The Minister's Guide to Psychological Disorders and Treatments

by W. Brad Johnson

The Minister s Guide to Psychological Disorders and Treatments, 2nd ed, is a thorough yet succinct guide to everything a minister might need to know about the most common psychological disorders and the most useful mental-health treatments. Written in straightforward and accessible language, this is the minister s one-stop guide to understanding common mental health problems, helping parishioners who struggle with them, and thinking strategically about whether to refer and if so, to whom. This thoroughly updated edition is fully aligned with the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) and the latest evidence regarding evidence-based psychological treatments. The second edition also contains a new chapter on ministerial triage as well as additions to the DSM-V such as autism spectrum disorder and somatic symptom disorders. Written with deep empathy for the demands of contemporary pastoring, this guide is destined to become an indispensable reference work for busy clergy in all ministry roles and settings. "

Genres: Counselling, Christian, Nonfiction

220 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

W. Brad Johnson is Professor of psychology in the Department of Leadership, Ethics and Law at the United States Naval Academy, and a Faculty Associate in the Graduate School of Education at Johns Hopkins University. A clinical psychologist and former commissioned officer in the Navy’s Medical Service Corps, Dr. Johnson served at Bethesda Naval Hospital and the Medical Clinic at Pearl Harbor where he was the division head for psychology. He is a recipient of the Johns Hopkins University Teaching Excellence Award, and has received distinguished mentor awards from the National Institutes of Health and the American Psychological Association. Dr. Johnson is the author of numerous publications including 14 books, in the areas of gender in the workplace, mentoring, cross-gender allyship, professional ethics, and counseling. His most recent books include: Good Guys: How Men Can Become Better Allies for Women in the Workplace (Harvard Business Review, 2020, with David Smith), Athena Rising: How and Why Men Should Mentor Women (Harvard Business Review, 2016, with David Smith), The Elements of Mentoring (3rd edition, St. Martin;s Press, with Charles Ridley), and On Being a Mentor (2nd edition, Routledge Press).
wbradjohnson.com
workplaceallies.com

Reviews

[Jamie]

The last book I will finish for seminary....

[Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has everything a pastor needs to know about psychological disorders and working with MHPs. Although I can't say I'm 100% on-board with everything in the book (the authors use feminine pronouns with reference to ministers, for example), there's enough important information here that I think every pastor ought to read this.

[Andrew Montgomery · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book left me wanting a lot more, but I think I was just not the target audience for it, which I could have known by reading the title, as I am not a minister. So, I can't fault the book for that, but I'll still reflect on my experience reading it, nonetheless.

This book gave a very basic introduction to various psychological disorders and treatments, so introductory that I did not learn much from many sections of the book, and I'm certainly no expert in psychological disorders or mental illness. For example, I didn't learn much of anything about schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. The section on personality disorders was definitely more helpful for me because I know almost nothing about them (still don't after reading the book!) and have not knowingly interacted with many people with a personality disorder. But still, this book left me with a lot of questions about those and didn't answer any of my questions about mood or psychotic disorders, either.

The more troubling part of this book was the subtle evangelicalism throughout. It seemed to me that the authors assumed the minister's job in providing pastoral care would be to just encourage the distressed parishioner and refer them to a mental health practitioner. By encourage, I mean saying something to the effect of, "Don't worry - just trust in God." In my experience, this is never helpful. In one passage, for example, when discussing conduct disorder in children (which is basically a child who engages in illegal activities with seemingly no remorse), the author said that the minister could remind the parents of Proverbs 22.6: "Start children off on the way they should go,and even when they are old they will not turn from it." What terrible advice for counseling a parent of a child with a psychological disorder! This will surely lead to much guilt for the parents because they will doubt that they have done a good job parenting when the reality is that this child has a disorder. While this was the most explicit example of such "encouragement" that I find is common in evangelicalism, it was sprinkled throughout in more subtle ways.

I think this book would be adequate for a minister (hence the title) or someone who has absolutely no knowledge of any kind of psychological disorder and wants to learn some very introductory aspects of all the major ones, but even then I think they would do well to look for something a little more thorough if they are serious about learning about physiological disorders and mental illness. For someone who is actually working with people with psychological disorders, this book is not nearly enough. A much better book would be "Finding Jesus in the Storm" by John Swinton.

[Joseph Stroup · Rating 5 out of 5]

Complex discussion of various psychological disorders and ways to help people wrestling with mental health.

[John Crowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

All pastors need this book in their library. 1 in 4 church families are afraid to tell that they have a family member with a mental illness and clergy are among the first that people with such problems as well as their family members go to.