The Soul in Distress: What Every Pastoral Counselor Should Know About Emotional and Mental Illness

What do a parish priest and a psychiatrist have in common? Most people wouldn't think there are many similarities between the two. Yet, both play a vital role in addressing people's mental and emotional problems. In fact, the local rabbi, priest, minister, or other pastoral caregiver is often approached before the psychiatrist or psychologist by persons experiencing severe emotional or psychological distress. From The Soul in Distress, clergy members learn about the wide range of psychiatric problems and the need for bridging the gap that still exists between the tenets of religion and psychological/psychiatric explanations of human behavior.

By becoming informed on important findings in mental health, you can increase your effectiveness in working with congregants who are emotionally distraught. The Soul in Distress can help you accomplish this as it addresses the interplay of people’s emotional and mental states with their sense of religion. As you will soon see, psychology can never be separated from matters of faith because it involves the emotions and the intellect. By reading this insightful book, you will learn to distinguish between those problems that can be addressed informally by you and the congregant through traditional methods such as discussion and prayer and those that require medical attention. To this end, you will learn about:

• mood disorders
• physical diseases and nervous symptoms
• confession and obsession-compulsion
• how organic illness can disguise an emotional problem of psychological origin
• faith healing
• how religious guilt can arise from a psychotic process associated with depression
• alcoholism and substance abuse
• schizophrenic disorders
  
  The Soul in Distress is a major step toward the healthy interchange of ideas between pastoral caregivers and psychiatrists/therapists. You will find Author Richard Roukema's suggestions and treatment modalities not only effective, but also complimentary to your work as a clergy member. Don't let your work overwhelm you and don't risk not handling the needs of your congregants appropriately! The Soul in Distress will get you on the path to understanding the mental health problems presented to you on a regular basis.