PSYC 703 - Pastoral Diagnosis and Psychotherapy (DSMIV)

3 Credits

Prerequisite(s): None Through demonstrations and practice students will learn how to conduct a pastoral diagnostic interview, set therapy goals, and devise a counselee treatment plan. Through this process they will gain competency in empathy, active listening, observation, non-verbal communication, tracking meanings, and the understanding of the counselee’s religious and spiritual dynamics. They will be more sensitive to God’s presence in the counseling experience and be able to identify and treat therapeutically the potential psychopathologies of guilt, anger, resentment, fear, distrust, sin, rejection, conversion, confession, forgiveness, judgment, redemption, and salvation. Attention will be given to a pastoral counselor’s use and abuse of power through the techniques of personal reflection, prayer, and blessing.