
This study uncovered, in the experiences of participants, several causes
and symptoms of spiritual bypass. However, it also revealed possible benefits
from spiritual bypass that reinforced its’ use. These experiences were of
particular interest to us because they have so far received considerably less
attention in the literature when compared the negative effects of spiritual
bypass. The interviewees brought up at least three distinct benefits simulta-
neously related to their deepening engagement with spirituality. The first
benefit they observed was the pain relief they experienced as a short-term
coping mechanism. This observation was similar to Carver and colleagues’
(1989) findings on coping; spiritual bypass can be used as a strategy of coping
with acute distress (e.g., trauma). The initial benefit of pain reduction,
however, carries with it the possibility of diminishing return in the long-
term if it is not accompanied by a psychological intervention. A second
benefit of spiritual bypass is that it could provide a larger sense of life (i.e.,
sense of transcendence), which again is connected to spirituality as an
authentic quest to answer existential questions. However, there was also a
diminishing return to this benefit as well. Some of the participants men-
tioned that their sense of transcendence was temporary; and because they did
not directly address their psychological problems, their pain seemed to
compound on itself and brought about greater suffering as a sense of internal
void. The final benefit was experiencing a feeling of superiority.
Unfortunately, this benefit also came with a cost. Though a confidence in
one’s identity is a positive outcome of sincere spiritual development (i.e.,
humility see Davis et al., 2010) the sense of superiority in spiritual bypass is
 18 G. PICCIOTTO ET AL.

probably connected to narcissism (Cashwell, Glosoff, & Hammonds, 2010).

To what extent this spiritual narcissism is unique to spiritual bypass remains
an open question. It is possible that the narcissism innate in all human
personality could lend someone more or less vulnerable to enduring patterns
of spiritual bypass depending upon how narcissistic their personality may be.
Or, it is possible that this could be a unique type of narcissism. Future
research (see next section) should explore this problem further.
Next, we asked: “How did the person treat spiritual bypass and how was
their spirituality effected as a result?” In terms of treatment, the participants
identified four distinct forms. Three of them involved professional helpers
and one could be classified as self-help. All the participants who reported
having depression also reported treating their depression with medication.
How their spirituality was affected was broad but generally aimed in the
direction of more effective balance between their spirituality and other
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dimensions of their wellness.

The final research question was: “What are possible ways to prevent
spiritual bypass?” We identified two types of answers to this question. On
the one hand, the participants spoke of factors missing in their development
that would have helped avoid spiritual bypass. On the other hand, some of
the participants also believed that experiencing spiritual bypass was some-
thing necessary or even unavoidable for them. Regarding ways to avoid
spiritual bypass, three were mentioned, including professional help (e.g.,
going to therapy), obtaining more information about spiritual bypass, and
having spiritual leaders that can serve as examples of embracing holistic
wellness. For those who believed that spiritual bypass was an inevitable
experience, some of them realized that it was a natural part of their spiritual
development whilst others saw it as a short term coping strategy; all of which
fell in line previous experts descriptions of spiritual bypass (Forman, 2010;
Masters, 2010).
An important question to consider why, from the 73 seminar attendants,
only 10 volunteered to participate in the study. There are several possible
reasons, none of which can we assert with any confidence. For one, it is
possible that some attendees did not think experienced spiritual bypass.
Alternatively, maybe they did experience it, but only as a natural step of
their spiritual development and not in a problematic sense, never having
experienced noticeable consequences from it. Another possible explanation is
that some attendees experienced spiritual bypass but remained unaware of
either their personal process or make the connection between their spiritual
bypass and any negative consequences they experienced. Lastly, for other it is
possible that they could identify with the experience of spiritual bypass but
just did not feel confortable or even embarrassed about sharing their own
experience. In conducting the interviews, it was possible to observe how
 JOURNAL OF SPIRITUALITY IN MENTAL HEALTH 19

difficulty was for some participants to tell their experience as they recounted
the pain they lived through in conjunction with spiritual bypass.

Clinical implications
Given the importance of spirituality in the lives of many people, it is
important that counselors are capable of discerning how their clients’ spiri-
tual beliefs and practices can interact with spiritual bypass. This includes
being able to identify, contextualize, and effectively treat spiritual bypass. The
current study can serve to broaden clinicians’ understanding of how clients
experience spiritual bypass, including its symptoms, causes, and conse-
quences. The findings suggest that spiritual bypass likely runs together with
an authentic quest for spiritual fulfillment. It is possible that because the
effects of spiritual experiences are so rewarding that even manufacturing
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them through some form of “premature transcendence” described by

Welwood (2011) as a way of “trying to rise above the raw and messy side
of our humanness before we have fully faced and made peace with it” (p. 1),
can be reinforcing and effect other dimensions of personal wellness.
However, participants acknowledged that this kind of coping would even-
tually run its course and those other aspects of their health and well-being,
now neglected for a significant period, would atrophy. These individual
coping processes must also be placed into larger social contexts. Some
participants noted how vital it was to them to restore a healthy balance in
their lives by seeing it modeled in their spiritual or religious leaders. Working
with clients who experience spiritual bypass must, therefore, also involve an
assessment of how spiritual bypass is addressed in their communities of faith.
Otherwise, clinicians may neglect to leverage a potentially powerful source of
extra-therapeutic sabotage or change.

Limitations and implications for future research

The results of the study must be read in the context of the following
limitations. The findings provided a window into the experience of spiri-
tual bypass, but that experience was subjective and not able to deal with
the dynamic dimension of one’s spiritual bypass. This study did not
attempt to develop generalizable data through inference (i.e., inferential
statistics). Some work is already being done to overcome this limitation
(Fox et al., 2017), but this information is really only beginning to take
shape. Secondly, the sample in this study represented a primarily Brazilian
population. Thus, some of the findings may be further limited by the
cultural homogeneity and lack of diversity in race and in religious affilia-
tion of the sample. The sample consisted of people that attended the
online seminar and therefore were aware that the first author’s work
 20 G. PICCIOTTO ET AL.

focused on personal, holistic development and therefore could have influ-

enced some of their self-report in the direction of holistic spiritual devel-
opment. To address the limitations in this study at least two avenues of
future research would prove vital. The first direction would be to replicate
the methodology on sample groups from other nationalities and with an
alternative method of selecting interviewees. The second direction would
be to study how spiritual bypass would affect psychological development
using variables that encompass the symptoms, causes, and positive and
negative consequences of spiritual bypass with other constructs like
depression, anxiety, and narcissism that were identified in this study.

Conclusion
Research on spiritual bypass using the methods of the social sciences is
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scarce. This study examined fundamental questions of spiritual bypass and

was successful in providing a description of its phenomenology using an
international sample. The findings provided substantial answers to the five
research questions that were posed and added content which can not only
help counselors in identifying spiritual bypass in their clients and better
comprehend its relationship to their health and wellbeing. The findings
also provide future directions for research that could provide substantial
empirical foundation to the therapeutic potential of working through spiri-
tual bypass with clients.

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