In this study the focus is on the pastoral guidance of the emotionally traumatized person. From the exegetic study it became clear that suffering forms part of every person's life and growth. In Ecclesiastes 7: 1-14 it is stressed that not only is prosperity given by God but that God also allows suffering. There with Romans 8: 18-25 stresses that which awaits the true believer in eternal life. It is given as motivation to persevere through the here and now of suffering. The Epistle of James (5:13-16) emphasizes in particular the communion of believers as a source of support. Psalm 13 encourages the believer to call upon God in his distress because God listens to his children's cries of distress.
In the chapter dealing with Theological Basis Theory it became clear that emotional trauma normally happens where the person's own outlook on life was darkened by something that happened to him, which he was not prepared for. A pastoral approach to therapy is consequently based on the viewpoint that God is the Great Healer. In the process of pastoral counseling, attention must also be paid to any pending processes of mourning. Where the whole process of consultation eventually results in an attitude of servant hood in the counselee, it has truly been successful. It further became evident that various aids may creatively be used in process of guiding the counselee to wholeness -one of the most prominent of these is prayer that has to be continuously interwoven with the different counseling sessions.
As far as the Meta-theory is concerned, the focus has been on contributions made by disciplines outside theology. It was pointed out that emotions, inter alia, can also become "sick" on occasion. This happens where a person does not allow himself to live through specific experiences of his emotions. A person, however, has control over the value he attaches to on emotion. Each person is unique and consequently the experiencing of his or her emotions will differ from person to person. Under normal circumstances a person experiencing intense emotions will allow them to flow freely from the body. Where this does not happen, such a person must receive professional help from somebody that can guide him towards healing.
As part of the Meta-theoretical Section, there has also been focused empirically on the emotional trauma of a number of co-workers. It has been found, inter-alia that emotional pain that has not been dealt with, often leads to emotional trauma. It is also possible that emotional trauma may be disguised at times and may manifest itself by way of certain symptoms. Empirical research has again confirmed the important fact that the emotionally traumatized person must be guided to identify the deeper roots of the problem in order to activate the healing process.
In the Practice-theoretical Section a number of practical guidelines stemming from the basic-theoretical and meta-theoretical perspectives have been formulated for the pastoral guidance of the emotionally traumatized person to emotional and spiritual healing. The importance of prayer as part of the pastoral therapeutically process again proved to be very prominent. / Thesis (M.A. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/2294 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Herbst, Christiaan Frederick |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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