Most of these books were written chiefly to assist the professional counselor and the pastor. This survey includes books by non-Christians of which the Christian counselor should be aware. The inclusion of a book does not necessarily mean endorsement of the author’s point of view.
CRISIS Psychological Assessment of Suicide Risk edited by Charles Neuringer (Charles C. Thomas) is a collection of articles on ways of assessing suicide risk, such as the use of lethality scales, the use of psychological tests, and analysis of the characteristics of suicidal persons. The book points out, however, that a unifying paradigm for the assessment of suicide risk has not yet been developed. Responding to Suicidal Crisis by Doman Lum (Eerdmans) tells how the church can respond to persons in crisis. Crisis Intervention edited by Gerald Specter and William Claiborn (Behavioral Publications) is a collection of essays from the Second Annual Symposium on Community-Clinical Psychology held at the University of Maryland. The Minister as Crisis Counselor by David K. Switzer (Abingdon) gives special direction to the minister who is called on to counsel in crisis. Although the author’s view of the sinfulness of man may raise questions, he offers helpful information on the pathology of grief and ministry to the grief-stricken.
Anticipatory Grief edited by Bernard Schoenberg et al. (Columbia University), a collection of articles by professionals in the fields of medicine, mental health, and the ministry, offers excellent insight into the care of the dying and their families. Anticipatory grief, the phenomenon of grief prior to actual loss, is discussed from the standpoint of both the variety of human responses and how those so grieving can be cared for effectively.
But Deliver Us From Evil by John Richards (Seabury) approaches the subject of pastoral care with the demonic dimension in view. Richards incorporates both the spiritual and medical aspects of pastoral care into his study. He sincerely believes that the blood of Christ is powerful medicine in the battle against Satan.
PSYCHOSIS Retreat From Sanity by Malcolm Bowers, Jr. (Human Sciences) examines how the psychotic crosses into the world of psychosis and various treatments. Adolescent Patients in Transition by Millie Grob and Judith Singer (Behavioral) examines the impact of psychiatric hospitalization on adolescents. The Anatomy of Mental Illness by Arthur Janov (Berkley) offers a theoretical basis for his earlier work Primal Scream.Understanding Mental Illness: A Layman’s Guide by Nancy Andreasen (Augsburg) offers a readable survey of disorders of the mind that the author calls “psychiatric illness.” She offers suggestions on how the layman can help the psychotic and discusses treatments available.
GROUP COUNSELING—Experiences in Groups by W. R. Bion (Ballantine) offers a technical analysis of groups by a pioneer in the field. His discussion of the “dependency group” offers valuable insights into the church congregation as a dependency group. Group Counseling and Therapy Techniques in Special Settings by Richard Hardy and John Cull (Thomas) tells how to do group counseling of the handicapped, adolescents in a school setting, the disadvantaged, married couples, drug offenders, and other special groups. Passing reference to the Esalen Institute should be ignored. The Pastor and Marriage Group Counseling by Richard B. Wilke (Abingdon) is the best of the three in this category. He offers pastors a methodology for enriching marriages in the church and recovering lost koinonia through group renewal.
COUNSELING ETHICS Opponents of psychotherapy and behaviorism will like John Garcia’s Psychofraud and Ethical Therapy (Whitemore). The author asserts that the therapeutic method, not the goal, is all important. Symposium in Love by Mary Curtin (Behavioral) and Sexuality and the Counseling Pastor by Herbert Stroup and Norma Wood offer special help to the counselor in dealing with his own sexuality in the counseling situation. Parts of Curtin’s book are without value to the Christian counselor, but her chapter on “Sexual Contact Between Patient and Therapist” is especially valuable. It is refreshing to see a secular counselor thoroughly discourage such contact.
PSYCHOLOGY Religious Systems and Psychotherapy edited by Richard Cox (Thomas) examines the major world religions from the psychotherapeutic and mental-health point of view. An evangelical point of view is ably presented by John Vayhinger of the Anderson College School of Theology. The Psychology of Religion by Wayne Oates (Word) is a topical approach to the subject by a well-known seminary professor. Clergyman’s Psychological Handbook by Clinton McLenmore (Eerdmans) is well written, well organized, and packed with information; I rate it one of the most helpful books in this review. Biblical and Psychological Perspectives For Christian Counselors edited by Robert K. Bower (William Carey) is by no means exhaustive, as the editor admits, but it is a good effort at reconciling the Bible and psychology. Anger, conscience, and the Holy Spirit are dealt with at length. The brief discussion of common grace is valuable for the Christian counselor.
H. Norman Wright’s The Christian Use of Emotional Power (Revell) is an excellent, well-informed work on anxiety, depression, anger, and self-image. Wright’s discussion of endogenous depression and the role the hypothalamus plays in depression sets his book apart from the usual Christian writings on the subject that make depression a purely “spiritual” problem. His book is sound biblically and psychologically.
THEORIES AND THERAPIES Psychodrama: Theory and Therapy by Ira Greenberg (Behavioral) is a highly informative treatment of the theory and practice of a controversial therapy. In Behavior Modification Procedure: A Sourcebook edited by Edwin Thomas (Aldine), twenty-five selections from works that describe the technical application of behavior modification are organized into a sourcebook. Christian counselors who wish to judge this therapy by first-hand investigation will find here a comprehensive overview. The technically minded counselor will find interesting the chapter on “Instrumentation in Behavior Therapy.” Love Therapy by Paul Morris (Tyndale) combines the biblical command to love with the responsibility theme of reality therapy. The author also finds value in group therapy and finds touching a valid part of therapeutic love.
Game Free by Thomas Oden (Harper & Row) takes a critical look at transactional analysis. He looks beyond intimacy to the religious dimension, which he finds inadequate in TA. The reader will want to compare what Oden says with Muriel James’s Born to Love (Addison-Wesley), in which she applies TA to church life. Who Says I,m OK? by Alan Reuther (Concordia) does a good job of delineating the OKness that comes from feeling validated as a human being and that which comes from being “worthied” by Christ. It retains the best of psychological studies on TA theory without making it another gospel.
Finally, the well-known Christian counselor Jay Adams offers The Christian Counselor’s Manual (Baker) as a sequel to Competent to Counsel. It attempts to show the reader how to go about Christian counseling. Adams takes to task many therapeutic approaches, among them behavior modification. Before accepting his judgment that Dobson’s approach is “cold and godless” the reader will want to read Dobson’s Hide or Seek. Adams argues that only organic dysfunction can properly be called “mental illness.” Readers will want to compare Adams’s view with Nancy Andreasen’s in Understanding Mental Illness (Augsburg). Andreasen is not so willing to limit the idea of mental illness only to organic dysfunction.—ANDRE BUSTANOBY, marriage and family counselor, Bowie, Maryland.
