Abstract

Guilt and shame can be traumatic, self-conscious experiences which have an impact on sexually abused adolescents’ physical, psychological, social, emotional, moral and religious development. It can determine the adolescents’ behaviour, their views of themselves and their interpersonal relationships. Guilt and shame arouse feelings of helplessness, anger, blame, bitterness and the need for retaliation, while forgiveness can relieve these impulses effectively and be utilised as a source for a recovering experience. Through the use of forgiveness as a coping mechanism, abused adolescents can be guided to handle unresolved emotional experiences (unfinished business) and break free from guilt and shame. A pastoral Gestalt theory can assist abused adolescents with the necessary awareness to focus on their foreground in order to reach self-regulation of their emotional experience.

Highlights

  • Abuse can affect adolescents’ psychological and psychosocial health and development in a comprehensive manner

  • A pastoral Gestalt theory can assist abused adolescents with the necessary awareness to focus on their foreground in order to reach self-regulation of their emotional experience

  • The aim of this article is to provide a pastoral Gestalt theory to help sexually abused adolescents become more aware of their emotional experiences and utilise forgiveness to break free from guilt and shame

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Summary

Introduction

Abuse can affect adolescents’ psychological and psychosocial health and development in a comprehensive manner. A pastoral Gestalt theory psychophysical unity, which is more than the sum of their psychological and psychosocial qualities. An integrated interaction takes place between the psychophysical and the psychological features, which means that abused adolescents experience and respond to their world as a total person. Pastoral counselling can utilise the psychological insights of Gestalt theory and apply its findings from a Christian vantage point. Pastoral counselling and Gestalt theory share an understanding that distinguishes their differences, distinctive content and unique character, and recognises the common ground upon which interaction and collaboration could take place in answering questions of vital human well-being. The development of a pastoral Gestalt theory does not imply the analytical fragmentation of the existential experience of abused adolescents, but develops a holistic approach that constructs a Christian world view within the context of human experience and knowledge. In the hermeneutic interaction between pastoral counselling and Gestalt theory, pastoral counselling will carry a normative character and the Gestalt theory a descriptive character, with a strong focus on the anthropological unity between the body, soul and mind of abused adolescents

Guilt and shame as a multidimensional phenomenon
Definition of guilt and shame
A sense of guilt connected with shame
A pastoral theological approach to guilt and shame
Gestalt theory approach to guilt and shame
Guilt and shame as a complex and holistic experience of the self
The process of making contact
Forgiveness utilised as a multidimensional phenomenon
Faulty notions of forgiveness
Pastoral theological approach to forgiveness
Constructive understanding of the essence of Christian forgiveness
Concluding remarks
Full Text
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