Why Won’t We Let God in Therapy?

I had a very interesting comment the other day from someone who has their own blog. He was commenting on being on medication and also being in Christian Counseling, and that his counselor wanted him to try to get off his medication.

That got me thinking again about a topic that is of great interest to me; the divide between spiritually based therapy and what I’ll call secular psychotherapy for lack of a better word.

Spiritual Counseling Issues

I have had a lot of clients who have in the past been in some type of clergy-provided counseling. I have worked with people who had great experiences, and I had a couple colleagues in New Mexico who provided very balanced and professional care. I have noted some tendency for spiritual counselors to be focused almost exclusively on Biblical and prayer interventions, and at times even hostile toward the idea of medication or other treatments. I have gotten the sense (and even been told a time or two), that emotional problems are within the realm of God and not man, and that the only legitimate cure is through God. I’d think God would recommend a rationale use of all resources available, including medication in those cases where it’s really indicated. I wouldn’t want to inadvertently communicate that I believe that medication is the only, the best, usually necessary, etc., because that’s not the case.

“Secular” Therapy Issues

I don’t like this term all that much, because I don’t really believe there’s a place for psychotherapy that is truly “secular.” Even people who report themselves as atheists are best served by attention to the history and nature of their spiritual lives. So while I wanted to discuss the issue of Christian Counseling, the real heart of this post revolves around this question:

• Why don’t we want to let God into the therapy room?

There are probably a lot of different answers to that, but I think they include:

1. Therapists are uncomfortable with their own spirituality and prefer to keep it as something “private”
2. Psychology is considered a science, and therefore the science versus religion dichotomy applies
3. Therapists lack the breadth of training to be comfortable with a variety of different spiritual belief systems
4. Therapists are afraid of being perceived as either prying and/or judgmental (reference the old American warning to not “discuss religion or politics”)
5. There is an increasing emphasis on diagnosis and neat classification schemes, and spirituality does not lend it self to that language.

A Different Approach

I have become very comfortable discussing spirituality with my clients. We’re already often talking about sex, money and other personal topics. Why avoid one that is for many people an important source of support (as well as for many people, a source of conflict)? Rather than being resistant, most people are excited to have the chance to talk about their faith.

I have a lot of curiosity about matters of the spirit, so I’ve learned a lot. My own background is Protestant, while my current spiritual life involves more Eastern thought, including matters of Zen and the Dharma, but I’ve been privileged to learn a lot about Catholicism, Wicca, Judaism, Islam, and a variety of other systems of thought.

Are These Extremes Even Different

As opposed as these approaches may seem, they are exactly alike in a few important (and dysfunctional) ways:

• They lack an awareness and appreciation of the whole person;
• They lack an integration of the multiple levels of our existence;
• These defects stem from a great allegiance to their mode of thought that to the needs of the person they purport to serve.

Two Questions for You

Does this integrated approach make sense to you?

Would you be comfortable talking to a therapist about your spiritual life?

Do you think taking medication and praying for help with an emotional problem are inconsistent with each other?

Well, that’s three questions at the end of an already long post, so I’ll bid you a good evening.

Barry