It must be emphasized that I am not saying every person deemed to have mental illness is attributed to demons. However, in my experience with praying for deliverance for people, I have come across cases where people were vexed by demons that targeted and attacked the mind, some who unwittingly opened the doors to them by the use of drugs, various New Age/Occult practices, or something else. They likely would have been diagnosed with mental illness. Some were on the verge of completely losing their mind or having a mental breakdown because of the demons. The demons inside the person confessed by duress, when prayed against by the name and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, that their name or function was to cause mental illness. Some people were so heavily attacked they feared they would end up in a psychiatry hospital. In fact, some whom I have prayed for were once hospitalized because of mental health issues, but when prayed for found relief as demons were expelled.
According to Jim Haggerty, people have been telling their problems to someone for centuries. It didn't always look the way it does now. Treatment for emotional problems can be traced to antiquity. The ancient Greeks were the first to put a label on "mental illness" as a medical condition rather than a sign of an evil spirits. They originally thought that hysteria only affected women due to a wondering uterus. Their treatment for mental illness was quite peculiar. Bathing was used for depression and blood-letting for psychosis. They did not recognize the treatment value of encouraging support and consoling words.
During the Middle Ages, after the fall of the Roman Empire, people attributed mental illness to supernatural causes. They used torture to gain confessions of demonic possessions. During the sixteeth century, the time of Paracelsus, a form of psychotherapy emerged as a treatment of the insane.
Walter Cooper Dendy introduced the term"psycho-therapeia" in 1853. Around the turn of the century, Sigmund Freud developed psychoanalysis and made profound contributions in with his studies of infantile sexuality, use of dreams, description of the unconscious, and his model of the human mind.
Freud believed that mental illness was caused by keeping memories or thoughts in the unconscious. He believed treatment succeeded by listening to the patient while providing interpretations to help bring memories to the forefront. Freud believed this would result in a decrease in symptoms.
Around 1950, American psychology began to include more active therapies such as behavioral psychology to treat emotional and behavioral problems. Combining the therapy with an emphasis on thoughts and feelingsmade cognitive behavioral therapy a major type of treatment for many psychiatric conditions.
In the 1940s, Carl Rogers was founded unconditional positive regard, meaning the transmission of warmth, genuineness, and acceptance from the therapist to the individual. In the 1960s, over sixty types of psychotherapy surfaced, ranging from psychodrama to guided imagery.
Now, with the issues of price and time, psychotherapy treatment is incorporating more brief forms of treatment. This trend is further driven by the arrival of manged care insurance plans and limits to coverage. Today, there are many therapeutic modalities that offer some sort of brief therapy designed to help people deal with specific problems.
According to Jim Haggerty, people have been telling their problems to someone for centuries. It didn't always look the way it does now. Treatment for emotional problems can be traced to antiquity. The ancient Greeks were the first to put a label on "mental illness" as a medical condition rather than a sign of an evil spirits. They originally thought that hysteria only affected women due to a wondering uterus. Their treatment for mental illness was quite peculiar. Bathing was used for depression and blood-letting for psychosis. They did not recognize the treatment value of encouraging support and consoling words.
During the Middle Ages, after the fall of the Roman Empire, people attributed mental illness to supernatural causes. They used torture to gain confessions of demonic possessions. During the sixteeth century, the time of Paracelsus, a form of psychotherapy emerged as a treatment of the insane.
Walter Cooper Dendy introduced the term"psycho-therapeia" in 1853. Around the turn of the century, Sigmund Freud developed psychoanalysis and made profound contributions in with his studies of infantile sexuality, use of dreams, description of the unconscious, and his model of the human mind.
Freud believed that mental illness was caused by keeping memories or thoughts in the unconscious. He believed treatment succeeded by listening to the patient while providing interpretations to help bring memories to the forefront. Freud believed this would result in a decrease in symptoms.
Around 1950, American psychology began to include more active therapies such as behavioral psychology to treat emotional and behavioral problems. Combining the therapy with an emphasis on thoughts and feelingsmade cognitive behavioral therapy a major type of treatment for many psychiatric conditions.
In the 1940s, Carl Rogers was founded unconditional positive regard, meaning the transmission of warmth, genuineness, and acceptance from the therapist to the individual. In the 1960s, over sixty types of psychotherapy surfaced, ranging from psychodrama to guided imagery.
Warning. This might change your whole idea of who the “Father of Psychology” really was.
Say the name Freud and almost everyone will know who he is and the fundamental part he played in the creation of psychotherapy. That is, they will know the official image projected of him.
But few of us really know what kind of man he was, how he lived his life and what kind of thoughts and concepts he harbored.
For most people, when in need of help, they turn to what they believe to be the dubbed professionals in matters of health. They trust their minds and inner world to the professional and hope to come out of the session clearer and saner than before entering. But doesn’t it matter what foundational theories the psychologist base their work on and what effects those theories might have on the treatment of those in need?
To become a psychologist or therapist one is obliged to enroll in university studies and graduate with a degree. During these studies the student is made to study and memorize the theories of the founding father, Sigmund Freud. His theories are neatly compiled in edited and reviewed textbooks. What these textbooks intentionally exclude though, are the dark and destructive aspects of his practices and theories.
But does it really serve society to cover up the nasty bits and only present the presentable parts? How are we to make informed decisions when the full truth is not available to us?
1. Avid drug user
An enthusiastic user and promoter of cocaine, he used the substance frequently until his death in 1939. In fact, he was so fond of the drug he actively distributed it among his friends and associates which in some cases resulted in drug addiction, as with with close friend Ernst von Fleischl-Marxow.
2. Defender of child molestation
As Freud embarked on the journey of psychoanalysis he came across numerous cases of so called hysterical individuals that showed alarming symptoms and behaviors in adult age. Unsurprisingly most of his patients in the mid-1890s reported early childhood sexual abuse. Initially he proposed that most mental illnesses were related to early sexual abuse (known as the seduction theory) but a couple of years later he took a 180 degree turn and instead concluded that his patients memories of sexual abuse were mere fantasies and completely made up. The new theory instead was named infantile sexuality.
He actually, seriously presented a theory where the cause was not adults preying on children but that the child itself is lusting over his/her parents and seeking bodily/sexual pleasure thereof.
As the Internet Encyclopedia of Psychology describes it: “From his account of the instincts or drives it followed that from the moment of birth the infant is driven in his actions by the desire for bodily/sexual pleasure, where this is seen by Freud in almost mechanical terms as the desire to release mental energy. Initially, infants gain such release, and derive such pleasure, from the act of sucking. Freud accordingly terms this the “oral” stage of development. This is followed by a stage in which the locus of pleasure or energy release is the anus, particularly in the act of defecation, and this is accordingly termed the ‘anal’ stage. Then the young child develops an interest in its sexual organs as a site of site of pleasure (the “phallic” stage), and develops a deep sexual attraction for the parent of the opposite sex, and a hatred of the parent of the same sex (the “Oedipus complex”).
So the kids are fantasizing sexually over their parents and that’s why they have distresses in adult age… oh, thats why...
Talk about total gaslighting.
3. Serious women issues
His relationship to women was disturbed, to say the least and he never really developed any kind of healthy relationships with a significant other. He considered women to be weak, vain, jealous and lacking a good sense of justice. He believed that women’s problems in essence stemmed from them not having a penis. He even went as far as claiming that women are the problem in society. Nice.
In fact, a lot points towards him having more than just “friendly” relationships with his male friends and judging by letter correspondence uncovered with for example Wilhelm Fliess it appears the relationship was passionate, intimate and most probably of homosexual nature. In a letter written as a response to an acquaintance that shared that he had dreamed of Freud naked he responded, “You probably imagine that I have secrets quite other than those I have reserved for myself, or you believe that (my secret) is connected with a special sorrow, whereas I feel capable of handling everything and am pleased with the resultant greater independence that comes from having overcome my homosexuality,’’.
4. Generational abuse in the family
It’s a little known fact that Freud’s father molested his own children and that they all showed distinct symptom of distress and trauma. Something that troubled Freud deeply and probably another reason as to why he dropped the seduction theory and proposed the infantile sexuality theory. A convenient way of explaining away abuse.
As he writes in one of his letters during a time when he was engaging in self psychoanalysis. ‘’Unfortunately, my own father was one of these perverts and is responsible for the hysteria of my brother (all of whose symptoms are identifications) and those of several younger sisters.’’
Today its commonly understood that victims of sexual abuse, when not having addressed and resolved the trauma, tend to in higher frequencies pass on the violence to the next generation.
Freuds first and favorite daughter Anna showed signs of distress and mental illness which later gave her the description of a “jealous, depressed, masochistic, anorectic, latent-homosexual teenager”. In early adolescence she developed a severe psychopathology, consisting of sado-masochistic fantasies accompanied by compulsive masturbation, an eating disorder, and depression. Symptoms of child abuse anyone?
5. Relentless addict
Smoking up to 20 cigarettes a day he eventually developed mouth cancer 1923. For the next 16 years he went through a whooping 33 surgeries and had a large prosthesis inserted to separate his sinus and jaw. Despite all of this, he never stopped smoking and consequently that nasty habit led to his death.
6. In safe hands?
In the book ‘’The Assault on the Truth, Freud’s Suppression of the Seduction Theory,’’ by author Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson he courageously presents chocking new material from letters and documents issued by Freud and his circle. Mr Masson should know, he was formerly the project director for the Sigmund Freud Archives and was to become its next director, but was dismissed in 1981 in a dispute over interpretation of other controversial Freud material. As the brave man he is he choose to not keep quiet about the information he came across and at the expense of his own career he instead spoke the truth on the matter.
Several disturbing facts have been unraveled under his research such as:
1.A patient treated by him in 1900 and then dismissed as a case of paranoia ended up hanging herself in a hotel room.
2.Freud was overly preoccupied and lustful over money. In one letter he wrote that money is ‘’laughing gas for me.’’
3.On numerous occasions he attempted to manipulate his clients into donating money to him, in effect abusing the trust given. In an article published in New York Times its revealed “In one little-known case that barely missed becoming a major scandal, researchers say, Freud induced two patients to divorce their spouses and marry each other. In addition, he hinted that the man should make a generous donation to his psychoanalytic fund.”
How professional.
What is the benefit to know demons can be behind mental illness? If it is fundamentally a spiritual issue then no doctor or medication can cure such a person with mental illness. The demons need to be cast out! And that can only be done by the name and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are many people plagued with mental illness but never cured because the world of science, at least in large part, doesn’t believe in the spiritual realm. Meanwhile, satan’s kingdom laughs as the enemy operates undetected.
Is there any scriptural support that demons can cause mental illness? Absolutely! In Mark ch. 5, Jesus encountered a demoniac who “always, night and day… was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones (verse 5).” Jesus expelled the demons out of him, and the people saw “…him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid (verse 15).” Note: after the deliverance his mind was restored which means the demons were behind him not having a right mind. The demons were behind his insanity. Today, the secular world would have deemed him as having mental illness or just plain crazy.
I will provide more evidence to support the idea demons can be behind mental illness from the book The Coming Darkness (emphasis in bold mine):
Mediums and other channelers, for example, are often known to have psychological disturbances; so are psychics, witches, and Satanists. For example, Dr. Jeffrey Russell of the University of California at Santa Barbara observes, “Satanism… has had a great effect on people of unsound mind. Some people have been psychologically damaged by it. There’s no doubt about that.” Occultists and their victims frequently end up in mental institutions when the experiences they have encountered push them over the edge. Dr. Koch refers to a New Zealand psychiatrist who “claims that 50% of the neurotics being treated in the clinics in Hamilton are the fruit of Maori sorcery.” He also says he knows of Christian psychiatrists who believe that sometimes over half of the inmates at their psychiatric clinics are sufferings from occult oppression rather than mental illness, but that this occurs only in areas where occultism is extensively practices.
In “Mental Health Needs and the Psychic Community,” the late psychic researcher D. Scott Rogo warned, “The types of negative reactions people initially have to their psychic experiences may lead to permanent psychological damage if not immediately treated.” Rogo further observes that three of the most typical negative reactions to having a psychic encounter are 1) alienation from social relationships, 2) fear of impending insanity, and 3) a morbid preoccupation with psychic experiences.
A four-day symposium of the American Academy of Religion, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the American School of Oriental Research also noted the dangers of the occult in relation to mental health. In a paper delivered before the symposium, Roger L. Moore, a psychologist of religion at Chicago Theological Seminary, observed that there are “haunting parallels” between the paranoid schizophrenic and the deeply involved occultist. He warned that “participation in the occult is dangerous for persons who are the most interested in it because they are the least able to turn it on and off…. And a lot of them have become paranoid psychotics.”
Alice McDowell Pempel of Cornell University delivered another paper on the consequences of drug-induced altered state of consciousness (ASC), and noted the “possibility for madness is ever present” if those who meet up with monsters and demons in these states view them as real. Of course, psychic and occult practices characteristically induce altered state of consciousness and this in itself poses risks. Psychiatrist Arnold M. Ludwig points out, “As a person enters or is in an ASC, he often experiences fear of losing his grip on reality and losing his self-control.”
Psychotherapist Elsa First warns that cultivating ASCs may result in a “permanent alienation from ordinary human attachments.” Medium Wanda Sue Parrott also notes the ease with which psychics may lose a grip on reality:
“What is the greatest threat to human well-being in the world of psychic phenomena? I would say from experience, fear. Fear of losing one’s sanity and self-control are nearly as common as fear of losing one’s soul.”
The fear of insanity seems to be a genuine concern, for as former witch Irvine alleges, “Be warned: those who walk down the dark road of witchcraft lose their reason, often going completely insane…. Minds are twisted and warped.”
Psychic Harmon H. Bro refers to the occultly influenced mental conditions of some people–conditions which overcome their sanity as they seek to become more and more psychic: “I shall not soon forget the power-driven widow who frantically burned incense in her bedroom to rid it of ‘evil entities’ and aimlessly constructed ‘aura-charts’ of angels as she withdrew from her friends and family into a hate-supported schizophrenic world.“
Psychical researcher Robert H. Ashby, author of A Guidebook to the Study of Psychical Research, relates one case of a Ouija-board-induced breakdown. The spirit (“Joe”) started out typically with a surprising knowledge of personal details of the participants’ lives. He was very witty and entertaining besides. But once the person was in emotional dependence on advice from the board, the message changed:
“(The) next stage was frankly sexual propositions that soon had the girls disturbed; but when they asked that the (the spirit) stop this, the messages became threatening, the warnings including something ‘Joe’ termed ‘psychic rape’ if they did not comply with his wishes. At this point, Wendy was so frightened that she stopped sitting at the board. Linda, however, was so ‘hooked’ that she felt it more dangerous to stop than to continue, for Joe ordered her fiercely to keep on with the ritual. Eventually, the climax arrived when Joe told Linda that she must drop out with him, for they were, he assures her, ‘soulmates’ from former lives. The punishment if she did not do his bidding was serious physical disfigurement or even death at his hands….
Linda became a recluse, unwilling to seek psychiatric help (Joe had warned her against that), afraid to continue school, and sinking steadily into a desperate mental state…. Linda refused to see me because Joe had whispered to her that he would kill her if she did.
The pattern outlined above… is all too common in Ouija board experiences.”
Raymond Van Over, a former editor of the International Journal of Parapsychology, refers to one girl, who, through her occult involvement felt:
“She was being attacked telepathically by a vampire who was after her blood. His voice kept cursing her and telling her disgusting things to do. One didn’t need to be a psychiatrist to see that she was deeply disturbed and on the verge of a breakdown… She suffered a complete mental collapse.”
Anita Muhl, M.D., is an authority on automatic writing. She refers to one actress who became interested in spiritism by this method, and was finally admitted to a mental hospital. In the hospital she felt she had been taken over by the spirit of her dead father:
“That same evening the patient suddenly threw herself to the floor and went through numerous gross symbolic movements…. She spoke of being thrown to the floor by occult powers.”
The actress subsequently went through several releases and readmittances to the hospital and, after a year, was discharged with a diagnosis of “Paranoid Condition– Much Improved.” For the next year, she continued to develop mediumistic powers and believed she was healed of numerous physical ailments by her spirit controls. But while lecturing in another city, she spontaneously fell into a trance on a crowded street. She had to be taken to a hospital first and then to a mental institution where she developed feelings of grandeur and experienced other traumas. Eventually released, “she continued to lead a miserable unadjusted life.”
Although advocating automatic writing as a possible tool for psychotheraphy(!), even Dr. Muhl confesses that when used for working off fantasies, when the material is destructive (which is often the case), the person is “apt to become more and more unstable and sometimes psychotic.”
For example, Dr. Muhl herself gives numerous case histories of the problems associated with automatic writing, pointing out that the messages “often prove dangerous” and cause a tendency to schizophrenic reactions. “The subject begins to lose interest in everyday contacts and responsibilities and often becomes delusional and hallucinated. I have seen many a fine business and professional man lose his grip through too intense interest in automatic writing.” The person becomes “less and less able to face reality” and these automatisms “frequently precipitate a psychosis.” She says that any other use of automatic writing besides for therapy (!) is “very dangerous.”
It is both ironic and unfortunate that hundreds of psychotherapists today see benefits to automatism and other forms of the occult in counseling. Use of these practices (including automatic drawing, speech, painting, musical composition; tarot card therapy, shamanism and sorcery, ASCs, pendulums, meditation, psychosynthesis, etc.) is dangerous and should be avoided.
JOHN ANKERBERG & JOHN WENDON, 177-182
Kurt Koch (1913-87), who had decades of experience counseling the occultly subjected, gave examples of those who were involved with the occult or New Age practices resulting in symptoms of mental illness, presumably due to demonization, even for a person’s descendants :
Ex 296 A missionary and his wife came to me for advice. The missionary’s brother heard voices and had compulsive ideas. The doctor’s diagnosis is schizophrenia. The family history revealed that both the grandfather and great-grandfather were magic charmers…
Ex. 297 A man came to me for counseling in Blumenau. He told me that he suffered from compulsive drives. He often heard voices saying, “murder your wife,” or “take your own life.” On being questioned, he informed me that his mother practiced spiritistic table-tapping. He also told me that all his children were abnormal. At the age of 10, 12 and 15 they still wet their beds and did other abnormal things.
Ex 298 In England, a doctor came to me counseling. He had a nervous breakdown and had been suspended from his profession. He had been given nine electric shock treatments at a psychiatric clinic. When I asked him to tell me the history of his illness, I discovered that his father had been a freemason and also a spiritist. His mother was a fortuneteller and spiritist healer. It is actually quite usual for such a marriage to produce children who are severely oppressed. This was the case with this doctor.
Ex 299 In England, an Anglican priest told me the story of his brother. Years before his brother had had trouble with his knee. The doctors who examined him thought that it was tuberculosis. Then a pendulum practitioner was called in. He said, “No, it is not tuberculosis.” How did this man make his diagnosis? On his table he had a paper with a list of the various bacilli and bacteria. He put his left hand on this paper. To the right of the table was a transistor with an electrode and a meter connected up between. He laid his right hand on this. Then he concentrated mentally on the patient, who was also present in the room. Then he moved his left hand down the list of bacilli. The transistor gave the highest reading when he came to the right disease. As a result, the Anglican priest’s brother was able to be healed. Two years later, the man who had been healed developed religious mania. Pendulum diagnosis and treatment belong within the field of occult practices.
Ex 300 A woman came to me for counseling. She complained of the disintegration of her family and her marriage. Her husband would sometimes rage and roar like a bull, and then he would become quite sensible and normal again. He had already spent some time in a mental institution. His grandfather had been an active magic charmer.
Ex 301 In Canada, a spiritist woman came to me. She told me that her grandmother had been a spiritist, and that she herself was a spiritist medium. She confessed that all four grandchildren of this spiritist grandmother were mentally abnormal. This spiritist medium came to me because she wanted to protest against my address on the subject of healing. In the address, I had declared that spiritist healings also cause oppression. She denied this and stated that she herself had been healed by a spiritist healer. She went on to say that she had the ability to make contact with good spirits. She could hear them, feel them, and sense their presence. Sometimes, it was true, bad spirits would find their way in as well, but she was able to drive these away by prayer. This confirmed my suspicions. This woman is already suffering from a mediumsitic psychosis.
OCCULT ABC, PAGES 275-276
Demons are almost always behind such aforementioned mental issues, especially when one gets involved in occult or New Age practices as it is a demonic door opener.
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” – 2 Timothy 1:7
If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you can receive Him into your heart, and He can deliver you from darkness and sin and have your name written in His Book of Life.
If you are sincere you can say this simple prayer to the Father (it doesn’t have to be word for word):
“God, I recognize that I have not lived my life for You up until now. I have been living for myself and that is wrong. Please forgive me of all of my sins just as I forgive others. I need You in my life; I want You in my life. I acknowledge the completed work of Your only begotten Son Jesus Christ in giving His life for me on the cross, I believe in my heart Jesus is Lord and was raised from the dead and I long to receive the forgiveness you have made freely available to me through this sacrifice. Come into my life now, Lord. Take up residence in my heart and be my king, my Lord, and my Savior. From this day forward, I will no longer be controlled by sin, or the desire to please myself, but I will follow You all the days of my life. Those days are in Your hands. I ask this in the Lord and GOD Jesus’ precious and holy name. Amen.”
Psychotherapy, or psychological counseling, is the practice of attempting to heal a person’s emotional and mental problems. The therapeutic practice often centers on regular conversations between a counselor and a client, known as “talk-therapy.” These sessions may include exploring troubling thoughts, fears, and personal history. They might also include exercises to help adjust troublesome thoughts or behavior. Often clients are assigned “homework” in between sessions that may consist of things like observing and noting emotions or behaviors, attempting thought and behavioral modifications, and the like. Sometimes psychotherapists work in collaboration with medical doctors as well. The general aim of psychotherapy is to increase a person’s awareness and understanding of the possible causes of unwanted feelings and behaviors so as to achieve a decrease in unhealthy emotions and behaviors.
Different psychotherapists base their practices on different psychological theories and employ different treatment modalities and techniques. Psychotherapy also covers a broad range of emotional and behavioral issues. These can include things like relationship issues, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, anger management, addiction recovery, learning disabilities, and more. Thus, it is extremely difficult to give a Christian view of psychotherapy as a whole. That being said, sometimes Christians have concerns with psychotherapy. We will explore a few of the reasons why.
Some Christians believe that psychotherapy disregards the reality of sin and instead labels issues of sin as mental disorders. They claim that psychotherapy mitigates personal responsibility by excusing problem thoughts and behaviors as illness rather than as things to overcome. It seems this claim is made only for certain mental health diagnoses and not for everything classified by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or for non-diagnosable issues. It is true that some psychotherapists disregard sin and personal responsibility. However, since the goal of psychotherapy is usually to overcome the illness, having a diagnosis is not usually seen as a “free pass” to behave in any way a person wants.
Other Christians recognize both mental disorders and sin as being real. Not all classifiable mental disorders are related to sin, other than being a general result of the fall and the reality of death and decay our world now endures. Not all sins are classifiable as mental disorders by the psychological community. These Christians view psychotherapy as one tool in helping overcome problematic issues. They would claim that having a mental health diagnosis does not mitigate personal responsibility for managing one’s emotions and behaviors; rather, it helps explain why a person might be particularly prone to a specific emotional or behavioral response. Such Christians would say that psychotherapy might help with practical tools in recognizing and overcoming the issue.
Some Christians find it impossible to detach the practice of psychotherapy from the humanistic worldview on which many psychological theories are founded. They might also see how psychotherapy is used as a quasi-religion or purported savior in the minds of some, and thus discard it altogether. Other Christians disregard the worldview foundation of specific theories and instead integrate what they see as the helpful portions of psychological practice into the biblical worldview that governs their lives. These Christians would not disregard what the Bible says about our need for salvation, the healing available in Jesus Christ, or how we are to live as a result of knowing Him. But they would also see psychotherapy as a possible tool that could be helpful to some in that healing process. They would not see things like exploring one’s past, acknowledging and expressing one’s emotions, and using behavioral modifications techniques as contradictory to the Bible. Neither would they see them as a replacement for spiritual growth.
Perhaps one of the most complicating factors in psychotherapy is that so much is dependent upon the therapist and the client. The American Counseling Association’s Code of Ethics (2014) calls upon therapists to be neutral: “Counselors are aware of—and avoid imposing—their own values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Counselors respect the diversity of clients, trainees, and research participants and seek training in areas in which they are at risk of imposing their values onto clients, especially when the counselor’s values are inconsistent with the client’s goals or are discriminatory in nature” (Section A.4.b; www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/ethics/2014-code-of-ethics.pdf?sfvrsn=2d58522c_4, accessed 10/20/2020). While this ethical code is well-intentioned, counseling by its very nature is value-laden. A therapist who does not have a biblical worldview might be able to accept a client’s biblical worldview and support it. But that therapist might also think that the client’s belief in God and His Word is part of whatever problem brought the client into therapy. This can also be a struggle for Christian therapists trying to act within the ethical bounds of their profession and who believe a biblical worldview is what will be most helpful to their clients.
Whether avoiding all psychotherapy or making use of it as a tool, we all need to be careful to study God’s Word and rely on Him to be our source of truth. Second Timothy 3:16–17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Hebrews 4:12 talks about how God’s Word can discern even our motives and intentions. Psalm 119:105 says that God’s Word is a light for our path. We are wise to examine anything we might be taught in psychotherapy through the lens of what the Bible actually says.
We also need to follow the instructions God gives us for how to live, not only in our personal lives but in community. This includes our behaviors. But it also involves our personal relationship with God. Not only should we regularly read His Word to better know Him, we should regularly go to God in prayer (Hebrews 4:14–16; 10:19–23). A psychotherapist cannot replace God in our lives. The Bible also encourages us to regularly engage in Christian fellowship. We should weep and rejoice with one another (Romans 12:15); we are to encourage and exhort one another (Hebrews 3:12–13; 10:24–25). Psychotherapy is not a replacement for the church.
No matter how a particular Christian views psychotherapy, we can all agree that ultimate healing and transformation come only from God. Our primary problem as humans is separation from God due to sin (Romans 3:23; 6:23). Only by God’s grace through faith in Jesus can we be reconciled to Him (Ephesians 2:1–10). When we are, we enter into a process of transformation in which we learn to put sin to death and to live as God would have us live (2 Corinthians 5:17–21; Romans 12:2; Philippians 2:12–13). We still endure struggles and hardships in life, but God is with us (James 1:2–18; Romans 8:28–30). We can lean on Him for our needs and trust in Him to transform us (1 Peter 5:6–9; Philippians 1:6; 4:6–9).
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