What does Interpathetic mean?
Every person is dealing with a deficiency in some area of life, only 25% of people with anxiety disorders seek professional help according to Wehrenberg, M. (2008). One of the most revealing aspects that motivated the development of writing this book, “Reducing Anxiety in Persons Practicing Pastoral Care through Interpathic Training,” is to explain what pastoral Care encompasses.
Pastoral Care has labeled for one serving in the capacity as a pastor in a church setting or in a hospital as a Chaplain. But, pastoral Care includes much more: someone listening to the concerns of aging parents, offering encouragement to someone in distress and/or facing a crisis.
Deciding the best approach in supporting a family member or friend as it relates to the above mentioned issues can create anxiety. Interpathic training addresses these issues and will make a powerful impact in reducing the anxiety or the reluctance to administer support. Author, Janet O. Hagberg and Robert A. Gulich’s share in their book, “The Critical Journey (2010) reviews stages in one’s own unresolved personal experiences without professional intervention can limit pastoral care to another.
The development of Interpathic training is derived from cultivating a skill of not only being sympathic, which is spontaneously reacting to another’s pain. It is not just being empathetic, which enables one to understand that an individual needs care. It is journeying with another until the love of Christ shines through to bring a transformative inner calm within an individual going through a storm. An awareness of the appropriate use of empathy and sympathy has potential to foster the rustic gain according to Dr. A. Clark in his Journal of Mental Health Counseling (April, 2010, 32, 95-100).
This is the reason for addressing an urgent need to obtain Interpathic Personal Pastoral Care (IPPC) training. This training will cover these questions; How can anxiety be overcome when practicing pastor care to another? How does one integrate-pastoral care into their daily routine? One must choose to draw from his or her own inner strength and accept support from others who can aid in reducing anxiety. Through the healing process of IPPC an important aspect of self sufficiency can be realized as one draws strength from Christ’s unconditional love in community of another.