Date
9-17-2026
Department
School of Behavioral Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)
Chair
Margaret Williams
Keywords
clinical hypnosis, psychological resilience, perceived stress, spiritual well-being, religious coping
Disciplines
Psychology
Recommended Citation
Senter, Jeni Booker, "The Effect of a Scripture-Integrated Hypnosis Session on Perceived Stress and Spiritual Well-Being in Adult Christians" (2026). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 8874.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/8874
Abstract
There has been limited empirical research on the intentional integration of clinical hypnosis with Scripture and Christian spiritual practices even though previous studies supported clinical hypnosis and positive religious coping as resources for psychological well-being. This quantitative single-group quasi-experimental study evaluated whether participation in a Scripture-integrated clinical hypnosis intervention was associated with changes in perceived stress, psychological resilience, and spiritual well-being among adult Christian participants. The study tested if perceived stress decreased and if psychological resilience and spiritual well-being increased after completing the intervention. Twenty-two Christian adults were recruited by convenience sampling from churches, Christian counseling practices, and online faith groups. Participants completed pretest measures, listened to a prerecorded Scripture-integrated clinical hypnosis intervention, and completed the same measures after the intervention. Data were collected using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS), and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Paired-samples t tests were used to evaluate pretest-to-posttest differences for each outcome measure. Participants reported significantly lower perceived stress immediately after the intervention, t(21) = 4.53, p < .001, with a large effect size (d = 0.97). Resilience scores increased significantly, t(21) = 3.52, p = .002, with a medium-to-large effect size (d = 0.75). Participants also reported significantly increased spiritual well-being, t(21) = 6.38, p < .001, with a large effect size (d = 1.36). These findings provide preliminary quantitative evidence that participation in a Scripture-integrated clinical hypnosis intervention was associated with immediate improvements in perceived stress, psychological resilience, and spiritual well-being among adult Christian participants. These results support further investigation of faith-integrated clinical hypnosis interventions.
