Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

Christian Counseling- by unlicensed persons Can people with mental illness find help from counselors without professional training at a church or a Christian ministry?  Certainly, there is a need for help. Rick and Kay Warren  recently wrote about the need for churches to do more for people with mental illness. They quote the National Alliance on Mental Illness statistic that 60 million Americans experience a mental health condition each year. But what can churches and Christian ministries do? I’ve been reading a book titled Evidenced-Based Practices for Christian Counseling and Psychotherapy. It’s an edited volume with chapters by many leaders in Christian counseling and psychotherapy. One chapter (3) by Siang-Yang Tan of Fuller Theological Seminary takes a look at “Lay Christian counseling for General Psychological Problems.” What is lay counseling? The definition is a problem because we need to define both counseling and the attributes of th...

Conversion,  Deconversion, Transformation Imagine working for a private security firm. You get a call to head off to a local park where there’s a protest. You’re armed and ready to take ‘em out. POW! Out of nowhere a truck slams into your SUV. The airbag busts you in the face. You fumble, slump in your seat, and discover you’re blind. Your plans have changed. You hear a voice. ZAPPED! You mumble, “omg.” And SHE says, “Yeah? I am here. So what are you up to?” And just like that your whole life has changed.  The prototype for conversion studies had been the conversion of the apostle Paul who was struck by God on his way to persecute Christians ( Acts 9 ). The sudden and dramatic change of life was studied by psychologists like William James who interviewed converts following the American revival meetings in the late 1800s. In preparing a lesson related to religious conversions (Chapter 8, Hood, Hill, & Spilka, 2010) I find the field is still lo...

Forgive? Yes. Reconcile? Maybe. A TODAY story by Rebecca Ruiz has a headline that reads, “How do you forgive a killer? A mother moves past tragedy?” A powerful photo shows Mary Johnson hugging Oshea Israel—the man who murdered her son.  The story includes other examples of people who suffered major hurts but found their way to forgiveness. Last week I referred to the CNNblog about the Piers Morgan interview with Rick and Kay Warren . I wrote about attributions and coping with loss. But there’s more. There’s a story about forgiveness. But not reconciliation. Rick “One of the hard things was forgiving the person who sold him the gun... Because I didn't want to forgive him.” Kay  “I don't want to be tied to that person emotionally for the rest of my life” FORGIVENESS AND RELIGION Most religions include guidance about relationships and a part of that guidance includes the repair of damaged relationships. In the Christian tradition, forgiveness comes from Go...