William L. Johnson

In its third edition, The Minister’s Guide to Psychological Disorders and Treatments is the definitive guide to everything a minister might need to know about the most common psychological disorders and current evidence-based mental health treatments. Written in straightforward and accessible language, this is the minister’s one-stop guide to understanding common mental health problems, helping parishioners who struggle with them, and thinking strategically about whether to refer —and if so, to whom. This updated edition is fully aligned with the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR) and the most current evidence-based psychological treatments. This third edition infuses significant attention to culture and diversity, with diverse case examples and fresh content on cultural humility, diagnostic interviewing, assessment, sociocultural contributors to mental health disorders, such as religious community, race, and gender. The third edition also includes coverage of more treatment strategies such as mindfulness, medical cannabis, and light therapy for seasonal depression, as well as revised sections and updated references on major psychological disorders and childhood and relationship problems, including gender dysphoria, binge eating disorder, and intellectual disabilities. Written with deep empathy for the demands of contemporary pastoring, this guide is destined to become an indispensable reference work for busy clergy in all ministry roles and settings.

In its third edition, The Minister’s Guide to Psychological Disorders and Treatments is the definitive guide to everything a minister might need to know about the most common psychological disorders and current evidence-based mental health treatments. Written in straightforward and accessible language, this is the minister’s one-stop guide to understanding common mental health problems, helping parishioners who struggle with them, and thinking strategically about whether to refer —and if so, to whom. This updated edition is fully aligned with the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR) and the most current evidence-based psychological treatments. This third edition infuses significant attention to culture and diversity, with diverse case examples and fresh content on cultural humility, diagnostic interviewing, assessment, sociocultural contributors to mental health disorders, such as religious community, race, and gender. The third edition also includes coverage of more treatment strategies such as mindfulness, medical cannabis, and light therapy for seasonal depression, as well as revised sections and updated references on major psychological disorders and childhood and relationship problems, including gender dysphoria, binge eating disorder, and intellectual disabilities. Written with deep empathy for the demands of contemporary pastoring, this guide is destined to become an indispensable reference work for busy clergy in all ministry roles and settings.

The Physics of the Psyche is the work of late Dr. William L. Johnson that introduces the reader to the Triadic Drive Theory (TDT), which explains how the forces of the universe create our mentality. It begins from a different reality - about the nature of human beings - than has been commonly held by psychology and psychoanalysis. TDT's initial proposition is that the constant forces of physics throughout the universe, and in the operations of subatomic particles in the atoms of our brain cells, produce the energy of our two most basic life-determining psychic drives, construdo and destrudo. Construdo is the drive that helps us to combine and connect thoughts, ideas, emotions, concepts, attitudes, and beliefs, as well as to connect with other cultures, societies, families, and people. The second drive, destrudo, determines why, when, and how such unions are broken apart, damaged, or overthrown. It is proposed that these two drives and their derivatives determine more human behaviors than Freud's libido drive and its derivatives. Triadic Drive Theory asserts that the forces of physics that govern and hold the universe together constitute the true universal reality for humans, as well as for all other species. Thus Dr. Johnson proposes an axiom: the universe and the humans are governed by the same principles of physics. So, the focus of this theoretical and psychoanalytic endeavor is about how these forces of physics produce our cognitive or mental drives. In this book, Dr. Johnson offers application of TDT to clinical practice, including Freud's "dream work," psychopathology diagnosis, object relations, and work with couples, while adding the physical dimensions of time and space.