Frank Lake is the founder of the Clinical Theology movement, which has trained over 12,000 men and women in the study and practice of pastoral counselling. Designed for clergy, counsellors and psychiatrists, Tight Corners in Pastoral Counselling not only applies the techniques of Clinical Theology to certain specific problems encountered by counsellor and counsellee, but also, more importantly, presents some revolutionary insights into the underlying causes of mental and spiritual disorders.
Chief among these is the emphasis placed on the importance of experiences both during birth and in the nine months preceding it. 'Primal pain', as Dr Lake calls it, can be a crucial factor in counselling and, it is suggested, can lead to valuable insights into the roots of 'affliction' or personality disorder, most baffling and intractable of all the forms of mental pain the counsellor meets. The first three months in the womb are seen as being of particular importance to pastoral understanding, since it now appears that the common diagnostic entities of psychiatric practice, hysterical, depressive, phobia, obsessional, schizoid and paranoid conditions, may originate at this stage, Clearly, the implications for handling common counselling problems, such as violence, anger and homosexuality, can be far-reaching.
Dr Lake's approach is eclectic, combining theological, psychiatric and cultural insights. He sees the Christian counsellor as responding to a universe of revealed moral order, exemplified in the manner of Christ's life and death; however, the counsellor must also respond to the mixed order and chaos in himself and in the client. The ambiguity of the task, of staying with what are often contradictory responsibilities, is illuminated by experience, and it is this that Dr Lake shares, from years of working and writing in this field.