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PASTORAL PSYCHOLOGY
Principal Methods of Spiritual Treatment
Spiritual treatment is given mainly in private interview by
means of conversation. To lead such a conversation in the right
way is an art. It can well be compared with the art of preaching,
since it makes demands on personal ability, and depends both
on general and special preparation.
A spiritual interview is a dialogue, not a lecture or sermon
delivered by a spiritual adviser in private to an audience of one.
Attentive and interested listening that invites a fellow human
being to speak and helps him to speak freely is a most important
ability for a spiritual adviser to acquire. But it is not enough
to listen. The interview is essentially dialectic. Its purpose is to
solve problems and offer constructive guidance, by elucidating
the significance of ideas and events and drawing attention to
constructive ways of meeting situations, in a manner at once
convincing and persuasive. Logical thinking and realism in
judgment play a great part. One cannot get very far if one lacks
respect for mental clarity. Frivolous or superficial talk is worse
than useless. Three main types of interview can be distinguished
and classified as follows:
1. Simple Interviews, appropriate for the discussion of questions
of general interest concerning Christian living and thinking
which, though they have individual relevance and application,
are not occasions of profound concern in the immediate life of
the confidant. The purpose of such interviews is to enrich insight
or offer guidance of the kind provided in addresses or sermons
in public services. The only difference is one of intimacy and
the opportunity it provides for discussion. Nevertheless this
difference is important because it may enable the spiritual
adviser to render service by meeting the needs of this individual
at this time and in this particular situation, and may reveal
both to him and to the adviser the presence of deeper
unresolved problems or conflicts that would otherwise have remained
undisclosed.
2. Confession is also a form of spiritual conversation, but it
differs critically from a simple interview or an ordinary
consultation. This difference is not in the pledge of secrecy under
which confession is made, for every personal confidence a
spiritual adviser receives should be marked ‘Strictly Private’ in
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