Donald Capps

Jesus the Village Psychiatrist

When a loved one is struck with psychosis, people often misunderstand what is happening and why. They may feel helpless or confused or frightened, not knowing what to do with or for the sufferer or how to handle the situation themselves. This book takes a look at psychosis and how it has been handled over the last century or so. Beginning with a definition of psychosis and moving to a consideration of how people who suffer from it were once institutionalized and are now expected to be cared for at home, the author traces the challenges families and communities face, considers the plight of sufferers and what they experience, and offers case examples throughout to illustrate the onset of psychosis, the infringement it makes on personal and professional life, and the toll it takes on sufferers and caregivers alike. Capps covers the magnitude of the problem, the treatment of sufferers, the warning signs, facts and realities of recovery, treatments, prevention, and coping strategies for family members and caregivers. Readers will come away from this work with a better understanding of psychosis in the context in which it occurs, and what to do for themselves and their loved one as they navigate daily life, the mental health system, and family dynamics.

Issues, Treatments, and Challenges for Sufferers and Their Families

Understanding Psychosis

Erik Erikson, best known for his life-cycle theory and concept of the identity crisis, proposed that we are comprised of a number of selves. In several earlier books, including At Home in the World, Donald Capps has suggested that the emotional separation of young children--especially boys--from their mothers results in the development of a melancholy self. In this book, Capps employs Erikson's assignment of an inherent strength to each stage of the life cycle and proposes that the life-enhancing strengths of the childhood years (hope, will, purpose, and competence) are central to the development of a resourceful self, and that this self counters the life-diminishing qualities of the melancholy self. Focusing on Erikson's own writings, Capps identifies the four primordial resources that Erikson associates with childhood--humor, play, dreams, and hope--and shows how these resources assist children in confronting life's difficulties and challenges. Capps further suggests that the resourceful self that develops in childhood is central to Jesus' own vision of what we as adults may become if we follow the lead of little children.

And a Little Child Shall Lead Them

The Resourceful Self

The later-adult years are commonly viewed as a period in which one struggles to maintain a vestige of the physical, mental, and emotional vitality of one's earlier years. In 'Still Growing', however, Donald Capps shows that older adulthood is actually a period of growth and development, and that a central feature of this growth and development is the remarkable creativity of older adults. This creativity is the consequence of the wisdom gained through years of experience but is also due to a newly developed capacity to adapt to unprecedented challenges integral to the aging process.In Part 1, Capps illustrates the challenges of transitioning to older adulthood from the author's own experiences, while in Part 2 he draws on material from Erik H. Erikson, Sigmund Freud, and Paul W. Pruyser to account for longevity, adaptability, and creativity in older adults. Finally, in part 3 he focusses on the work of both William James and Walt Disney to fashion a model of creative aging.

The Creative Self in Older Adulthood

Still Growing

Robert J. Wicks

Richard D. Parsons

Building on the groundbreaking original work with the same title, these articles focus on current issues, such as certain life stages, special populations, the devalued and abused, the addicted and special issues of the 1990's.

Clinical Handbook of Pastoral Counseling

Janet Liebman Jacobs

A Companion to William James's The Varieties of Religious Experience

The Struggle for Life

Nathan Carlin

Limbo has traditionally been viewed as a place between heaven, on the one hand, and purgatory and hell, on the other, to which the patriarchs, who lived under the old law, and babies who died before being baptized into the Christian faith have been consigned. Like purgatory, it is a dark place but not deprived of grace. Now that the Roman Catholic Church has declared that limbo is not an official church teaching, the idea of limbo has been freed from ecclesiastical constraints and available for reflection on the human condition on this side of the grave. Living in Limbo by Donald Capps and Nathan Carlin focuses on the acute limbo situations that are an integral part of human life, including the vicissitudes of growing up, of forming committed relationships, of finding employment and staying employed, of undergoing life-threatening illnesses, and of experiencing dislocation and doubt. Using cases and examples of real-life persons, the book identifies the forms of distress likely to occur throughout the duration of the limbo experience, and it also identifies the internal and external resources that individuals draw upon as they cope with the stresses and uncertainties of living in limbo. Drawing on the traditional view, especially reflected in Christian art, that Christ descends into limbo to comfort and liberate its occupants, Living in Limbo comes down on the side of hope versus despair. In reading about other limbo dwellers, readers will meet themselves-or someone they love and care about-and will be encouraged by the very fact that they are not alone. Although it is not a pleasant place to be, limbo is not a place of solitary confinement, and one derives strength and resilience from the presence of the others.

Life in the Midst of Uncertainty

Living in Limbo

The emotional separation of boys from their mothers in early childhood enables them to connect with their fathers and their fathers' world. But this separation also produces a melancholic reaction of sadness and sense of loss. Certain religious sensibilities develop out of this melancholic reaction, including a sense of honor, a sense of hope, and a sense of humor. Realizing that they cannot return to their original maternal environment, men, whether knowingly or not, embark on a lifelong search for a sense of being at home in the world. At Home in the World focuses on works of art as a means to explore the formation and continuing expression of men's melancholy selves and their religious sensibilities. These explorations include such topics as male viewers' mixed feelings toward the maternal figure, physical settings that offer alternatives to the maternal environment, and the maternal resonances of the world of nature. By presenting images of the natural world as the locus of peace and contentment, At Home in the World especially reflects of the religious sensibility of hope.

A Study in Psychoanalysis, Religion, and Art

At Home in the World

Whatever religion may have meant to the boy when he was younger, in the teenage years it takes the form of a personal journey or quest. This journey is related to other aspects of his life and is integral to how he experiences himself and others. The title of this volume--Striking Out--has the connotation of the beginning of a journey that will take the boy in new directions, but it also suggests the baseball metaphor of a batter being called out on strikes. The first sense is positive; the second is negative. Together, they express the anticipatory and hopeful nature of the venture, but also the possibility that the undertaking may evoke feelings of fear, frustration, and failure. By focusing on real-life examples of teenage boys (both historical and contemporary), the book presents five typical manifestations of a boy's vulnerabilities as he sets forth on the journey: the stumbler, the struggler, the straggler, the straddler, and the stranger. It explores the ways in which these vulnerabilities may contribute in positive ways to his personal growth and his religious maturity. Throughout this book Gordon W. Allport's classic text The Individual and His Religion draws attention to the claim that a boy's religious sentiment may play a decisive role in the integration of his personality despite its inevitable disparities and uncertainties, and the real-life examples are presented as evidence that this religious sentiment provides direction and clarity of vision as the boy looks toward the future.

The Religious Journey of Teenage Boys

Striking Out

This book addresses the fact that Americans tend to live under a considerable amount of stress, tension, and anxiety, and suggests that humor can be helpful in alleviating their distress. It posits that humor is a useful placebo in this regard; cites studies that show that humor moderates life stress; considers the relationship of religion and humor, especially as means to alleviate anxiety; proposes that Jesus had a sense of humor; suggests that his parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard has humorous implications for the relief of occupational stress; explores the relationship of gossip and humor; and suggests that Jesus and his disciples were a joking community. It concludes that Jesus viewed the kingdom of God as a worry-free existence.

An Appeal for the Gospel of Relaxation

Humor Us

In Living Stories Donald Capps makes a forceful case for the importance of pastoral counseling in the life of a congregation. Arguing convincingly for a "paradigmatic revolution," Capps offers a radically new model that gives systematic and constructive attention to the way people actually "story" their lives - inspirationally, paradoxically, or miraculously. Through such engagement, pastors can help people discover their own stories, discern the shape and direction of those stories, and move constructively to find new understandings or more hopeful possibilities in their life situations.

Pastoral Counseling in Congregational Context

Living Stories

Using biblical narratives, the Beatitudes and Erick H. Erikson's life cycle theory, Donald Capps reveals ways to combat the deadly sins by nurturing saving virtues. With his work rooted deeply in the Bible, Capps attempts to show comparisons that link each traditional deadly sin with a particular stage of personality development, using biblical figures to provide dynamic examples of virtue and sin. Providing broad implications for practicing ministry, Capps book will intrigue all who wish to explore virtue and sin from a pastoral, biblical and psychological perspective.

Deadly Sins and Saving Virtues

In Erik Erikson’s Verbal Portraits: Luther, Gandhi, Einstein, Jesus, Donald Capps contends that Erikson’s portraits of respective historical figures make a highly creative contribution to psychoanalytic discourse.

Luther, Gandhi, Einstein, Jesus

Erik Erikson’s Verbal Portraits

Gene Fowler

The case study method is popular and effective in the pastoral care of individuals. This book outlines a method for using the case study approach on a congregational level, offering guidelines for analyzing and refining such aspects of ministry as worship, preaching, and Christian education.

Learning about Care in Congregations

The Pastoral Care Case

Richard K. Fenn

This book introduces the notion of the soul and explores some of the indications, causes, and consequences for its being missing, especially in discussions of individuality.

Essays in the Social Psychology of Religion

On Losing the Soul

Theological ideas and biblical injunctions have frequently been employed to legitimate the physical abuse of children. Some theological ideas are inherently abusive because they create fear in a child's mind, causing a child to feel alone, odd, and of little worth. Donald Capps exposes the abuses that theology and the Bible have inflicted on vast numbers of children. In particular, he is concerned with the "hidden" abuses of children by well-intentioned adults and the role that religion plays in the legitimation of these abuses.

The Religious Abuse of Children

The Child's Song

Donald Capps draws upon the poetry of William Stafford and Denise Levertov to show how poetry can benefit the field of pastoral care. He argues that poetry focuses on the immediate experience and attends to life itself, whereas theology and ethics focus more on abstract discourse, seeking to achieve a more panoramic view of life.

Toward the Renewal of Pastoral Care

The Poet's Gift

Argues that humor has a place in religion, that religion should sometimes poke fun and take itself lightly, and is diminished when it fails to understand and embrace humor.

Donald Capps

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