Psychotherapy

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Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy has been defined in a variety of ways. The most simplistic definitions is "soul-healing." This means that psychotherapy, no matter what particular form, is a process of restoring health to a person who is suffering mentally and emotionally. Understanding the soul to be the very core of the human being, the practice of psychotherapy tends to be reserved for the deepest concerns of life. Most often, psychotherapy addresses conflicts that reside within the personality.

Counseling is similar to psychotherapy, but the two tend to be differentiated. Counseling focuses on the minor stressors or irritations of life, offering immediate and practical problem-solving alternatives. Psychotherapy, on the other hand, attempts to explore the individual's life story with the hope of gaining insight into the circumstances that are causing personal problems.

Psychotherapy has two general expressions within American culture. One is psychotherapy as a contemporary American religion. The other is psychotherapy within contemporary American religion. In both instances, psychotherapy emphasizes a transformative relationship.

The "soul-searching" nature of psychotherapy is exactly what causes it to drift into functioning as a religion for some people. The focus is the human-human relationship. Developing its own language, rituals, sacred space, symbols, and revelation, one can easily place one's faith in the therapist as a divine presence and experience the process as worship or prayer. The psychotherapeutic process can imply spiritual satisfaction as one is healed from the pains of the past. A person confesses private pain and struggles to the benevolent therapist; and everyone knows that "confession is good for the soul." This can result in feelings of spiritual renewal.

Pastoral approaches to psychotherapy integrate theology and the behavioral sciences. The focus is the divine-human relationship. Whether the theology is Jewish, Christian, or Islamic, a pastoral approach engages human beings as spiritual beings with a divine origin. Rather than seeing humanity first and fore-most through the eyes of psychological theory, pastoral approaches understand humanity to be in the image and likeness of God. From this perspective, psychotherapy becomes a tool for assisting one to overcome the deep pains of life. Within religion, psychotherapy is a means to an end instead of the end in and of itself.

Just as there is a distinction between counseling and psychotherapy, so there is a difference between spiritual direction and pastoral psychotherapy. Utilizing a medical model to illustrate the difference, pastoral psychotherapy is far more invasive than spiritual direction. The respect for the divine-human relationship is maintained, but there is a clear recognition that the depth of probing necessary to encourage healing is beyond the realm of spiritual direction inquiry. When the divine-human relationship is blocked by a problem deeply embedded in the personality, pastoral psychotherapy is required to facilitate healing the soul.

The ultimate goal of pastoral psychotherapy is to encourage a person to be fully human and fully alive. All parts of the human being are brought into harmonious relationship. The pains of the past are healed, and the broken relationships with God, self, and others are restored.