Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

What Christian Counselors Believe, Value, and Practice Part 2: Values Should Christian counselors be exempt from providing premarital counseling to same-sex couples if their group believes same-sex marriage is sin? In this post I look at some values held by people in our sample of Christian Counselors. Last week I reported their Christian beliefs, which we (Chris Arnzen and me) thought important to understand key features of the type of Christianity held by the people completing the survey. This week I look at some of their key values—values that polarize families, churches, and groups of Christians. Why ask about values? Three Reasons The first is disclosure . Counselors and psychotherapists (I will use a generic term, clinicians) often disclose personal information in the course of treatment. Odds are, if you went to a therapist, you learned something personal—research indicates 90% of clinicians disclose personal informatio n. The effects on clients are ...

Pregnant Children   The U.S. has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the developed world. The highest rates are in the states of New Mexico, Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. About 6% of girls/ young women 15 to 19 become pregnant each year. ( Guttmacher link ). Christianity is the dominant religion in the U.S. Christian morality dictates that people should have sex within marriage and most believe that abortion is not an option (some Christians offer consideration when a woman's life is at risk). Nevertheless, most teens have had sex by age 17 and nearly half by age 16.  When a girl becomes pregnant, she is at risk for a range of  health and life problems.  Anxiety and depression are common.  Should the girl have a choice in managing her pregnancy or should her parents be consulted? Questions Should parents be involved in the decision of a minor to have an abortion? Does religion play a role in attitudes tow...

Christian Counseling &Beliefs I’m on a quest to better understand the concept, Christian Counseling . And I’m interested in the Christian beliefs and practices of counselors and clients. I wonder if there is a significant relationship between counselor and client Christian beliefs and practices, Christian interventions, and treatment outcomes. The criteria for identifying counseling as Christian are imprecise . A comprehensive conceptual definition is doomed to failure at this point. An operational definition is crucial to comparing findings across research studies that purport to add something of value to an understanding of Christian Counseling. But operational definitions can be too narrow when attempting to be sufficiently inclusive. I suggest a feature list approach to defining Christian Counseling and Psychotherapy . I approach this conceptualization from the notion of Wittgenstein’s family resemblance . Here’s my current take on Christian Counseling criter...