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The Pastoral Care of Depression

A Guidebook

• By Harold G. Koenig, Binford W. Gilbert

• Price: $59.95
• Binding: Hardback (also available in Paperback)
• Pages: 142
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 6th November 1997
• ISBN: 978-0-7890-0264-8

About the Book

What is depression, and what are its many and varied types? Who becomes depressed, and how can it be recognized? How can depression be measured, and what are its suicidal potentialities? What are the therapeutic interventions the pastor can use in helping people who are undergoing the pain of depression? The Pastoral Care of Depression: A Guidebook answers these questions and many more. With a focus on the pastor as an instrument of healing in cooperation with families, physicians, and other mental health professionals, this book will help you understand some of the current research and procedures used in helping people suffering from depression.

As the frontline mental health workers in many communities, pastors need confidence, competence, and skill in handling people with emotional problems. As Author Binford W. Gilbert explains, “Depression is among the most treatable of major illnesses. It enters the realm of the spiritual and demands the best of the pastoral leader to guide, assist, and enhance the struggle for peace and soundness of mind and body.” The Pastoral Care of Depression helps caregivers by overcoming the simplistic myths about depressive disorders and probing the real issues. This book covers:

• a thorough description of clinical depression
• predisposing factors that may lead to depression
• the need for a multidisciplinary approach, and the role of the pastor on the treatment team
• the importance of church and family involvement
• diagnosis--the ability to distinguish between normal grief, ordinary blues, situational depression, and clinical depression
• ministers’own emotional, physical, mental, and relational health
• the pastor’s privileged role that gives him/her unique abilities and opportunities
  
  A valuable resource for pastors, chaplains, counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians, family members, and teachers of pastoral care, The Pastoral Care of Depression is meant to inspire action-oriented counseling; to establish cooperative relationships between ministers, families, and the medical community; to carry out responsible and innovative creative therapeutic interventions; and to treat the whole human being.

Table of Contents

Contents Introduction

• The Pastor
• The “Why” of the Book
• Depression: How It Feels
• The Roots of Depression
• The Subconscious and Depression
• Rage
• Dependency
• Pessimism
• Summary
• Making the Diagnosis
• The Diagnosis
• Cognitive Therapy
• “Stinkin’ Thinkin’”
• Dysfunctional Attitude Scale
• Behavioral Treatment
• The Energy Cycle
• Problem Solving
• Timing
• Pleasant Events Reinforcement
• The Pain-Pleasure Continuum
• Positive Assertiveness Training
• Relaxation Training
• The Pastor: Unique Care Giver
• A Theology of Pastoral Care
• God View
• God as Creator
• Christ: Our Teacher, Example, and Redeemer
• The Holy Spirit
• Doctrine of the Incarnation
• The Pastor as Counselor
• The Minister’s Own Mental Health
• False Goals
• Ministers and Inappropriate Sexual Involvement
• Humanistic Psychology
• An Approach to Pastoral Wellness
• Taking Charge of Your Life
• Take Charge of Your Time
• Take Charge of Your Health
• Take Charge of Your Personal Relationships
• The Spiritual Life
• Getting Rid of Anxiety
• Summary
• Notes
• Index

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