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CHAPTER IV
METHODS OF TREATMENT
THE care of souls by the methods of pastoral psychology has as
its aim not only the tending, protection and defence of the
immature, uuder-developed or unhealthy personality. It may
also have as its object those who are the victims of a bad
environment, the maladjusted and those who are tortured by
mental and spiritual conflicts.
It can hardly be said that the care of souls has hitherto been
undertaken methodically; no special methods of treatment have
been described or taught. Perhaps this is why no generally
understood term is available to denote the person to whom
treatment is given. For that part of the spiritual adviser’s
ministry which is concerned with confession, the expression
‘Confession-child’, has found favour in some branches of the
Christian Church, especially among Catholics. Leslie
Weatherhead in England has, in his own work as spiritual adviser and
practising psychologist, used and defended the term ‘patient’.
We strongly disapprove of this usage. The physician has patients,
the lawyer has clients, but the spiritual adviser has neither.
Scheirer uses the term ‘Pflegling’ —a ‘ward’, but the word too
strongly suggests physical immaturity to be satisfactory for our
purpose.
For my own part, I would like to suggest the word ‘Confidant’
to denote those who are the recipients of spiritual treatment,
partly because it has certain associations with the Latin and
ecclesiastical word ‘Confiteus’—a confession-child; partly
because the word has its roots in ‘con-fido’, to trust. In the
French pseudo-classical drama, the word ‘confidant’ was used
for the minor character who received the confidences of the
principal player. Its traditional sense of an ‘intimate friend’
should recommend it as the designation of a person who confides
in his spiritual adviser. It will be used in that sense throughout
this book.
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