Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

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...

FORGIVENESS & CHRISTIAN COUNSELING:      Is forgiveness just a fad? “You need to forgive him,” the counselor said as he pointed to the Bible and quoted Jesus threat linked command. “ But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. ” ( Matthew 6:15 ) It’s easy to see why forgiveness is a popular topic in Christian literature. It is after all at the heart of the gospel. And it is a command. Although some interpretations have led to much distress for those who fear forgiving will only encourage evildoers to continue to abuse their victims. A few posts ago I began looking at the evidence supporting Christian Counseling and Psychotherapy. This is a post related to that quest. FORGIVENESS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE In the past two decades, psychological scientists have tested forgiveness interventions and found evidence that many people are able to forgive their offenders and experience an in...

What on earth are Christian psychotherapists doing? What in heaven’s name do Christian psychotherapists do? A Christian woman follows the recommendation of her doctor to see a counselor. Her friends advise her to see a Christian therapist. She shows up in the waiting area. What should she expect? Most of us who work or have worked as psychotherapists are familiar with the fact that in the U.S. most people believe in God and most of them identify as Christian. A significant part of those prefer to obtain counseling or psychotherapy from a Christian psychotherapist. And they have many to choose from. But Christian psychotherapists are as diverse as people who identify as Christian. Christian counselors range the full spectrum from conservative to liberal based on their church affiliation and their social values. Add to that conservative-liberal spectrum differences in faith practice by Catholics and Protestants. And if you consider Pentecostals and charismat...

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...