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Clergymen as psychotherapists: Problems in interrole communication

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Abstract

Training clergymen to become psychotherapeutically adept in their counseling requires more than technical indoctrination. Psychiatry is a subculture with its own values and beliefs that must be translated before they can be adopted by the clergyman's subculture. The familiarity and personal warmth customary in pastoral relationships are consistent with good psychotherapy as long as the clergyman's behavior preserves those elements of the therapist's role that are essential to insuring the counselee's autonomy. Brief as the training programs might be, demonstrable changes occur in the student-pastors counseling and personal lives.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco, California

    Carroll M. Brodsky Ph.D., M.D. (Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Director)

  2. Adult Psychiatry Clinic, University of California Medical Center, San Francisco, California

    Carroll M. Brodsky Ph.D., M.D. (Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Director)

Authors
  1. Carroll M. Brodsky Ph.D., M.D.
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Brodsky, C.M. Clergymen as psychotherapists: Problems in interrole communication. Community Ment Health J 4, 482–491 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01530769

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01530769

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