Evening star., 1946-06-11
Bv julio Edwords

Once OF the opinion that pSychla-
try invaded its territory, the clergy
now is learning from psychiatry how
to do its own Job better. =
The result: Ministers will preach
less fire and birthstone, give more
effort to helping individuals do what
they already know they should do,
believes the Rev. Ernest E. Bruder,
Protestant chaplain at st. Eliza
beth's Hospital.
At st. Elizabeth's, six theological
students arc just beginning IL
week clinical training program.
They are learning what causes men
tai illness 50 they can help prevent
it among their own parishioners
They are finding out how to spot the
first symptoms 80 they can advise
treatment for persons who might
not come to the attention of a psy-
chiatrist before 1t is too late.
What problems do people have?
And why? How can the church use
its resources to help them7
Learn Also at Lorton.
Theological students are learning
the answers at Gallinger Hospital
and at Lorton Reformatory as well
as at st. Elizabeth's. Under the
auspices of the Washington Fedora
ton Of Churches and the Council
for Clinical Training, Inc, the pro-
gram covers mental, physical and
social illness.
The Rev. DR.. Anton T. Boisen,
who will give four seminars at st.
Elizabeth's, founded the council
after he had been a patient in a
mental hospital.
Il had become convinced that the
theological student might well spend
less time with his books and more
with the human documents found in
a mental hospital ''', that clinical
experience should be just as impor-
tant to the man who is to be charged
with the cure Of souls as it is to the
man who is to care for the bodies
of men,"
When he started the first clinical
training program In 1925, DR.. Boisen
also was interested in the "signifi-
canoe Of the experiences of the men
tally Ill for the student of religion. /"
Conflicts Damaging.
This is the second year the pro-
gram has been offered at st. Eliza
beths. There the students discover
that a sense Of guilt and fear of
hellfire alone do not enable a man
to do what he believes to be right
The conflict between what they
think they should do and what they
think they do puts many in mental
hospitals.
You hear more talk of sin at a
mental hospital than anywhere
else" said Mr.. Bruder. "One man
with an exaggerated sense of guilt
told me that he was in hell. And
he was right. BY and large, a man
doesn't need to be told what is
right. He needs to be helped to
do it."
At mental hospital you can find
out lot about mems attitudes to-
ward religion, Chaplain Bruder said
A junior Navy oficer hospitalized
at st. Elizabeth's claimed to be an
atheist, but often repeated: God
has forsaken me, I'll never get well. y
The Rev. Mr.. Bruder learned that
the mans father had deserted his
mother just before he was born
that the mother had deserted him
and that his grandmother had
placed him in an orphanage.
Cites Doctors Case.
Deserted by every one, the warrant
omcer believed God also had de-
serted him. He decided he was an
atheist when a kindly old man. who
was an atheist, befriended him. The
conflict between his emotional belief
that God had rejected him and his
own intellectual rejection of God
was not resolved. = It had gone toe
long and he had suffered too much
Chaplain Bruder believes the
church can do much to prevent
mental illness. He cited the brilliant
young doctor, highest in his medical
class, who cracked up on his first
case.