By Mikkel Wold
Post Conference Ressources
Audio Presentation – listen here
Audio Q&A – listen here
Abstract
Psychotherapy and pastoral care have many interfaces. They have a theoretical background in respectively psychology/psychiatry and theology, and they both offer an answer to the important question: What is a human being? But comparing the two disciplines is not without problems. Their concept of anthropology can differ, and while many aspects of psychotherapy are related to an anthropology inspired by a more or less naturalistic view, pastoral care of course looks at man as a creation, longing for God and defined not only by naturalistic categories, but also by spirituality. Especially the interpretation of spirituality is one of the possible meeting-points between therapy and pastoral care, since much of modern therapy is very open to a spiritual dimension. This is a very welcomed contrast to the dichotomy between psychotherapy and pastoral care that has been a hindrance for a dialogue between the two disciplines. Especially the Freud-inspired thinking, where religion is considered an oppressive illusion created by human desires, dreams or psychic conflicts, has been reluctant to an openess towards spirituality. One of the forms of therapy most open to spirituality is logotherapy, founded by the Austrian psychiatrists Viktor Frankl (1905-97). Frankl is theologically interesting because he not only acknowledges the existence of the religious, but even talks about the religious as a fundamental feature in man, as he defines man as a creature searching for a meaningful life.