pastoral care

[henrikhank]

Hello!
This may sound like an easy (and a dumb) question but I actually don’t fully understand this.
What is the difference between pastoral care and psychiatric care?

 

[FrStevenJones]

Pastoral care is about spirituality, directed towards relationship with God. Psychiatry and psychology are about mental health, not primarily spiritual in focus, but focused on psychological health and human relationships, and relations with the self.

 

[henrikhank]

Then the question arises: why is it that spirituality don’t need diagnosis when in fact psychiatry needs them?

 

[FrStevenJones]

Spiritual/ pastoral care does need a diagnosis. The priest, as spiritual doctor, makes one when determining how to guide the person under his care. He asks himself, “What does this person need, regarding their relationship with God?” That, in essence, is the “diagnosis”.