Integrate Biblical spirituality into psychotherapy and examine centuries-old answers to modern psychological questions! The Joint Commision on the Accreditation of Hospitals now mandates taking spiritual assessments of all patients. This book is devoted to helping therapists employ Biblical spirituality in the actual treatment program. Biblical Stories for Psychotherapy and Counseling: A Sourcebook organizes the wisdom of the Old Testament into episodes that can shed light on specific psychological issues. From the familiar to the obscure, these stories can help us better understand self-esteem, loyalty and obligations, decision making, temptation, anger, morality, various disorders, family dynamics, support systems, developmental issues, recovery issues, aging, suicidal behavior, and more. From the authors: “As brilliant and as penetrating as Freud's insights are, they are limited in the sense that Freud relied heavily on Greek myth and literature for his models and ideas. His view of man was in many ways that of the Greeks—a view that concentrated on the pathological underside of man and on the bedrock of his developmental problems. The Greeks could never really shake the sense of doom, the foreboding and the fatalism that led so many great figures in Greek literature and in real life Greek history to depression and, in a surprising number of cases, to suicide. In contrast, the focus of the Bible is far more optimistic; depression can be successfully dealt with, and suicide is a sad error that should be—and usually can be—avoided. It encourages people to hope and teaches that day-to-day human effort has a purpose and meaning and that heroism is not a fair or useful aim for man to set for himself. The Bible offers the hope of filling every moment of human life with greater meaning and feeling. “New solutions to mental health problems are always welcome. Ours is a new approach, yet a very old one. We present stories that offer a vast treasure of knowledge and wisdom about the way people think and act, and why they do so. The stories are drawn from the Hebrew Bible, a compendium whose latest books are already twenty-four hundred or so years old. Yet, through all those centuries, the basic story of man's searching and yearning has changed little. We shall concentrate on the psychological meaning of these narratives and what they tell us about how their characters dealt with challenges of family, handicap, depression, and more.” You'll also find information drawn from modern clinical research that parallels the Biblical narratives. The wisdom gained from these ancient stories is applied to help people gain self-understanding and deal with their own situations today. For psychotherapists, these Biblical foundation stories can be used as a basis for integrating spirituality into psychotherapy. The story of Moses, who overcame a speech problem, can be applied to the problems of a Midwestern college student, and the account of David and Goliath can help a businessman overcome his fears of “lack of macho.” A small sample of the Bible stories—and their clinical implications—that you'll find in this volume: the foundation of self-esteem: Saul the courage to emigrate: Abraham assuming responsibility for one's self: Lot's wife focusing on one's main aim: Sarah and Hagar dealing with commandments: Abraham and Isaac dealing with temptations: Adam and Eve drunkenness and disrespect: Noah reciprocity between generations: Naomi and Ruth amoral intellectualism: Balaam aging: Ecclesiastes dealing with disability: Moses and Aaron abandonment: David protected regression: Jonah Biblical Stories for Psychotherapy and Counseling: A Sourcebook will become a well-used reference in your professional/teaching collection. These Biblical stories will be helpful to therapists, cle

Integrate Biblical spirituality into psychotherapy and examine centuries-old answers to modern psychological questions! The Joint Commision on the Accreditation of Hospitals now mandates taking spiritual assessments of all patients. This book is devoted to helping therapists employ Biblical spirituality in the actual treatment program. Biblical Stories for Psychotherapy and Counseling: A Sourcebook organizes the wisdom of the Old Testament into episodes that can shed light on specific psychological issues. From the familiar to the obscure, these stories can help us better understand self-esteem, loyalty and obligations, decision making, temptation, anger, morality, various disorders, family dynamics, support systems, developmental issues, recovery issues, aging, suicidal behavior, and more. From the authors: As brilliant and as penetrating as Freud's insights are, they are limited in the sense that Freud relied heavily on Greek myth and literature for his models and ideas. His view of man was in many ways that of the Greeksa view that concentrated on the pathological underside of man and on the bedrock of his developmental problems. The Greeks could never really shake the sense of doom, the foreboding and the fatalism that led so many great figures in Greek literature and in real life Greek history to depression and, in a surprising number of cases, to suicide. In contrast, the focus of the Bible is far more optimistic; depression can be successfully dealt with, and suicide is a sad error that should beand usually can beavoided. It encourages people to hope and teaches that day-to-day human effort has a purpose and meaning and that heroism is not a fair or useful aim for man to set for himself. The Bible offers the hope of filling every moment of human life with greater meaning and feeling. New solutions to mental health problems are always welcome. Ours is a new approach, yet a very old one. We present stories that offer a vast treasure of knowledge and wisdom about the way people think and act, and why they do so. The stories are drawn from the Hebrew Bible, a compendium whose latest books are already twenty-four hundred or so years old. Yet, through all those centuries, the basic story of man's searching and yearning has changed little. We shall concentrate on the psychological meaning of these narratives and what they tell us about how their characters dealt with challenges of family, handicap, depression, and more. You'll also find information drawn from modern clinical research that parallels the Biblical narratives. The wisdom gained from these ancient stories is applied to help people gain self-understanding and deal with their own situations today. For psychotherapists, these Biblical foundation stories can be used as a basis for integrating spirituality into psychotherapy. The story of Moses, who overcame a speech problem, can be applied to the problems of a Midwestern college student, and the account of David and Goliath can help a businessman overcome his fears of lack of macho. A small sample of the Bible storiesand their clinical implicationsthat you'll find in this volume: the foundation of self-esteem: Saul the courage to emigrate: Abraham assuming responsibility for one's self: Lot's wife focusing on one's main aim: Sarah and Hagar dealing with commandments: Abraham and Isaac dealing with temptations: Adam and Eve drunkenness and disrespect: Noah reciprocity between generations: Naomi and Ruth amoral intellectualism: Balaam aging: Ecclesiastes dealing with disability: Moses and Aaron abandonment: David protected regression: Jonah Biblical Stories for Psychotherapy and Counseling: A Sourcebook will become a well-used reference in your professional/teaching collection. These Biblical stories will be helpful to therapists, cle

In Biblical Psychotherapy, Kalman J. Kaplan and Paul Cantz offer a new approach to suicide prevention based on biblical narratives that is designed to overcome the suicidogenic patterns in Greek and Roman stories implicit in modern mental health. More than sixteen suicides and self-mutilations emerge in the twenty-six surviving tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides and countless others occurred in Greek and Roman lives. In contrast, only six suicides are found in the Hebrew Scriptures, in addition to a number of suicide-prevention narratives. Kaplan and Cantz reclaim life-enhancing biblical narratives as alternatives to matched suicidal stories in Greek and Roman society with regard to seven evidence-based risk factors. These biblical narratives are employed to treat fourteen patients fitting into the outlined Graeco-Roman suicidal syndromes and to provide an in-depth positive psychology aimed at promoting life rather than simply preventing suicide.

The focus of this text is on the clinical aspects of pastoral psychotherapy—that is, those psychological understandings and approaches that provide the pastor, however he or she is defined, with the skills to understand the underlying dynamics of specific behavioral disorders people bring to them, as well as the art of working with and reeducating those in distress as to healthier, less self-defeating choices they can make in life. In this work, the personality theory, understanding of the dynamics of problematic behaviors, and therapy approach selected as the foundation for pastoral psychotherapy is the school of psychological thought of Alfred Adier. The text is divided into four parts. In Chapters 1-3, the basic principles of Individual Psychology are presented, introducing the pastor to the teleological system of Adier. Additional, the explanations of the dynamics of pathological are presented, with disorders ranging from the minor to the major. Further presented are select, important processes in Individual Psycholo-gy’s method of psychotherapy. In Chapter 4, non-Adlerian approaches are discussed, affording the pastoral psychotherapist the option of expanding his or her repertoire of techniques if he or she feels comfortable employing them. Chapter 5 surveys areas of daily life that all people experience and encounter and presents spiritual understandings and guidance for the (pastor or) individual to use through his or her travels on this planet. Last, Chapter 6 offers a view and opinions as to what the next decade of pastoral psychotherapy may hold. The book will serve as a springboard for further investigation into the various areas covered. It will also assist pastors in their sacred task of spiritually and psychologically helping and healing the distressed.

Foreword by Walter Wink In recent years theologians and biblical scholars have begun to delve into the insights that come from the application of psychology to biblical texts. While these methods continue to be useful and popular, nowhere have the "foundational" texts in the field been collected. Wayne Rollins and Andrew Kille, who have both published and taught widely in the area of psychological biblical criticism, have assembled an excellent guide for those interested in this fascinating topic. Included in this anthology are articles from across the landscape, spanning over one hundred years and including such authors as Franz Delitzsch, M. Scott Fletcher, Max Weber, Walter Wink, and many other scholars.

If you ask someone the question, "Tell me a story that changed your life," there will almost certainly be a thoughtful pause before a huge grin emerges. Everyone's life has been guided and impacted by stories, beginning with the earliest fables and nursery rhymes our parents used to instill moral values to the last time you wanted to illustrate a point in a meeting or get a laugh out of a friend over dinner. Storytelling is a uniquely human activity, among our first and most enduring forms of communication. This is a book about the meaning of stories in people's lives, especially those that have produced enduring changes in their values, behavior, lifestyle, and worldview. Carefully documented and supported by research from the social sciences, as well as from neurobiology, the humanities, media studies, and arts, Jeffrey Kottler will explore how and why stories are so powerfully influential in people's lives, especially those that lead to major life transformations.

Factor your clients' religious beliefs into their therapy! A recent Gallup poll found that nearly two-thirds of Americans surveyed said they would prefer to receive counseling from a therapist who is religious. The Power of Spirituality in Therapy: Integrating Spiritual and Religious Beliefs in Mental Health Practice addresses the apprehensions many clinicians have when it comes to discussing God with their clients. Authors Peter A. Kahle and John M. Robbins draw from their acclaimed workshops on the integration of spirituality and psychotherapy to teach therapists how they can help clients make positive life changes that are consistent with their values and spiritual and/or religious orientations. The Power of Spirituality in Therapy combines psychotherapy, spirituality, and humor to examine the “pink elephants” of academia-Godphobia and institutional a-spiritualism. The book explores the “learned avoidance” that has historically limited therapists in their ability—and willingness—to engage clients in “God-talk” and presents clinicians with methods they can use to incorporate spirituality into psychotherapy. Topics such as truth, belief, postmodernism, open-mindedness, and all-inclusiveness are examined through empirical findings, practical steps and cognitive processes, and clinical stories. The Power of Spirituality in Therapy includes: To Be (Ethical) or Not to Be? WHAT is the Question? To Believe or Not to Believe? That is NOT the Question! The Deification of Open-Mindedness Learning From Our Clients In God Do Therapists Trust? and much more! The Power of Spirituality in Therapy is an essential resource for therapists, counselors, mental health practitioners, pastoral counselors, and social work professionals who deal with clients who require therapy that reflects the importance of God in their lives. This guide will help those brave enough to explore how their own spiritual beliefs and/or biases can create problems when working with those clients.