Employing Psychotherapeutic Theories in Christian Counseling - Term Paper Example

Employing Psychotherapeutic Theories in Christian Counseling Abstract Counseling and psychotherapy are two interesting topics as they involve the study of human kind particularly the process of the mind. This is an art which have long been employed even when times were considered to be so back-numbered like the time of Moses and his father-in law, Jethro, which will be discussed in a more detailed manner in the paper. Philosophical ideas about counseling will be basically founded on the argument about secular counseling against Christian counseling. Starting from the basics of counseling, the personality of man will be viewed and referred to in this paper as the client. In addition, the aspect of health and abnormality are defined according to the mental condition of a person with respect to how he copes with the challenges he encounters in his life. And of course, it would be futile for us to be discussing problems without looking for the solutions. Thus, the role of psychotherapy will also be determined as we discuss techniques a counselor needs to deal with in helping the client. Counseling by definition would be the act of giving counsel or advice. It is the exchange of ideas between the counselor and the client about a problem and its resolutions. This could be to some, a science that needs in depth study and training, understanding the human mind in order to succeed in such a crucial endeavor. Indeed, this is not a matter that could be taken lightly rather it should be studied with great diligence and like many other fields; the learning for the counselor is continuous. Christian counseling puts emphasis on Biblical ideas as the foundation of all the advises as well as the theories that it involves which is but right because in the first place, the Bible is the most ancient book that deals with this matter as it deals on almost all matters about the humankind. Sadly, church leaders do not quite agree on this practice on many aspects of it like the idea of incorporating secular ideas from theorists in the field. I strongly believe that leaders could learn a lot of things from non-secular experts as much as they can learn from the Christian perspectives. In retrospect, it is worth pointing out that one of the greatest Jewish leaders in the Old Testament listened and yielded to the advice of a pagan priest. Moses, in his attempt to attend to all the issues of the Israelites in the desert stood before the people each day and turns out to be exhausted by the end of the day together with those who have been falling in line all day. In addition to that, there were still so many people with their problems unattended after an exhausting day. His father in law who was a Midian priest saw all these and advised Moses to assign leaders to tens, hundreds and thousands who would help him in his job and that he would be in charge of whatever they are not able to resolve. The advice was employed and Moses gladly sent his father-in-law back home as he continued to lead the Israelites. God spoke to Moses face to face. The question would be; why did God not tell Moses upfront to do just the thing his father-in-law advised him? If that was not from God, would he not have told that as well to Moses? Since God was silent about the advice, I presume He approved of it even if it came from a pagan priest from Midian. With this argument, as God who lets the sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Mt. 5:45), I believe He lets wisdom and revelation fall upon all men. Understanding counseling further demands an understanding of the person who is the client so that the person seeking counsel will not be misled by an individual’s untrained understanding of the human species. So what is it that needs to be known about man? More often than not, problems or issues in a person’s life are resolved based on the person’s understanding of the meaning of this life and his existence. It is then important to note that man was created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1: 26). As God is a tripartite Being, so is man. Man, being body, soul and spirit with the second likeness, the soul, as the center of counseling. The understanding of this or the lack of it affects a person’s understanding of himself and the meaning of his life which in the former event causes a chaos in the inner self. It is then important for the counselor to have established understanding on the basic truths about the creation of man, the reason behind his creation, his purpose and the future there is for him, being the professional expected to lead and guide the person in the resolution of his problems. It is in these truths that the foundations of counseling are established on whatever matter there is presented by the client. A good grasp of Biblical truths and the knowledge of the different ideas of secular theorists could well be found not only effective to the client alone but to the counselor as well. As it was earlier mentioned, counseling is a continuing process of learning to the counselor. Clients would be the people who need professional help of the counselor. In many cases informal counseling happens wherein the counselor is not learned or experienced in the field but had experienced similar situations which the client is currently experiencing and are expected to meet the needs of the former. With this regard, mutual trust is a big factor that is highly needed in the process. A client of course will not be getting someone else’s opinion without any reason. In counseling, the reason could be a simple problem or one that is strong and deeply rooted in the person’s emotions. Kanel uses the term crisis to define the reason behind the need of a counselor which she says has three aspects: a precipitating event, the perception of the event and coping mechanism to the event (1998). There would be an event that would cause calm or chaos in a person’s life, specifically in his mind, his understanding of which when the negative reaction occurs, the third aspect then is sought. On the other hand, Hans Selye terms it as stress which he says could turn to a severe illness depending on the demands of the stress. A milder effect would be disappointment, which in any case; the client would still need a confidant or a professional counselor. Crisis or stress, whatever the term is, comes to any individual regardless of the personality, status in life, gender or age and the causes of which are called by Selye as stressors (Waughfield, 2001). Stressors could be problems in the family, the workplace or even in church which a person now tries to cope with in order to function normally like when everything is right. When there exists a friction in the person’s inner self about this stressor, abnormalities in physical functioning occurs along with his emotions which turns into disappointment over something or someone, whatever or whoever is posing as the stressor. At this stage when the client is not able to cope with the demands of the stressor in order to survive, abnormality begins. In contrast to abnormality, health is shown in the ability of a person to cope with his stressor. There are several coping mechanisms which people utilize in order to overcome stress like the use of support people, relaxation, problem solving, change in behavior and the development of more realistic goals (Waughfield, 2001). Using support people could be done in groups or individually in the case when a person consults a professional. It could also be done by the person himself, thinking and accepting the support his family and friends offer. Relaxation on the other hand is varied like doing one’s favorite hobby. It could be gardening, watching movies, sewing, reading and so on. This would indeed very helpful because it helps the person think and reconsider his situation and so many times, it helps take the burden away from a person’s heart. Problem solving is the person’s attempt to face his problems like confrontations if the stressor is a person and finishing the task is the problem is much demand for work. Change in behavior and developing realistic goals are great mechanisms a Christian counselor could utilize incorporating the word of God. It is in this aspect that a counselor could actually penetrate a person’s perspectives that he could in time propose biblical principles that, to a non-Christian are logical. For instance, a person seeking help about his co-worker whom he hates because the latter is just pissing him out could be asked how he might possibly feel if he looks at another angle of a totally different perspective, like the officemate being an instrument to the molding of his character. Without mentioning the sixth commandment (Ex. 20:13) which when placed in juxtaposition with the New Testament, includes hating another human being (1John 3:15); the counselor can make a Biblical argument without directly quoting from the Bible. According to the Sage Handbook of Counseling and Psychotherapy, the aim of the professional sought during the process is the ultimate good of the client which also considers the counselor’s respect to the decisions of the client (2006). It is indeed clear that the responsibility of the counselor is not to let his client implement everything he proposes but just offers guidance to a person who at the point of his struggle has an understanding that could be clouded by mixed emotions. As Bertolino and O’Hanlon suggest, therapy and counseling are exquisitely human activities requiring a meeting of people in human way (2002) which includes mutual respect for both counselor and client. This, in effect would utilize one of the therapeutic techniques in psychotherapy, educating the client on how to resolve future problems. Education as a technique would prove to be effective as it empowers the client in facing his problems, understanding his situation and the techniques he could use to manage stress. One of the important which he could look out for so that he can implement necessary adjustments before the problem worsens. This would in a way encourage the client to be stronger in his personality as well as in his decision-making, considering now that there are ways to resolve a problem and that with the help of people he can trust, the problems can be overcome. So many times, clients tend to be very emotional on stressful circumstances so that they are not able to think clearly and logically. It is then the responsibility of the counselor to help the client focus on his problems. This responsibility becomes a technique when employed especially to clients who are trying to escape their problems. Possible solutions can be offered by the counselor but then again must leave the decision making to the client. After which, the counselor sets expectations which should be reasonable and attainable for the client. This again, brings us to the knowing of the client, as a human being and as an individual (Sally, Bechtold, Bell, Dubovski, Neligh & Petersen, 1989). Another technique especially for the church counselor is crisis intervention where he could get in touch with the parents, friends and even neighbors of the client but of course sticking to the respect and trust shared with his client. He can educate these people on how they are supposed to deal with the client whenever he faced with a crisis, being the primary support and people the client deals, with the counselor not present at all times attacks of depression come up. In cases where there is substance abuse, the counselor can set concrete limits to it. He does this by discussing the effects of it to the body, how it affects the mind, making a person do nasty things when under the influence of drugs which in turn could endanger him physically to elements like the police officers doing their job in maintaining peace. Effects of drugs on health should also be discussed to educate the client on how the food one takes affects all aspects of human life. Care of food choice when discussed with the client brings him to an understanding that the body is the temple of God (1 Chor 6:19-20) which needs to be taken cared of, even if the counselor does not care the client so much by opening his Bible and give a verse by verse advise. Lastly, the counselor should assist the client to become independent and manage himself well. He can advise him to enlarge his social circle for a greater learning experience and learn to rely on other people instead of being clammed up in himself or limiting his trust in his therapist alone (Sally et al., 1989). As counseling could be very draining on the part of the counselor, meeting different people with different problems of different intensities, things could get into the counselor’s nerve. This is the reason why it was formerly mentioned that the counseling process is a learning one not only to the client but to the counselor as well. With this challenge posed to the counselor, it is a great responsibility and very important for the counselor to be well founded and focused on the foundations of his beliefs so that whatever challenges he goes through, he would be able to help himself so he could continue to help others. References Bertolino, Bob and Bill O’Hanlon. 2002. Collaborative, competency-Based Counseling and Therapy. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Feltham, Colin and Ian Horton. 2006. The Sage Handbook of Counselling and Psychotherapy (2nd Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Kanel, Kristi. 1998. A guide to Crisis Intervention. Canada: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company. New International Bible. 1984. Colorado Springs, Colorado: International Bible Society. Sally, James H., Donald W. Bechtold, Jon A. Bell, Steven L. Dubovski, Gordon L. Neligh and Janice L. Petersen. 1989. Psychiatry (2nd Edition). United States: John Wiley & Sons. Waughfield, Claire G. 2001. Mental Health Concepts (5th Edition). Canada: Delmar Thomson Learning. Read More