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The Treatment of Bipolar Disorder in Pastoral Counseling

Community and Silence

• By David Welton, Harold G. Koenig

• Price: $17.95
• Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
• Pages: 140
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 31st October 2006
• ISBN: 978-0-7890-3043-6

About the Book

Learn how religion can help in treating those suffering from bipolar disorder

The Treatment of Bipolar Disorder in Pastoral Counseling introduces a new treatment model based on Quaker ideas and practices that can be used in conjunction with medical and psychological practice for treating manic-depressive illness. This unique book examines the interplay between religion and psychoanalysis, using the latest research on the importance of silence, prayer, and meditation in psychotherapy, the role of community in healing, and the problem of God and suffering. The book includes clinical examples from the author’s counseling practice, case studies of bipolar clients, and an extensive bibliography of materials on this crippling disorder that affects more than two million American adults.

With its multidisciplinary approach, pastoral counseling may be the most effective psychotherapy for use with medical and pharmacological treatments. Pastoral counselors can gain valuable insights from psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, learning, and family systems theories for a more complete understanding of their clients. The Treatment of Bipolar Disorder in Pastoral Counseling examines current understandings of the disorder, including the effects, advantages, and disadvantages of medications, genetic factors, and the search for a “mood gene,” and looks at current treatment approaches, including object relations, psychoeducational, and narrative psychology.

The Treatment of Bipolar Disorder in Pastoral Counseling examines:

• the writings of Quaker reformers, their methods of treatment, and the philosophies behind them
  
• key theological ideas of Quakerism that are helpful to pastoral counselors
  
• the ethical implications of pastoral counseling
  
• self-emptying as a way toward health
  
• the client’s right to privacy and individuality
  
• the nature of suffering
  
• the public perception of mental illness
  
• theological reflections of mental illness
  
• and much more

The Treatment of Bipolar Disorder in Pastoral Counseling also includes case studies of bipolar clients and an extensive bibliography of books, journal articles, and Internet resources. This unique book is an invaluable resource for pastoral counselors and psychotherapists in private practice, as well as chaplains and parish pastors.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
  
• Introduction
  
• Chapter 1. Current Research into Bipolar Disorder
  
• Defining Bipolar Disorder
  
• Treatment by Physicians
  
• Genetic Factors in Bipolar Disorder
  
• Psychotherapy and Bipolar Disorder
  
• Chapter 2. Current Pastoral Counseling Theory
  
• Case Study
  
• Beginnings
  
• Pastoral Counseling with the Bipolar Client
  
• Treatment Models
  
• Conflict in Pastoral Counseling
  
• The Religious Experience of Suffering
  
• Conclusion
  
• Chapter 3. Quaker Treatment of the Mentally Ill
  
• A Model
  
• The Founders
  
• A Theology of Quakerism?
  
• Silence
  
• Connections and Modern Expressions
  
• Conclusion
  
• Chapter 4. Silence and Psychotherapy with Bipolar Disorder
  
• A Personal Anecdote
  
• Aspects of Silence in Religious Experience
  
• Prayer and Silence
  
• Self-Emptying As a Way Toward Health
  
• Silence and Psychotherapy
  
• Chapter 5. Community in Treatment
  
• Case Study
  
• Community in the Social Sciences
  
• Public Perception of Mental Illness
  
• Theology and Community
  
• Applying Spirituality, Community, and Psychotherapy
  
• Chapter 6. Theological Reflection on Bipolar Disorder
  
• Suffering in Schillebeeckx’s Theology
  
• Solidarity and Freedom
  
• Case Analysis
  
• Chapter 7. Conclusions
  
• References
  
• Index