PSYCHO-THERAPY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 31, 16 November 1939, Page 2

PSYCHO-THERAPY

'HEALING AILING MINDS. PRESBYTERIAN ATTITUDE. (Special to tho “ Guardian.”) CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. The practice of “Christian psychotherapy” as an adjunct to regular medical practice lias been approved by the life and work committee of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. “The conception of health in merely physical terms is one of the sad results of the divorce of religion report presented to the General Assembly of the Church yesterday. Suggestions were made for the special training of clergy in psycho-therapy. “Briefly, the ordinary minister has neither the means to diagnose accurately tho condition of the sick or bewildered mind nor the technique to deal with it as a ‘case,’ ” tho report stated. “The problem is not so much a problem as a challenge to the Christian minister to equip himself with the new knowledge at his disposal, so that, when faced with ailing minds, ho will seek by approved means of release and restraint as a psychologist, to prepare the way for Iris evangelistic task of reconciling the patient to God, to himself and his neighbour ; and help him to that efficiency and joy in life which tho apostle describes as “the glorious liberty of the sons of God’.” Suggested System. Commenting with regret on the lack of provision for training in psychotherapeutics, the committee defines what it considers “a minimum standard of what is required in New Zealand,” as follows: “(1) All theological students should have a course in psycho-therapy with clinical experience. This would not be deemed sufficient qualification for ‘practice’ in a general way, but it would enable the ordinary minister to recognise the symptoms which require psycho-therapeutic treatment from a competent man. “(2) In the larger centres and at certain other places there -would be appointed ministers who had specialised in and been duly commissioned to practise psycho-therapy as consultants, to whom the patients referred to in (1) could be sent.

“(3) The training of theological students and those who specialised would require a lecturer or tutor who has had practical experience in the ministry in addition to specialist training in medical psycho-therapy in Europe or America.

“On these lines, wo may look for a fruitful development in the work of the Christian ministry,” the report continues. “The main difficulty lies in finding a specialist in psychiatry who is also a fully trained Christian minister, and who would he willing to pioneer in tho Dominion. Perhaps it may be possible to send one of our own men for the special training required.” Doctors’ Approval Desired. In this undertaking, the Church had to reckon with the opposition of the British Medical Association, the report stated. At the annual conference of the association at Aberdeen this year, a proposal to recognise psychotherapeutic practice by the clergy and other “lay” persons had been rejected.

“In so far as this is based on the danger of independent practice by those without qualified medical training, no exception- can be taken. But we firmly resist the contention that there is no place for a Christian psycho-therapy working- in conjunction with medical practice. . . We are convinced that the growing understanding of the essentially complementary relation between religion and medicine will remove the suspicions of those doctors who at present look with apprehension on what seems to be an invasion of the domain where they alone are competent to, practise. Psycho-therapy as a function of the Christian ministry will be no rival, but the complement, of medical science.”

The assembly thanked the compilers of the report, and instructed the life and work committee to continue its inquiries.