Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Part 5. Symptomatic Religiosity in Neurosis and Insanity - 5. The Spiritual Care of the Insane - Counsellor and Patient
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
PASTORAL PSYCHOLOGY
sufferer from mental disease is not accessible to logic as far as
his distorted ideas are concerned.
The crucial question every spiritual counsellor must ask
himself is whether it is more important that the patient recovers
his sanity or that he be converted to Christianity. If the patient’s
health is given first consideration, the counsellor may become
too therapeutically minded, and constitute himself an
unofficial assistant to the physicians. On the other hand, the
patient’s recovery should be a matter of great importance to the
spiritual adviser who cannot be indifferent to suffering of any
kind, and who must be aware of the pain and anxiety of the
patient’s friends and relatives. Nevertheless the counsellor owes
it to his calling and to himself never to neglect the question,
“What can I do to bring radical religious help to this patient?”
This is his primary responsibility.
A spiritual counsellor’s experience compels him to recognise
the immense power of religious ideas and convictions. Although
religion does not provide any absolute defence against mental
disturbances—especially those grounded in physical disease— it
is unquestionably a potent weapon in the struggle against them.
It is certainly not true that the quality of a mentally diseased
person’s faith makes no difference to his situation or his
prospects of recovery. Investigations into the incidence of suicide,
for example, reveal clearly that a strong religious faith has a
marked deterrent effect. Undoubtedly there are many people
who would give up the struggle to live if they did not believe in
God. A lack of vital and real religion is like lowered resistance
to disease. It renders a person more susceptible to the forces that
break down and destroy.
Among the mentally diseased we meet many for whom
religion is a source of strength and a light that illumines the
darkness of the soul. Sometimes the light shines dimly, but it shows
the way and inspires hope. Not seldom the Christian counsellor
becomes aware that this light begins to shine when a mentally
diseased person seems to be trembling on the brink of an abyss;
and it enables the sufferer to see and grip the hand stretched
out to help him.
188
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
