McHenry suggests ways to develop a prayer relationship with God and how to find His transforming powers in the Bible. (Practical Life)

The pastoral counselor brings God's presence to the counseling session. The counselor radiates God's enormous unconditional love and forgiveness to the client. Clients come in because they are spiritually broken and prey to the allies of darknessaEUR"fear of abandonment from God and those they love, resentment, frustration, anxiety, and callousness. He is the prodigal son. Through empathy, compassion, and counseling skills, the pastoral counsel connects them to the God who runs to meet him with joy, throws his arms around him, kisses him, forgives him, and makes him psychologically and spiritually whole again by giving him the signet ring. The pastoral counselor's role is to facilitate this occurrence.

Learn seven clinical approaches to working with the God image in psychotherapy Each person has two ideas of God—the God concept and the God image. The God concept is intellectual in nature, while the God image is the subjective emotional experience of God that is shaped by a person’s family history. Those who struggle with mental health issues often have a God image that is distant, critical, and judgmental because they had parents who behaved that way. God Image Handbook for Spiritual Counseling and Psychotherapy: Research, Theory, and Practice provides therapists with the tools to effectively treat clients who harbor God image issues. This unique manual builds upon strong philosophical and research foundations to offer seven practical clinical approaches to working with the God image in psychotherapy. Leading clinicians and researchers from various disciplines offer expert insight and analysis to provide therapists with in-depth understanding of the God image. God Image Handbook for Spiritual Counseling and Psychotherapy: Research, Theory, and Practice comprehensively discusses the psychodynamic foundation and research that contribute to the understanding of the God image, and then presents seven different theoretical and technical approaches to help those who have personal and religious problems. Case examples illustrate how the God image changes through the therapy process. The guidebook also explores future developments and the implications of race, culture, gender orientation, and economic conditions that impact the God image. Each approach and theory in God Image Handbook for Spiritual Counseling and Psychotherapy: Research, Theory, and Practice examine: background and philosophical assumptions God image development God image difficulties God image change strengths and weaknesses Case examples discuss: client history presenting problem case conceptualization treatment plan interventions duration of treatment termination therapeutic outcomes God Image Handbook for Spiritual Counseling and Psychotherapy: Research, Theory, and Practice is an interdisciplinary guide that provides a holistic understanding of psychological issues and the God image, and is a valuable practical addition to the libraries of psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, social workers, addiction professionals, clergy, spiritual directors, and pastoral counselors.

This powerful book deals with the issue of how Christians, especially those called to counsel, can help survivors of sexual abuse find healing and hope. From 20 years of experience, the author demonstrates how counselors can walk alongside people deeply wounded by sexual abuse as they face the truth about who they are, who their abuser was, and who God is as the Savior and Redeemer of all life. Counseling Survivors of Sexual Abuse issues a strong call to the church at large to walk with survivors through the long dark nights of their healing.

Family Therapy of Neurobehavioral Disorders shows you a unique integration of neuropsychology and family therapy. Authors Judith L. Johnson and William G. McCown span these two broad areas by synthesizing family therapy principles and applying them specifically to traumatic brain injury and degenerative dementia. Family therapists, neuropsychologists, social workers, and counselors working with patients who experience brain dysfunction and their families learn to better address common issues and problems and of therapeutic interventions. This expert book includes case examples and working models of family reactions. The book then extends this information into practical clinical situations commonly confronted in work with these patients and their families. Readers of Family Therapy of Neurobehavioral Disorders are introduced to brain-behavior relationships including neuroanatomy of the brain as it relates to behavior, dynamics of neurologic disorders, and common symptoms of brain dysfunction. You can then use this information to help persons with traumatic brain injury and their families cope with and adjust to the issues and challenges they face. Specifically, you gain invaluable, informative insight into: the neuroanatomy of the brain and which structures mediate behavior, emotion, and cognition common issues families face when a member suffers traumatic brain injury therapeutic strategies and practical suggestions for assisting families mild head injury and familial reactions common issues faced by families confronting Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias a model of family reactions to dementia over time Chapters in Family Therapy of Neurobehavioral Disorders outline symptoms of brain dysfunction and family therapy designed to approach these symptoms. Divided into two sections, the book gives readers a model of traumatic brain injury beginning with the initial onset and proceeding through time. This section focuses on changes within the family and therapeutic strategies for helping these distressed families. Secondly, the authors address degenerative dementia with emphases on certain phases through which family members may progress as they acknowledge their loved one’s condition and then therapeutically work through the reality of it. Professionals in the medical and social sciences will find Family Therapy of Neurobehavioral Disorders a unique and irreplacable guide for developing and understanding the meshing of neuropsychology and family therapy. Also, the book serves as a solid text for students in courses such as rehabilitation, counseling, and family therapy. Translated into Spanish!

Does religion belong in psychotherapy? For anyone in the helping profession, whether as mental health professional or religious leader, this question is bound to arise. Many mental health professionals feel uncomfortable discussing religion. In contrast, many religious leaders feel uncomfortable referring their congregants to professionals who do not know their faith or intent to engage with it. And yet Michelle Pearce, PhD, assistant professor and clinical psychologist at the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland, argues that if religion is essential to a client, religion will be a part of psychotherapy, whether it is discussed or not. Clients cannot check their values at the door more than the professionals who treat them. To Pearce, the question isn’t really, “does religion belong?” but rather, “how can mental health professionals help their religious clients engage with and use their faith as a healing resource in psychotherapy?” Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Christian Clientswith Depression is the answer to that question, as the book’s purpose is to educate mental health professionals and pastoral counselors about religion’s role in therapy, as well as equip them to discuss religious issues and use evidence-based, religiously-integrated tools with Christian clients experiencing depression. In this book, readers will find the following resources in an easy-to-use format: An overview of the scientific benefits of integrating clients’ religious beliefs and practices in psychotherapy An organizing therapeutic approach for doing Christian CBT Seven tools specific to Christian CBT to treat depression Suggested dialogue for therapists to introduce concepts and tools Skill-building activity worksheets for clients Clinical examples of Christian CBT and the seven tools in action Practitioners will learn the helpful (and sometimes not so beneficial) role a person’s Christian faith can play in psychotherapy. They will be equipped to discuss religious issues and use religiously-integrated tools in their work. At the same time, clergy will learn how Christianity can be integrated into an evidence-based secular mental health treatment for depression, which is sure to increase their comfort level for making referrals to mental health practitioners who provide this form of treatment. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Christian Clients with Depression is a practical guide for mental health professionals and pastoral counselors who want to learn how to use Christian-specific CBT tools to treat depression in their Christian clients.

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.

Culbertson has built his text around the ideal of Christian wholeness and maturity-a healthy interconnectedness of self-within-community. Culbertson presents three schools of counseling theory: family systems theory, narrative counseling theory, and object relations theory. Each of these is explained and then applied to various counseling situations: pre-marital counseling, marriage counseling, divorce counseling, counseling gay men and women, and grief counseling. Culbertson addresses issues of gender, families, sexual orientation, the relationship of emotions to spirituality, and the relevance of the counselor's own self-understanding.--From publisher's description.

Within this book, Ruth Netzer explores the archetypal components of therapist-patient relations in cinema from the perspective of Jungian archetypal symbolism, and within the context of myth and ritual. Film is a medium that is attracted to the extremes of this specific relationship, depicting the collapse of the accepted boundaries of therapyp; though on the other hand, cinema also loves the fantasy of therapy as intimacy. Through the medium of film, and employing examples from over 45 well-known films, the author analyzes the successes and failures of therapists within film, and reviews the concepts of transference and counter-transference and their therapeutic and redemptive powers, in contrast to their potential for destruction and exploitation within the context of a patient-therapist relationship. This book will be a fascinating read for Jungian analysts, psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists with an interest in the link between cinema and therapy, as well as filmmakers and students and teachers of film studies.

At last, Christian churches and colleges throughout the United States can begin the basic training of their church judges and helpers as the training manual, How to Judge Gods Way, clearly describes how church judges fulfill all of their necessary tasks according to Gods values. This book defines the key components of each task, guides the judges through typical scenarios, warns of common errors, and teaches self-evaluation methods in order to maintain Gods highest standards constantly. This book lays out the biblical foundation for the salvation and sanctification ministries of the church and offers practical ways to apply Gods message into the churchs daily activities. As a bonus, this book includes handouts and forms so that churches and church judges can expediently expand their God-directed and God-pleasing sanctification ministry.