Pastoral Care of Depression
This book is primarily concerned with how a person's image of God develops and then using that information to examine how current theories of depression interact with this God image. It is the examination of this relationship between depression and a person's image of God that makes this book unique.
Often people are raised to believe in a God who is loving and accepting but their experiences point to a God who rejects them. Or at least that is how they interpret their experiences. This difference between an all loving God in concept and a very different God in the internalized concept of God is a major part of this book. To resolve depression it is essential to change the God image based on subjective, emotional experiences. People who struggle with depression often have a critical and rejecting God image as a result of critical and rejecting parents.
After discussing the above material the author provides an overview of both the psychodynamic theory of depression, and the cognitive theory. He also examines the relationship between depression, guilt, and religious belief. Throughout the book you will find case examples, exercises, suggested forms, questionnaires, and similar tools. There are several exercises on discovering and understanding your God image. That's followed by an excellent section of how the God image develops.
Chapter 5 covers the God image assessment, and the importance of a good assessment in order to understand the client's image of God. To assist with this he includes a 40 question questionnaire and a 28 question true and false questionnaire as well as instructions on how to score them.
Chapters 6 and 7 cover techniques specific to the psychodynamic psychotherapy and cognitive schools of thought. With all this preliminary information in hand Chapter 8 delves into how to develop a workable treatment plan. The author follows sound, well proven therapeutic techniques couched in the religious belief system of Christian theology. Pastoral Care of Depression: Helping Clients Heal Their Relationship with God is highly recommend to all Christian counselors.
Editors: Glendon Moriarty, Psy.D.
Publisher: The Haworth Press, Inc.
10 Alice Street
Binghamton, NY 13904-1580
Copyright: 2006
ISBN: 9780789023827
Pages: 219 plus appendix and index
Price: $34.95