ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on current understandings of bipolar disorder in medical and psychological disciplines, and new approaches to pastoral counseling that might be of use to the therapist. The existing literature on the treatment of bipolar disorder, also know as manic-depressive illness, includes almost no contributions from the field of pastoral counseling. Through its multidisciplinary approach, pastoral counseling may be the best of psycho-therapies used in conjunction with medical and pharmacological treatments. Practitioners of pastoral counseling can make use of the insights from psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, learning, and family systems theories for their psychological understanding of their clients. Research among pastoral counselors into depression will assist us in formulating a pastoral approach to the treatment of manic depression. Living with manic depression raises one's awareness that a God exists out there, with whom we can be in relationship.
