Psychopharmacology and Pastoral Counseling: Medication and Meaning

Abstract

Claims that emerging therapeutic approaches of psychiatrists and pastoral therapists need to combine medication for biochemical processes and meaning for framing experience. Observes that a pastoral therapist who finds a client resisting and/or rejecting referral for appropriate drug intervention can nevertheless use medication or soma as an explanatory scheme for soul-oriented treatment. Notes that treatment ought to focus on early detection of survival reactions and that drugs take the edge off unnecessary arousal, although dialogue remains necessary to reestablish a trusting relationship in an ambiguous world.