Trends in Counseling
Trends in Counseling

Pastoral Care, Pastoral Counseling

Summary/Abstract: The care of souls or“pastoral care goes back to ancient times, it is found in all faith traditions and cultures and it usually refers to the emotional and spiritual care given to individuals in need. In the more recent times, along with the development of medicine, psychology and other disciplines of social sciences different types of helping relationships have emerged. The resulting split between the psychological/scientific and theological/religious approach to the care of mind and spirit has gradually shifted towards attempts at integration: in the religious sphere pastors, care givers began to integrate in their ministry the knowledge and expertise accumulated by social sciences, whereas psychology and psychotherapy are opening up to the spiritual dimension of care. Besides the possibilities, the integration of psychology and spirituality also poses numerous challenges, especially in the context of postmodernism and constructivism. The present article explores the model of pastoral integration, which makes it possible to look at different types of psychological help as pastoral: pastoral care, pastoral counseling, pastoral psychotherapy. In the pastoral approach presented here, integration happens in the person of the helper; consequently it has important implications for the training programs for pastoral counselors. This approach has been implemented in the Ecumenical Interdisciplinary, and Integrating Specialization Program in Pastoral Counseling at the Institute of Mental Health of Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary.

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