The Influence of Psychoanalysis on Pastoral Psychotherapy: A Brief History

 

The Influence of Psychoanalysis on Pastoral Counseling : A Brief History      It could be said that Oskar Pfister was the first “pastoral counselor.” He was certainly the first to be influenced by Sigmund Freud, the creator of psychoanalysis. Pfister was a Lutheran pastor who was also a close friend of Freud and his family. He often consulted with Freud regarding his pastoral counseling with his parishioners........... However, Oscar Pfister was not the pastor who would create the pastoral counseling profession. For that story we turn to the United States and begin with Freud’s one and only visit to the U.S. Freud came to America in 1909 to speak at Clark University. Stanley Hall, President of Clark, invited Freud and received him warmly. Clark University, in Worcester, Massachusetts, was well known for its Psychology of Religion department. A leading figure in the Psychology of Religion field at the time was William James. James had said of Freud “that his psychology would be the lasting one.”  Freud, though not impressed with America, was impressed with how much James and the faculty members of Clark knew about his work............... The Rev. Anton Boisen was the chaplain at Worcester State hospital, also in Worcester, Massachusetts. He had developed a professional relationship with the psychiatrist and interpersonal psychotherapist Harry Stack Sullivan. Boisen published several articles in Sullivan’s journal “Psychiatry.” Boisen did not learn of Freud’s work, however, until 1920 when a colleague sent him a copy of Freud’s Introductory Lectures. Boisen, a Harvard graduate, also worked at Boston Psychopathic Hospital. He later formed the first committee for training of chaplains called, “The Council for Clinical Training of Theology Students.” Helen (Flanders) Dunbar, M.D., a psychoanalyst and psychiatrist, was involved in the creation and ongoing work of this national committee, which was based in New York. ............This new clinical training for chaplains consisted of the same tripartite training model that had become popular in psychoanalysis. It included 1. Supervision, 2. Educational instruction, and 3. Personal therapy. Personal therapy, though not absolutely required, was strongly encouraged. Those who were trained in this manner became the first “clinically trained pastors” in the United States. They were not yet called “pastoral counselors,” because the American Association of Pastoral Counselors was not established until 1961. Instead, they were called “clinical pastors.” But since these were really the first “pastoral counselors” in the U.S., Anton Boisen became known as the Father of Pastoral Counseling............ There was a second psychoanalytic influence present in the person of Smiley Blanton, M.D. Blanton was a psychiatrist who visited Freud in Vienna and underwent a brief analysis with him. Blanton wrote of this experience in his aptly titled book, My Analysis with Freud. Blanton, along with the popular figure Norman Vincent Peale, established one of the first pastoral counseling centers in the United States, located in New York City. It was then known as the American Foundation of Religion and Psychiatry, but today is known as the Blanton-Peale Institute.........So, in the 1920’s and 1930’s, psychoanalysis influenced the training and personal lives of the early pastoral counselors through the writings of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. The Interpersonal Psychoanalysts of the 1940’s and 50’s also had a major impact on pastoral counselors. Frieda Fromm-Reichman and Rollo May joined Harry Stack Sullivan, Karen Horney, and Erik Fromm, as major psychoanalysts who affected the practice of pastoral counseling............ Rollo May, an Interpersonal psychoanalyst, along with the theologian Paul Tillich, met with several leading pastoral counselors in a study group in New York for many years. Incidentally, Paul Tillich’s psychoanalyst was Karen Horney.......... One can see the mutual influences that were taking place between Interpersonalist psychoanalysts, theologians, and pastoral counselors at the time. Many pastoral counselors of that generation learned about psychotherapy from these Interpersonal Analysts........ Others, however, studied Freud himself. My supervisor, when I was in pastoral counseling training, was influenced by Harry Stack Sullivan, but the leading pastoral counseling professor at my seminary wrote his dissertation on Sigmund Freud. Feudian psychoanalysis has been extremely influential on pastoral counselors in more recent history. This influence is clearly seen in a psychoanalytically oriented pastoral counseling textbook written by Carroll Wise of Boston. Wise’s book is entitled, Pastoral Psychotherapy. .........Unlike Anton Boisen, who worked primarily in institutional settings with more disturbed patients, Carrol Wise did more traditional “office” practice as a psychoanalytically informed pastoral psychotherapist. You will notice the change from pastoral counselor to pastoral psychotherapist which is the more common term today for pastoral counselors. To many in the pastoral counseling profession, Carroll Wise became the father of pastoral psychotherapy. ..........Though Carroll Wise relies heavily on Freudian Psychology, other contemporary psychologies that have influenced pastoral counseling include Object Relations Theory, Self Psychology, and Relational Psychoanalysis.  A popular pastoral counseling text, written by Charles Gerkin of Emory University, is entitled, The Living Human Document: Re-visioning Pastoral Counseling in a Hermeneutical Mode. Gerkin’s book exemplifies the pluralism that has occurred in psychoanalysis and has also occurred among those in pastoral psychotherapy who had been influenced by psychoanalysis. Gerkin reflects more contemporary pluralistic views in pastoral psychotherapy. Gerkin speaks of his own experience in personal psychoanalysis as well as his training in pastoral counseling. Gerkin writes: "My clinical training supervisor was deep into psychoanalysis...Theologically speaking, we talked at length of God’s unconditional love and the human desire for freedom from compulsion, psychological and moralistic.....These concepts later became linked in my mind with Carl Rogers’ “unconditional positive regard” and Erich Fromm’s contrast between the authoritarian and humanistic conscience. Seminary and some graduate study of counseling and guidance completed, I accepted an appointment back in my Methodist home conference in Topeka, Kansas, a major reason for the choice being that I would be near the, by then famous, Menninger Foundation. I had vague hopes of pursuing further my interest in clinical training and psychoanalysis, the latter because I had by now become convinced that the darker mysteries of my own and others’ lives could best be probed while prone on the analyst’s couch! My first sermon as a frightened but excited young neonate pastor was titled, “As a man Thinketh in His Heart.” Both goals (clinical pastoral training and psychoanalysis) were later achieved, and I became a clinical pastoral supervisor, duly Certified (we called it accredited then) by the Council for Clinical Training." .......... For the most recent psychoanalytic influence on contemporary pastoral psychotherapy, we turn to the book by Pamela Cooper-White, Pastoral Psychotherapy in Relational and Theological Perspective (2007). Cooper-White teaches at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and is a practicing Pastoral Psychotherapist. It is clear from reading her text that she was first trained in Freudian Psychology and practiced pastoral psychotherapy from within that perspective for many years. Then, as Object Relations, Self Psychology, and Relational Analysis came more to the forefront, she studied those orientations and has integrated them into her theory and practice of pastoral psychotherapy. She writes: This book incorporates the many exciting developments in contemporary Psychoanalytic thinking, which in turn incorporate postmodern, constructivist ideas—including multiplicity—into a new understanding of relationality and intersubjectivity….  The goal of... (this book)… then, is to bring contemporary psychoanalytic understandings back into dialogue with the pastoral psychotherapeutic field, toward a wider application of multiple aspects of postmodern relational theory and practice. As is evident in Cooper-White’s text, many in the pastoral counseling world have followed the same developmental path as those in the psychoanalytic world—adopting and integrating various aspects of contemporary psychoanalysis. Conclusion ............In today’s pastoral psychotherapy world, psychoanalysis remains a major influence. Regardless of the differences in psychoanalysis and pastoral psychotherapy, they hold significant things in common: Both place an emphasis on the importance of the therapeutic relationship, and both are interested in “getting to the depths of the human soul.”(Gerkin, 1984) ...........As Charles Gerkin, the author of the text cited earlier concludes: ….psychoanalysis, because of its depth richness and realism about the human condition, continues to offer challenging and fruitful possibilities of dialogue with pastoral (counseling) theory and practice. Their relationship has been varied… But it seems likely that pastoral theory and practice will continue to appreciate and struggle with the insights of psychoanalysis for some time to come. (p. 983, Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling, 1980) Please feel free to make a comment or ask a question.!! ____________________________________________________________________________ References Boisen, 1992, Vision From a Little Known Country. Clinebell, 1981, Contemporary Growth Therapies. Cooper-White, 2007, Pastoral Psychotherapy in Relational and Theological Perspective. Fine, 1990, The History of Psychoanalysis. Freud S., 1909, Sigmund Freud’s 1909 Letter to Oskar Phister. Gabbard, Et al. 2005 (First Edition), Textbook of Psychoanalysis. Gerkin, 1984, The Living Human Documents. Hunter, 1990, Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling. May, 1953, Man’s Search for Himself. Meissner, 1984, Psychoanalysis and Religious Experience. Ramsey, 2004, Pastoral Care and Counseling: Redefining the Paradigms. Roazen, 1995, How Freud Worked. Wise, 1983, Pastoral Psychotherapy. The Journal of Pastoral Care, Dec. 1981 The Journal of Pastoral Care, Sept. 1983 Editing and publishing assistance by Melissa Hansen, M.S., LPC -- Melissa Hansen, M.S., LPC Psychotherapy and Counseling Services International, LLC https://pcsi.securepatientarea.com (540)-932-1471 The information contained in this transmission may contain privileged and confidential information, including patient information protected by federal and state privacy laws. It is intended only for the use of the person(s) named above. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, dissemination, distribution, or duplication of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. -- C. Alan Melton, D.Min., LPC Psychotherapist Valley Pastoral Counseling Center 300 Chestnut Ave. Waynesboro, VA 22980 (540)932-9721 www.valleypastoral.org The information contained in this transmission may contain privileged and confidential information, including patient information protected by federal and state privacy laws. It is intended only for the use of the person(s) named above. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, dissemination, distribution, or duplication of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. ReplyForward