In Theological Context for Pastoral Caregiving, Howard W. Stone helps his fellow pastors and worship leaders provide effective and faithful pastoral care and counseling through the study of the correlation between pastoral care and theology. You will learn that in order for pastoral care to be effective it must have a theological base to shape the caregiving experience. At the same time, theology must be informed by the needs and experiences of the people being served and by the ministry of pastoral care. By relating these two issues, you gain a unique viewpoint not offered by books with simply a psychological focus.The author draws from his day-to-day clinical practice of pastoral care and counseling to show how pastoral care and theology can be brought together. Through Howard Stone's work, the reader learns of: an overview of pastoral care and counseling today how to provide a pastoral assessment of the persons served the author's theological understanding of the ministry of pastoral care and counseling methods for correlating theology and pastoral care how spiritual direction as a discipline can help pastoral care and counseling ministry regain a solid theological base theological themes that might be more explicitly and intentionally related to pastoral careTheological Context for Pastoral Caregiving provides useful information for parish pastors, people in training to be parish pastors, and specialists in the field of pastoral care counseling. As one of the easiest-to-read books on this subject, it can also be used as a text for graduate-level classes in courses such as Theology and Pastoral Care, Pastoral Theology, and Practical Theology. With this book, seminary students will finally be able to relate the practical things learned in pastoral counseling classes with what is learned in theology classes.

This important book explores strategies to enable clergy and lay persons to identify and help individuals suffering from depression. It contains many techniques that can be used in managing depression, including coping devices, treatments, and interventions which actually help depressed persons to improve their mental health. Dealing With Depression describes types of depression and related symptoms to help clergy develop a more complete understanding of the disorder. They will learn to recognize the symptoms of depression and be better able to help individuals who suffer from it. This useful guide includes a step-by-step approach to depression intervention and proven techniques readers can use to enable people to cope more successfully with depression. This important book has also been translated into a Chinese version. Dealing With Depression brings together expert psychologists who explore five modalities for conceptualizing and managing depression, which deflates for clergy the often intimidating quality of the disorder. These experts discuss in practical and understandable ways the helping techniques they use and explain their understanding of depression and their methods of treatment. A medical-religious case conference with these experts shows how clergy and laity can help ease depression and an extensive bibliography is included to facilitate further reference. Dealing With Depression puts this common disorder back into the human life situation where it can be seen as just another temporary disturbance to which human beings are vulnerable, but which need not significantly distort their lives, relationships, spiritual development, or prosperity of body, mind, and soul.

This important book explores strategies to enable clergy and lay persons to identify and help individuals suffering from depression. It contains many techniques that can be used in managing depression, including coping devices, treatments, and interventions which actually help depressed persons to improve their mental health. Dealing With Depression describes types of depression and related symptoms to help clergy develop a more complete understanding of the disorder. They will learn to recognize the symptoms of depression and be better able to help individuals who suffer from it. This useful guide includes a step-by-step approach to depression intervention and proven techniques readers can use to enable people to cope more successfully with depression. This important book has also been translated into a Chinese version. Dealing With Depression brings together expert psychologists who explore five modalities for conceptualizing and managing depression, which deflates for clergy the often intimidating quality of the disorder. These experts discuss in practical and understandable ways the helping techniques they use and explain their understanding of depression and their methods of treatment. A medical-religious case conference with these experts shows how clergy and laity can help ease depression and an extensive bibliography is included to facilitate further reference. Dealing With Depression puts this common disorder back into the human life situation where it can be seen as just another temporary disturbance to which human beings are vulnerable, but which need not significantly distort their lives, relationships, spiritual development, or prosperity of body, mind, and soul.

Counseling for Spiritually Empowered Wholeness is an introduction to Wholeness Counseling (also called Growth Counseling), a whole-person approach to pastoral counseling, psychotherapy, and education as developed by Howard Clinebell. He begins the book by emphasizing how the role of healthy spirituality and reality-based hope is crucial to facilitate healing and growth in all dimensions of life. He encourages readers to apply the principles and methods in the book to their own growth and to develop their own growth-centered approaches--approaches that reflect their particular styles and personalities--to counseling, therapy, and education. This newly revised edition of Growth Counseling makes readily available an understanding of the Wholeness Counseling approach and its methods for both pastoral and secular counselors and professional and nonprofessional readers. Dr. Clinebell has a psychological understanding of the universal human need for healthy spirituality and, as he writes from this perspective, he opens doors for readers to distinguish healthy from unhealthy religion and provides them with methods to enhance their own spiritual health.Readers who desire to explore the Wholeness Counseling approach will find that Counseling for Spiritually Empowered Wholeness guides them through: insights and methods they can use to accelerate their personal and professional growth in each of the seven dimensions of life the roots in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures of this approach which helps readers grow and be healed the importance of playfulness to balance work in a healthy lifestyle The primary target audience is theological seminary teachers and students, clergy in all denominations, members of congregations who work in the healing and helping professions, and laypersons interested in learning ways to enhance their own wholeness or being trained to serve on lay pastoral care teams. Others who will benefit from Counseling for Spiritually Empowered Wholeness include those in the counseling, healing, and teaching professions who wish to know more about a growth-oriented approach which includes a robust emphasis on the role of healthy spirituality for total well being.

Counseling for Spiritually Empowered Wholeness is an introduction to Wholeness Counseling (also called Growth Counseling), a whole-person approach to pastoral counseling, psychotherapy, and education as developed by Howard Clinebell. He begins the book by emphasizing how the role of healthy spirituality and reality-based hope is crucial to facilitate healing and growth in all dimensions of life. He encourages readers to apply the principles and methods in the book to their own growth and to develop their own growth-centered approaches--approaches that reflect their particular styles and personalities--to counseling, therapy, and education. This newly revised edition of Growth Counseling makes readily available an understanding of the Wholeness Counseling approach and its methods for both pastoral and secular counselors and professional and nonprofessional readers. Dr. Clinebell has a psychological understanding of the universal human need for healthy spirituality and, as he writes from this perspective, he opens doors for readers to distinguish healthy from unhealthy religion and provides them with methods to enhance their own spiritual health.Readers who desire to explore the Wholeness Counseling approach will find that Counseling for Spiritually Empowered Wholeness guides them through: insights and methods they can use to accelerate their personal and professional growth in each of the seven dimensions of life the roots in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures of this approach which helps readers grow and be healed the importance of playfulness to balance work in a healthy lifestyle The primary target audience is theological seminary teachers and students, clergy in all denominations, members of congregations who work in the healing and helping professions, and laypersons interested in learning ways to enhance their own wholeness or being trained to serve on lay pastoral care teams. Others who will benefit from Counseling for Spiritually Empowered Wholeness include those in the counseling, healing, and teaching professions who wish to know more about a growth-oriented approach which includes a robust emphasis on the role of healthy spirituality for total well being.

This important book examines the relationship between religion and mental health throughout the life cycle, with a special emphasis on later life. It asserts that successful aging is possible regardless of physical health or environmental circumstances, and that religious beliefs and behaviors may facilitate successful aging. Aging and God thoroughly examines the effects of religion and mental health on aging and provides a centralized resource of up-to-date references of research in the field. It focuses on recent findings, theoretical issues, and implications for clinical practice and contains ideas for further research. In Aging and God, you?ll also find information on project design that can help you develop grant applications and carry out studies.Aging and God is a helpful book for both mental health and religious professionals. It helps mental health specialists better understand the spiritual needs of older adults and the impact that religion can have on facilitating mental health. It also describes how religion can be utilized in clinical practice and integrated into psychotherapeutic approaches to older patients. The book brings religious professionals current knowledge of the major psychological problems that older adults face and how religion can be used to help alleviate these problems.Full of pertinent information, Aging and God addresses theoretical aspects of human development, focusing on cognitive, moral, and religious faith development examines situations and disorders of particular concern to older persons and looks at how religion can be used as a resource?applies research findings to the problem of meeting the spiritual and mental health needs of elders with chronic or acute health problems provides an in-depth look at end-of-life issues such as physician-assisted suicideHospital and nursing home chaplains will find this book informative and encouraging, as will gerontologists, hospital administrators, and community clergy faced with increasingly older congregations. It gives mental health professionals new strategies to help improve the later years of older adults, and makes an excellent text for courses on religion, mental health, and aging. Middle-aged and older adults, as well as their families, will also find Aging and God enjoyable and inspiring as they attempt to grapple with the myriad adjustment and coping problems associated with aging.

Ministry With the Aging--the one most frequently used textbook in seminary courses that deal with ministry and aging--is now available from The Haworth Press. Here is a genuinely useful and informative text in which an all-star cast of authors reflects on the current situation of the aged in our society. Ministry With the Aging encourages a deeper appreciation of the presence and role of aging people with contemporary religion, addresses the challenges that the church and society face in a rapidly aging society, and provides practical applications for an effective ministry with the aging. Each chapter, whether it focuses on the role of the elderly in the early church, death and dying, ageism, retirement, or caring for elderly parents, is written by an eminent scholar who has chosen only the most relevant issues for discussion. A past runner up for the "Book of the Year Award" by the Academy of Parish Clergy, Ministry With the Aging is a landmark volume that can offer theology students a unique and insightful look at how they can best meet the needs of their elderly parishioners.

This book, first published in 1989, attempts to identify from within religious cultures those elements of tradition, behaviour and lifestyle that are health protective in that, by adhering to them, physical, mental and social wellbeing will be maintained as people grow old. It examines how different faith traditions view aging and its impact on health.

This book, first published in 1989, attempts to identify from within religious cultures those elements of tradition, behaviour and lifestyle that are health protective in that, by adhering to them, physical, mental and social wellbeing will be maintained as people grow old. It examines how different faith traditions view aging and its impact on health.

In Theological Context for Pastoral Caregiving, Howard W. Stone helps his fellow pastors and worship leaders provide effective and faithful pastoral care and counseling through the study of the correlation between pastoral care and theology. You will learn that in order for pastoral care to be effective it must have a theological base to shape the caregiving experience. At the same time, theology must be informed by the needs and experiences of the people being served and by the ministry of pastoral care. By relating these two issues, you gain a unique viewpoint not offered by books with simply a psychological focus.The author draws from his day-to-day clinical practice of pastoral care and counseling to show how pastoral care and theology can be brought together. Through Howard Stone's work, the reader learns of: an overview of pastoral care and counseling today how to provide a pastoral assessment of the persons served the author's theological understanding of the ministry of pastoral care and counseling methods for correlating theology and pastoral care how spiritual direction as a discipline can help pastoral care and counseling ministry regain a solid theological base theological themes that might be more explicitly and intentionally related to pastoral careTheological Context for Pastoral Caregiving provides useful information for parish pastors, people in training to be parish pastors, and specialists in the field of pastoral care counseling. As one of the easiest-to-read books on this subject, it can also be used as a text for graduate-level classes in courses such as Theology and Pastoral Care, Pastoral Theology, and Practical Theology. With this book, seminary students will finally be able to relate the practical things learned in pastoral counseling classes with what is learned in theology classes.

In this new guidebook, designated as one of the Top Ten Books of the Year for 1996 by The Journal of the Academy of Parish Clergy, author Robert H. Albers provides both an analysis of and a Biblical and theological reflection upon the human experience of disgrace shame. Albers approaches the subject from a pastoral perspective from which he makes suggestions on how this phenomenon can be dealt with from the background of a faith tradition. He develops and explores new and existing valuable conceptual and pastoral resources to aid people in dealing effectively with the debilitating experiences of disgrace shame.Shame: A Faith Perspective is unique in that it incorporates deliberate theological reflection upon the human experience of disgrace shame. Its value is in "naming" this phenomenon, analyzing it, and identifying the resources for dealing effectively with this experience. It assists clergy and counselors in identifying this phenomenon and provides conceptual and practical suggestions on how to deal most effectively with disgrace shame. Clergy as well as laypeople can find answers to their questions about the nature of shame and become better equipped to facilitate the process of healing.Utilizing the findings of social sciences, the author provides specific information on shame including: Distinctions between shame and guilt Distinctions between "discretionary" shame and "disgrace" shame Identification of the dynamics of disgrace shame Analysis of the defenses used in dealing with disgrace shame Identification of the resources available from the Judeo-Christian tradition in reflecting theologically on the issue of disgrace shame Suggestions for ways in which disgrace shame might be dismantled from the perspective of faithFor parish pastors and priests, counselors and therapists, seminary professors teaching pastoral care, and nonordained people within the Christian community, Shame: A Faith Perspective provides a theologically informed method for addressing issues of disgrace shame. Readers can begin to distinguish between guilt and shame in human experience, search out theological resources for understanding, and learn to deal effectively with the experience of disgrace shame.

This important book examines the relationship between religion and mental health throughout the life cycle, with a special emphasis on later life. It asserts that successful aging is possible regardless of physical health or environmental circumstances, and that religious beliefs and behaviors may facilitate successful aging. Aging and God thoroughly examines the effects of religion and mental health on aging and provides a centralized resource of up-to-date references of research in the field. It focuses on recent findings, theoretical issues, and implications for clinical practice and contains ideas for further research. In Aging and God, you ll also find information on project design that can help you develop grant applications and carry out studies.Aging and God is a helpful book for both mental health and religious professionals. It helps mental health specialists better understand the spiritual needs of older adults and the impact that religion can have on facilitating mental health. It also describes how religion can be utilized in clinical practice and integrated into psychotherapeutic approaches to older patients. The book brings religious professionals current knowledge of the major psychological problems that older adults face and how religion can be used to help alleviate these problems.Full of pertinent information, Aging and God addresses theoretical aspects of human development, focusing on cognitive, moral, and religious faith development examines situations and disorders of particular concern to older persons and looks at how religion can be used as a resource applies research findings to the problem of meeting the spiritual and mental health needs of elders with chronic or acute health problems provides an in-depth look at end-of-life issues such as physician-assisted suicideHospital and nursing home chaplains will find this book informative and encouraging, as will gerontologists, hospital administrators, and community clergy faced with increasingly older congregations. It gives mental health professionals new strategies to help improve the later years of older adults, and makes an excellent text for courses on religion, mental health, and aging. Middle-aged and older adults, as well as their families, will also find Aging and God enjoyable and inspiring as they attempt to grapple with the myriad adjustment and coping problems associated with aging.

Horrific Traumata shares the stories of persons whose meaning, hope, and faith were ripped from them by others or traumatic events and who live with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Since the Vietnam War, therapists have come to understand victims of severe emotional trauma with new understanding and, with better ability, have come to learn how to heal the awful effects of their traumas. Now the ranks of traumatized Vietnam veterans are joined by others who have also experienced horrific traumata and need help to rebuild their lives from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)--victims and survivors of incest and rape, hostage situations, and other events outside the range of ordinary human suffering.Duncan Sinclair provides direct insight into the clinical and psychological aspects of PTSD. He presents a clear and workable understanding of the nature of PTSD which gives clergy and other involved persons direct insight into the causes of many behaviors. Horrific Traumata focuses on the church's readiness and obligation to incorporate traumatized victims into the center of grace and healing. Clergy of all specialities now have a means of seeing behind the masks of hurt and isolation to the long-standing and disabling trauma. Sinclair shows how to promote the healing process through a range of parish activities as well as in clinical settings. Guidelines for promoting healing include the key concepts of how to listen compassionately and how to create safe places in which victims may heal during the rebuilding of hope and faith. Scriptures used throughout develop a hopefulness that must be maintained for healing. Based on the quintessential understanding that current life stressors open past wounds in ways that leave them open, Sinclair guides professionals and clergy in treating the whole traumatized person. Clergy of all specialities, pastors, chaplains, pastoral counselors, seminary students, clinical pastoral educators, and students will find healing words for hurting people in this book. Clinical specialists in all disciplines who wish to view clients'lives from a clinical and faith position will find the stories and clinical suggestions in this book to be a modern goldmine.

Horrific Traumata shares the stories of persons whose meaning, hope, and faith were ripped from them by others or traumatic events and who live with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Since the Vietnam War, therapists have come to understand victims of severe emotional trauma with new understanding and, with better ability, have come to learn how to heal the awful effects of their traumas. Now the ranks of traumatized Vietnam veterans are joined by others who have also experienced horrific traumata and need help to rebuild their lives from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)--victims and survivors of incest and rape, hostage situations, and other events outside the range of ordinary human suffering.Duncan Sinclair provides direct insight into the clinical and psychological aspects of PTSD. He presents a clear and workable understanding of the nature of PTSD which gives clergy and other involved persons direct insight into the causes of many behaviors. Horrific Traumata focuses on the church's readiness and obligation to incorporate traumatized victims into the center of grace and healing. Clergy of all specialities now have a means of seeing behind the masks of hurt and isolation to the long-standing and disabling trauma. Sinclair shows how to promote the healing process through a range of parish activities as well as in clinical settings. Guidelines for promoting healing include the key concepts of how to listen compassionately and how to create safe places in which victims may heal during the rebuilding of hope and faith. Scriptures used throughout develop a hopefulness that must be maintained for healing. Based on the quintessential understanding that current life stressors open past wounds in ways that leave them open, Sinclair guides professionals and clergy in treating the whole traumatized person. Clergy of all specialities, pastors, chaplains, pastoral counselors, seminary students, clinical pastoral educators, and students will find healing words for hurting people in this book. Clinical specialists in all disciplines who wish to view clients'lives from a clinical and faith position will find the stories and clinical suggestions in this book to be a modern goldmine.

This fascinating book guides family therapists in recognizing the importance of their clients'spirituality or religion to therapy. Experienced therapists demonstrate how to incorporate patients'spiritual beliefs in successful family therapy. Religion and the Family explains how the spirituality of individuals and families can be used as a valuable resource for understanding and healing family problems. Therapists will learn to utilize a couple's or family's particular god-construct as a fundamental part of the treatment system.Through a balanced combination of theory and clinical data, this comprehensive book gives family therapy practitioners and graduate-level students insight into the role of spirituality in therapy. Beginning with a brief historical overview of the relationship between religion and therapy, the book emphasizes the three areas of theory, clinical applications, and research. Family therapists will find important topics applicable to their practice, such as a model for the use of religion in therapy, a model for taking a spiritual genogram, observations about interfaith marriages, and a theory of therapy as spirituality. Graduate-level students, therapists in training, and therapists needing an introduction to religion in therapy will find this a valuable guide for incorporating spiritual and religious factors into treatment systems.