ABSTRACT
This article addresses the need for improved clergy-mental health professional collaboration in the assessment and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Tens of millions of North Americans with personal problems seek the counsel of clergy. There is an absence of research on the function of clergy as helpers with the traumatized and on the psychological dynamics of religious coping among the traumatized. Psychological trauma presents the mental health and religious communities with unique opportunities to work together in the best interest of those they serve.
Subject(s)
Community Mental Health Services/organization & administration , Health Services Needs and Demand , Interinstitutional Relations , Pastoral Care/organization & administration , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/rehabilitation , Community Health Planning , Female , Humans , Male , North AmericaABSTRACT
The Counting Method is a technique for modulating and mastering traumatic memories in which the therapist counts out loud to 100 while the client silently remembers a traumatic event. Immediately afterward, the recollection is reported, discussed and reframed. This method is briefly described and its use within the context of ongoing therapy is explained.
Subject(s)
Mental Recall , Psychotherapy/methods , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/therapy , Humans , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/psychologySubject(s)
Community Mental Health Services/supply & distribution , Deinstitutionalization , Mental Health Services/statistics & numerical data , Chronic Disease , Consumer Organizations , Financing, Organized , Humans , Mental Disorders/rehabilitation , Mental Health Services/economics , United States , WorkforceSubject(s)
Prisoners/psychology , Violence , Humans , Iran , Mental Disorders/etiology , Mental Disorders/psychology , Transference, PsychologySubject(s)
Crime , Stress, Psychological , Violence , Anxiety , Attitude , Depression , Government , Humans , Interpersonal Relations , Newspapers as Topic , Paranoid Disorders , Personality , Public Opinion , TelevisionABSTRACT
The author describes the history and implications of recent legislation affecting community mental health centers. New legislative requirements will result in centers seeing typically underserved populations (children, the elderly, and drug and alcohol abusers) as part of 7 new essential services. The impact of new grant mechanisms and the role of the National Institute of Mental Health in assisting and evaluating centers are examined. The author concludes that as a result of legislative and other trends in mental health care, psychiatrists will be seeing sicker patients for shorter periods, role confusion in the mental health professions will lessen, and centers will be forced to devote much time and effort to financial concerns and appropriate allocation of manpower.
