Clergymen as psychotherapists: Problems in interrole communication

Training clergymen to become psychotherapeutically adept in their counseling requires more than technical indoctrination. Psychiatry is a subculture with its own values and beliefs that must be translated before they can be adopted by the clergyman's subculture. The familiarity and personal warmth customary in pastoral relationships are consistent with good psychotherapy as long as the clergyman's behavior preserves those elements of the therapist's role that are essential to insuring the counselee's autonomy. Brief as the training programs might be, demonstrable changes occur in the student-pastors counseling and personal lives.