Psychology Articles

The term counseling intervention has taken on a little different meaning since the A&E show about addictions interventions, although this particular kind of intervention has been around since Vernon Johnson began it in the 1970’s, I believe. To me though, as a domestic violence and anger management trainer, the words counseling intervention mean interventions that I use in my counseling sessions.

Those interventions come from Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Existential or Experiential models, from the 12 Steps, from Grief Counseling, from journaling models, from Gestalt, from T.A., from any number of counseling models, from brainwave and heart rate variability biofeedback, from sound and light and binaural beat technology, from Chi Gong, but most importantly they reflect my orientation toward Solution Oriented Brief Therapy, Positive Psychology, and the Pillars of Brain Fitness. Brain fitness is a great lifestyle and counseling intervention which is the foundation for the growth of new neurons.

I have been involved in my own personal growth for 30 years, and have sought out tools to try out that have continued to move me towards what I believe is an effective and efficient use of my strengths. I have been blessed to walk with others who are making similar transitions, so there is an experiential truth for many folks that finding strengths and operating from them is healthy.

So What Counseling Interventions Do You Recommend?

The most important counseling intervention is listening. Understand that listening is a discreet skill with discernible steps. Listening non-judgementaly is usually perceived by the speaker as confirmation that they are basically OK, even though a significant part of their life right now is occupied by some current problem.

Once clients have managed to relax a bit, and begin to get comfortable that they can find a thinking or feeling or behavioral or some combination of all three kind or road map, we can begin to discuss signature strengths and solution orientations.

Sometimes clients will profess powerlessness over their thinking or feelings or behavior, and at that point, I like to take them to a biofeedback tool called heart rate variability biofeedback, which combines a number of what I believe to be very helpful tools together in one package, including feedback from the computer screen about how they are learning the skill.

Once clients get it that they can exert some (or a lot, it they practice) control over something like heart rate variability coherence, which is usually a subconscious physiological process,they are more confident to tackle thinking and and behavioral interventions which offer less clear cut feedback.

The thinking goes that if I can do the heart rate variability thing, then I can surely dispute irrational thoughts, or communicate assertively, or set boundaries, or do the 12 Steps, or go to a Holotropic Breathwork.

So what happens in heart rate variability biofeedback?

Clients are hooked up to a computer which monitors the time between their heart beats, and gives them audio and visual feedback about the coherence between heart beats.

Clients are taught to pay attention to the area around their hearts, and to remember a positive fun time, then ask their heart for a less stressful way to handle this kind of event in the future, and when clients get the breathing and thinking for a bit, they will see their heart rate variability move into coherence, and they also can track how problem thoughts lead to incoherence and stressful feelings.

With practice folks learn that they can feel relaxed for long periods of time, by attending to their thinking and breathing, and if they get untracked, a simple reminder will cue the relaxed physiology again. After all, biofeedback means that the process is learned by the brain in the heart.

Relieve stress and increase mental clarity

Your Heart Has a Brain?

Your heart has enough neurons in it to learn and make decisions, and nobody knew about your heart’s sophisticated nervous system until a few years ago, so that is why heart rate variability biofeedback is not a widely know counseling intervention yet.

Clients learn quickly that changing or controlling the external world actually has nothing to do with changing how they feel, and if they change their thinking to the inside (ask the heart a question), they can feel better quicker, and can continue to steer their thinking and feelings for long periods of time. Ever Heard of Neurogenesis or Neuroplasticity?

Probably not. No one had until about 10-15 years ago, when it was discovered that we grow new brain cells every day, and that we could lay the ground work for that by attending to the pillars of brain fitness. The two key terms to be concerned with in regards to counseling interventions here are neurogenesis and neuroplasticity.

Neurogenesis is the growth of new brain cells, and we can encourage that capacity of our brain, just as we can encourage the increased connectivity of neurons, which we call neuroplasticity, by taking care of the pillars of brain fitness, which are physical exercise, nutrition which will include lots of anti-oxidants and omega three fatty acids, sleep, stress management (heart rate variability biofeedback), and novel learning experiences.

Those novel learning experiences can include learning a foreign language or a new instrument, or perhaps one of the newly available computerized brain fitness programs like the dual n back task, which will train attention and memory for heart rate variability biofeedback, and has an interesting side effect of increased IQ.

So we counselors should start with tools that enhance our clients efficacy and skills, increasing their confidence, and increasing skills on the dual n back and heart rate variability biofeedback are excellent for that. Then we can go on to the more traditional depth counseling intervention. What a great model for a counseling intervention.

Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, a counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing.

http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Wikipedia describes psychology as an academic and applied discipline that involves the scientific study of human mental functions. A person who is practicing psychology is known as a psychologist. Its scope is related to the role of mental and emotional functions in individuals and groups in general, and it can also help explore the physiological and neurological processes going on in a person. Psychology science has been taken up as a profession by experts for over a century now, and in the past, various scholars have done their forms of studies to understand the human mind.

There are various branches of psychology science on which many books have been written. While the primary application of psychology is to study human behavior in various situations, it can also help suggest the abnormalities in a person’s reaction to a given situation. Additionally, an analysis of a person’s behavior pattern can help suggest new theories for psychology. A big section of psychology also refers to the study of the neurological processes going on in the mind of a person when he is subjected to certain situations. This helps doctors understand the chemical reactions going on inside the human body.

Various books have been written on the subject of psychology science. The basic question that you must answer when taking up psychology as a career is how you want to interact with people at different times. If you want to help people come out of difficult situations, you may consider taking up counseling as a career. You can read books on being an effective counselor, using psychotherapy and other techniques to treat your patient. You will find that, in such a case, you will be dealing with normal developmental issues and daily stresses. A counselor is now employed in various places, such as schools and universities, hospitals, businesses, and community health centers.

It is a well-known fact that psychology science can help you spend time with people who need help to go through difficult times. In case you intend to take up psychology as a degree, you should consider reading as many psychology books as possible. This will help you not only understand the importance of reading the human mind, but also see some easy to identify traits in the people you deal with. If you like reading psychology textbooks, you should also make it a point to note down what the prospective career opportunities are in that field. This will help you identify which line of work you want to choose in psychology. It will also enlighten you about the importance of social work. Social work helps interact with people who are dealing with difficult situations in life, and some such situation can be of particular interest to you and you may be able to suggest them a solution to the same.

In this respect, it is a good idea to conduct small interviews with people who, you know, need psychological help. Psychology science can help them find solutions to their problems. Books are, therefore, necessary to help people overcome their problems.

Browse through a range of used psychology science textbooks. Also know about the career options and opportunities in the field of psychology.

What happens in our childhood for most of us is largely forgotten by the time we reach early middle age. We forget either because we just do, or because we screen it out. Fortunately, we can be encouraged professionally to recall much of it comparatively easily, if we wish to.

It is now better understood how children learn to pattern themselves mentally and emotionally from an early age. The way individual children achieve this varies widely. Many of them form patterns of behaviour and set up emotional defences to enable them to cope with life in their family.

The stimuli for this harmful process can be parental behaviour which can seem innocuous to outsiders. More than that, the dysfunction can be unintentional in the parent and can result from patterns they themselves formed in their own childhood.

It can involve the ways the parents handle feelings of affection between them or the lack of it. It can stem from the resolution, or the lack of it, of disputes within the family. Attitudes within a family to certain behaviours of other people can play a part. It can even stem from how all the members interacted together socially as a family group.

These are just some of the ways children can feel bound under the psychological pressure on them to create their own patterning processes. Clearly cases of severe physical mental and emotional child abuse set up the reactions in the child which can initiate more rigid patterning and defence strategies.

Despite the threat having gone when they leave home, all too often the affected child continues most often to carry the patterns and defences forward into their adult life. There, far from them withering, the patterns can be re-enforced and perpetuated sub-consciously, impacting for good or ill on the adult’s sense of personal well-being and spirituality. Worse, the adopted strategies can have adverse influence on future relationships with partners, siblings, children and friends.

These patterns can also be applied naively to deal with new problems despite their unsuitability as adult response mechanisms to deal even with the issue that spawned them..

However there is a strange feature often found in such a process of adult recall and analysis of their childhood. It occurs among adults who as children were brought up in merely dysfunctional families, or where they were severely abused physically, mentally or emotionally. In all such cases, very often those adults who suffered, reveal an understandable and marked reluctance to review their childhood experiences.

What is perhaps more extraordinary is what can happen once those adults are equipped with a more detailed recall of their childhood. They can find that even to admit to themselves what happened seems deeply disloyal to the very parents who subjected them to the dysfunction or abuse! With that highlighted for them, only then do they begin to appreciate the extent of their denial.

One myth with far wider ramifications is being systematically dismembered by cognitive research. Hitherto, the unique behavioural patterns and defences of any individual have often been interpreted as the sum total of what that person is as a person. Yet, truth to tell, those behaviours were mere strategies adopted by that person as an immature, inexperienced child to protect him or herself from the worst effects of parental dysfunction or abuse. These can mask a very different person trapped behind them. So often there is someone, though they have been hiding, they are capable of being released psychologically and motivated to shed their shell like a crab and begin living to the full.

I wish you well if you decide to embark on it and feels sure you feel emancipated by the process.

Sir Gerry Neale has lectured and trained under-graduates and post graduates at the University of Westminster in cognitive thinking. He has mentored courses for corporate strategic planning and how to position the organisation and the individual’s thinking in relation to them. He has conducted counseling and life coaching programmes with individuals in person and on-line. He paints watercolours, writes lyrics to music and writes fiction as well as non-fiction.

He can be reached on http://psychologysimplified.blogspot.com/ and http://cognitivementors.blogspot.com.

A variety of methods were used to help the supervisee develop counseling skills, case conceptualization, her ability to self evaluate, and professional role development. Along with monitoring and evaluating, advising and instructing, I tried to support her and her professional growth and to share my experiences with clients, including mistakes I made.

We worked on developing treatment plans as she needed this skill for her work in the agencies. We went to the bookstore and she purchased one of the excellent treatment planning guides, and I helped her walk through choosing the long-term goals, short-term objectives, and therapeutic interventions. She was resistant to this process because of her postmodern orientation, but as I helped her see that she could choose the goals, objectives, and interventions that she was comfortable with and disregard the others, she became more open to the process. I reviewed her charts throughout our work and am happy to report she developed the ability to write good treatment plans.

Each week she would self-report on cases about which she had questions, and I would attempt to help her conceptualize the case. I helped her with the DSM-IV which she also was adverse to due to her theoretical orientation, but I persisted in helping her understand the efficacy of starting with the descriptive indicators to formulate a case. I used supportive teaching interventions, working to increase her self-confidence at knowing who was sitting in the room with her.

We roleplayed working with one of her conduct disordered teens, trying out different interventions and watching some of them fall flat. I gave her clinical articles on working with antisocial personality disorders, and on how to know which therapies are effective with which clients. I had her research DBT on the Internet. I gave her advice on professional development when she had questions about whether or not to develop her bilingual skills (yes!).

We discussed countertransference and the some of the supervisee’s family of origin issues. At one point, she became demoralized, questioning if she was even cut out to be a therapist, and I highlighted her strengths and normalized this as part of the process. Her use of self was restricted as she tried to turn herself into Michael White, and I attempted to help her understand that she would develop her own way of being a therapist based on her authentic self, including her background as an educator. Unfortunately, her interpretation of postmodern therapy left her alienated from herself as she did not believe in psychotherapy as psychoeducation. I shared research with her that psychoeducation is the preferred treatment for certain populations, e.g. anger management clients. I also had to use confrontation to encourage her to try harder with the court ordered boys and not just shrug and wait until her time was up.

© 2010 Catherine Auman

Catherine Auman, MFT is a CAMFT Certified Supervisor and psychotherapist with over 25 years experience based in Los Angeles, Calfornia. She has advanced training in both traditional and alternative methodologies based on ancient traditions and wisdom teachings. Visit her online at http://www.catherineauman.com.

When it came time to assess my supervisee, I focused on her diagnostic and treatment planning skills, her theoretical basis, the stage of her professional development and skill level, and her interpersonal style:

The supervisee had many of the characteristics expected at the novice level: confusion between textbook knowledge and practical application, insecurity about the “doingness” of therapy, and lack of therapeutic techniques and case management skills for a variety of issues. She needed to become comfortable with client sessions, learn how to conduct an intake, take session notes, and how to present a case. She didn’t know how to identify when a client might have an Axis II diagnosis, and as novices often do, tended to under-diagnose. She needed to learn to research issues online or elsewhere.

My supervisee was very much in awe of skill and technique that had taken twenty years to develop and measured herself against that. She wanted to be able to do Narrative Therapy as well as Michael White with all her clients, and when this didn’t happen, blamed herself. I worked with her to broaden her view and be able to honor the personal strengths she brings to the therapy setting, such as her previous career as an educator.

On the plus side, my supervisee had a very pleasant, engaging demeanor and self-presentation that helped her establish a good bond with most clients. She has an innate sense of how to help, and good clinical instincts.

The specific goals I had for the supervisee were at times different than the goals she had for herself:

The supervisee identified her goals as: to become comfortable with the intake process, to know how to recognize and deal with a crisis, to have confidence when sitting with a client, and to “learn something about treatment planning although we don’t call it that.” She said she might have transference issues during supervision due to growing up with a highly critical authority figure. During the course of our work together, it became apparent that she also had the goal of being able to do Narrative Therapy as well as Michael White (while still in her traineeship).

My goals were: to help her develop counseling skills, to learn the rudiments of case conceptualization, to increase her professional role development and her ability to self evaluate. I also wanted for her to learn the benefits of an eclectic approach, to be able to enjoy this beginning stage and “not knowing,” that she honor the particular strengths that she brings to therapy, i.e. her background as a teacher, instead of trying to eradicate it. I wanted to help her be easy on herself for her learning curve, and to understand that she may someday be as good a clinician as Michael White, in not less than fifteen years time.

© 2010 Catherine Auman

Catherine Auman, MFT is a CAMFT Certified Supervisor and psychotherapist with over 25 years experience based in Los Angeles, Calfornia. She has advanced training in both traditional and alternative methodologies based on ancient traditions and wisdom teachings. Visit her online at http://www.catherineauman.com

The field of psychology encompasses many aspects that must be dealt with on a daily basis. Psychologists and others working in the field are often faced with moral dilemmas that may cause them to question the place of morals and spirituality in psychology. Those who practice some form of religion may use their specific values and morals when it comes to finding resolutions in these situations. There still lies the question of whether religion has a place in the day-to-day practice of psychology and if so, where to draw the line.

In part, psychology is considered a science. Though it is not exact in all situations, it does carry with it various similarities to science where theories and decision making are concerned. Ethics play a big role in psychology for both the roles of the psychologist or psychological professional conducting evaluations and providing treatment and the client or patient receiving the services or treatment. The code of ethics was put into place to protect both parties involved. Ethics is based on right and wrong and, can therefore be closely related to morality in many instances. Because of this, it can be argued that religion plays a role in the ethical decisions that are made everyday. Though the code of ethics does not specifically site religion as a part of what is contained there in, various aspects of morality and common values are found.

Spirituality as a whole has become even more prevalent in the field of psychology over the past several years as evidenced by the number of Christian counseling centers that have opened around the country. The professionals working in these settings offer what some say is the perfect combination of treatment, psychology based on Christian values and beliefs. Here the psychological principles and ethics are used with various aspects of religious values and beliefs interwoven into the treatment plans. Patients are often counseled on how spirituality can help them through their difficult situations. In these settings, professionals strive to find a balance between psychology and religion, a challenging task at times. Psychology is based on various principles, theories and ethics while religion is based mostly on faith. Psychological issues are proven in a scientific way while a good part of religion is based on belief in the unseen. While many people don’t question their faith, it can be difficult to intermingle what can be physically seen with what cannot. This causes many people to question the place of spirituality in psychology.

Because faith is often questioned, it has become necessary to receive proof. This proof often comes in the form of answers that are a direct result of the testing of ideas (Myers). When ideas are tested and found to be correct, faith is easier to maintain; however, then they do not survive the test, faith can become a very shaky prospect. When this principle is applied to psychology, the outcome can change on a regular basis. Different situations call for different ideas which may or may not prove to work. Also, what works in one situation may prove impossible in another. The key to understanding where spirituality fits in is knowing how to apply it to each individual situation and idea and make determinations and assessments based on the information that is gathered and the particular values that are relevant to the end result.

To better understand where religion fits into the psychological realm, let’s take a closer look at the human attributes that make up each. Where religion is concerned there is the theological wisdom. This deals with the acceptance of divine love in order to enable individuals to accept themselves. Psychological wisdom, however, deals with self-esteem, optimism and personal control (Myers). The ability to use the two together to make important decisions will provide the freedom to use what we know, admit what we don’t and search for the answers. Because we are both the creatures and creators of our own social world, people and situations matter (Myers). While ultimate control lies beyond us, we carry responsibility for making important decisions that have a lasting effect on us as well as others.

Psychologists face these dilemmas everyday. They must make important decisions that will directly effect their patients. Each decision is made on an individual basis and is dependent on each specific situation and its own set of circumstances. Each decision will carry with it a separate set of ethical issues and dilemmas and the solution will remain unique to each. Religion is said to heal people while medicine was designed to do the same. The two often work in different contexts, but it can be argued that medicine was discovered because of ideas and values based on religious beliefs. Because of this, it is believed in many situations the two are used together to come up with treatment plans that will be both effective and long lasting.

In many ways, people who have great faith have found the insights and critical analyses of psychology to be supportive of the understanding they possess of human nature. Their assumption that religion is conducive to happiness and good health is also attributed in great part to psychology. The science of psychology offers principles that can be applied to the construction of messages that will prove both memorable and persuasive. Here the tasks of peacemaking and reconciliation are promoted in a way that offers solutions that will provide the means by which others can achieve happiness by establishing healthy relationships (Myers). While the science may challenge our way of thinking, the same can be said of religion. Faith is often questioned in an effort to find answers. This has proven to be helpful in many situations where the answer wasn’t clearly defined. Here, the science of psychology is used along with the religious beliefs to find solutions to problems that seemingly have no immediate or clear resolution. Still, faith is not always a negative aspect of psychology.

A strong value and belief system can help a psychologist working as a professional in the field deal with situations where the traditional psychological theories aren’t showing a definite answer. Here the process is reversed because religion is used to clarify a particular set of circumstances based on the lack of information that can be gathered at a given time. There are also times where one can support the other. Religious beliefs are often used to support the reasoning behind many ethical situations whereas psychology is often used to prove various religion based ideas. This is where the two can be used in tandem to come up with a truly unique solution that will work.

It has also been argued that faith plays an important role in a psychologist’s ability to use the information found in the code of ethics and psychological practices that are present everyday. This is based on the belief that people who possess strong faith are better able to understand the science of psychology because they can use the two together to come up with answers that are suited to each new set of circumstances. Here psychologists are not heavily relying on either faith or science, but instead are using them both to gain a better understanding of the situation as a whole. Those who believe in the contents of the code of ethics understand its importance and why it must play a role in psychology on a daily basis (Kafka). Those who possess strong religious beliefs usually strive to use them everyday when making ethical decisions and are often working toward an outcome built on both science and faith. Still there is a very important line between when to use the science of psychology and when to rely on the beliefs and values that often assist many in making daily life decisions.

When it comes to the co-mingling of psychology and spirituality, each has its own place. The scientific aspects of psychology are necessary in order to solve a wide range of problems and provide successful treatment to those in need. Still, spirituality can play a very important role in the rehabilitation of patients by making it easier to understand the psychological ramifications and why they exist. Spirituality and science can be used both during and after treatment. During treatment, religious beliefs may guide both the psychologist and patient toward making the right decisions and understanding difficult situations along the way. After treatment, religion can continue to help the patient as he or she moves onward through life while the scientific aspect may still remain present in the form of ongoing counseling or use of medication.

Psychologists can use both in their profession to make difficult decisions and deal with hard to solve problems. Aspects of each can be relied upon to provide the means by which to draw important conclusions that may help throughout the entire treatment process. Evidence has also shown that psychologists who know their profession but also possess strong religious beliefs are able to help their patients throughout treatment by passing on various virtues that promote positive thinking (Myers).

The end results of melding together both science and spirituality have been studied for a number of years. Some argue psychology should remain only a science while others feel the intertwining of science with religion can only serve to improve the overall outcome of treatment situations. The argument is also made that science as a whole has strong ties to religion and the two often give cause for the questioning of each other. Science can often prove what religion cannot and religion was the basis for the need to know, thus people began studying the how and why of scientific matters (Myers).

Some have explained the boundaries between psychology and religion by bringing up a few points that express how one relates to the other. One point is the correlation of scientific ideas presented in everyday human nature to religion and being able to site the information to show how it is all related. Another important point is the link between religion, prejudice, altruism and overall well-being (Myers).

When dealing with various psychological situations, it is just as important to realize the importance of the science as it is the religion. This is often difficult to do because of the differing beliefs and values possessed by each professional working in the field. Because of this, it is necessary for each to make decisions based on the psychological code of ethics along with the specific circumstances of each given situation. For those who are religious, spirituality will most likely play a role in the decision making process in a professional setting because it very likely does in any other. Those who utilize spirituality in day-to-day situations often rely on it to guide them in their professions. Though the psychological code of ethics may not have been created based specifically around the religious beliefs and values directly associated with spirituality, there are many similarities between ethical dilemmas and resolutions and those of a moral nature.

Correlations have also been reported between faith and subjective well-being. One example of this can be found in a National Opinion Research Center survey of 42,00 Americans that was conducted after 1972. Here 26 percent who never attended religious services reported being very happy while 47 percent of those participating in spiritual services on a regular basis, sometimes more than weekly reported also being very happy (Myers). Though this does not sho3w a direct link between religion and well-being, it does indicate that many people seek spirituality in various aspects of their lives. Whether the science of psychology and spirituality should be co-mingled in a professional setting can be a bit subjective as it is dependent upon the differing situations and those directly involved in the treatment processes. While there are correlations between the ethical code used by psychological professionals everywhere and the morality associated with religion, the two remain separate and can be called upon in any given situation where they may be deemed necessary or important. The code of ethics is used every day in the psychological setting, but whether or not spirituality is involved may be up to each professional working in the field.

REFERENCES

Code of Ethics: Understanding the Professional Conduct of Psychologists. Taken from http://clinical-psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/psychologist_as_professional

Myers, David G. Psychological Science Meets the World of Faith. Taken from http://psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=1861.

For more information, please contact Dr. Joseph Coleman at jcoleman05@bellsouth.net or via phone at (504) 621-0966 (504) 621-0966

The pain and sadness was evident on the face of 72 year old Ruth. After years and years of struggling, she had finally been seen by a professional who recognized her symptoms as DID and healing had progressed in an astounding way every since. “So much of my life was wasted. What do you need to know so that others do not have to wait to get the help they need?” she asked our therapists’ group. Like Ruth many suffer in silence, their condition exacerbated by inappropriate medications, professionals that don’t understand or believe them, and a constant fear that they are really ‘crazy’.

As a reaction to repeated abuse some children begin to create imaginary characters to hold the brunt of the trauma. Thus begins a lifetime of assigning pain and memories to ‘others’ so the ‘host’ no longer has to feel. An entire system of alters is created and the ‘craziness’ begins as the adult switches or dissociates. This compartmentalization helps the person survive the brutality of their experience.

Virtual group work is no surprise to those of us who have worked with DID clients. They bring with them a whole group, in their heads, made up of different ages and genders and even different mental health issues! At some point these ‘individual’ participants begin to interact with each other and then group dynamics takes on a whole new meaning!

But let me back up a bit for those of you who may be skeptical. We have all had clients who have experienced childhood abuse or trauma. As adults their symptoms are very much like PTSD and we comfortably begin to help them with their memories, hyper vigilance and anxiety. After awhile we may notice that our usual tools are not working as well and relief is temporary for the client. Medications are not helpful. Suicidal thoughts or self-injury behaviors seem to come out of nowhere and then suddenly disappear.

Strangely these clients are honest about substance abuse describing it as a means to “shut myself up” or “explain my quirky behavior”. Some clients can seem completely functional and professional in certain areas like work. Their ability to focus is often exceptional. Still, at other times there will be an outburst of radically different behavior that is out of character. Some of these behaviors might involve cruising for sexual partners, child like behavior such as climbing a tree or suddenly exhibiting an expertise or talent they are unable to demonstrate at other times.

Another clue that DID is present is a very high tolerance of pain. A client was in a car accident but only went to the doctor days later because the lawyer requested the consultation. The doctor was astonished to find my client’s chest severely bruised and she refused painkillers. She didn’t understand what the fuss was about. This is tied to the client’s excellent ability to compartmentalize thoughts and feelings. You might also notice headaches or a sense of dizziness proceeds behavior changes or panic attacks. Your client may be switching to another alter.

Here are some clues that you are dealing with a ‘group’. Clients will talk about constant chatter, running commentary or arguments in their heads. Journal entries may have noticeable changes in handwriting. E-mails or phone messages may have different vocabulary or tone. Stories of abuse will be shared one week and completely denied the next even apologizing for wasting your time.

It is true you cannot safely diagnose DID until you have witnessed an alternate personality. It helps to use the DES questionnaire for more indicators. Unofficially, when my client politely leans towards me and with a sweep of her hand circles her face and asks me “Are you telling me there is really nothing going on in your head?” and they are astonished that I live with such ‘emptiness’, I have a good clue that this client has been dealing with a life long, complicated and busy system of alters. Then I can begin the ‘group’ work that will lead to the empty contentment I so enjoy myself!

Jane Parker is a licensed mental health therapist in Bradenton, Florida who has a special interest in Dissociative Identity Disorder. Together with Sue Mackey she is co-owner of New View Counseling providing opportunities for a fresh perspective for clients ready to make a change in their lives and relationships.
http://www.newviewcounseling.com

Many people will say “well I never dream” and of course this statement is totally wrong, we all do every night end up in Neptune’s world. One of the best ways to *remember your dreams is to stimulate your subconscious to recall them as you awake.

Depending on your UCI *Unique Celestial Identity, you will have only a few seconds to recall your latest dream, while if you inherited a Mercury *the Mind, in Pisces *dreams, chance are you will dream in color and enjoy every minutes of your second busy dreamy life.

Dreams have a lot to offer, again that is if you can differentiate the different meanings and state. We are all at our deepest state when REM *Rapid Eye Movement takes place. Again depending on your natal UCI and Neptune Lord of dreams aspects and placement by house and sign chances are your dream life will be either non-existent or very active. Of course the use or abuses of legal or illegal drugs/chemicals *Neptune tools, will indeed stimulate more of your imagination or dream state and could create awful nightmares. But as a rule once you have learned to differentiate what type of dream you had there are great benefits, even warnings in your dreams. Now if you have had any of these dreams, either wonderful or terrible, they may also reflect inner fears than could easily turn into a blockage and any and all ailments are coming from a *blockage. The flux of life travels through you and any short circuit can be very detrimental to your physical or spiritual health. While using Feng shui location and orientation of your bed can also help dreaming and accelerate the process of healing.

Of course such old Chinese methodology or Nostradamus rare Divine astrology may be taboo practices for the logical scientist but there are tremendous values in these old practices. Let me tell you one of my many dreams that gave me a better understanding on how to use of dream state constructively and your subconscious’ message properly. In any dream always notice the general environment as it depicts the positive or negative energy displayed. In this dream I was by my window and I saw three huge black crows hawking loudly directly at me. I noticed a few tenacious black clouds above and heard the far away sound of thunder as I walked out to the garden. Then the birds became very aggressive towards me and in fear I picked up a rock and throw it at them. To my surprise the three of them were hit *this can only happen in a dream of course, and they fell dead in front of my feet. Then I woke up wondering what was this all about. During these days I was working on the US base in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a heavy equipment operator.

The *Chief in charge of the job and two others inspectors were watching me trying to cut and climb a steep slope with a heavy Caterpillar loader. After a few trials, wondering for my safety and the expansive machine, I came down the loader and asked if I could use a bulldozer instead. I thought the heavy steady tracks would be much more safe than the huge tires and explained this to them. Their ego got over them and told me they had no dozer available just now and to keep trying. I refused and got fired on the spot. I was terribly upset but there were nothing I could do to convince them to keep my job and went back home. They called on another worker and he began to work as I drove off the base. About one hour later or so I received a call from the top job Superintendent asking me to return to the job site. He also told me the mechanic who witnessed everything earlier had only good words to say about me and only a few minutes after the argument the driver miraculously escaped with his life as the loader flipped upside down on the slope.

I was laughing my head off driving back to the base and up a sudden realized what my dream was all about. The three black birds were nothing else than these three workers who had no experience with the operation of heavy equipment screaming at me and me *shooting them (the birds) to death after I proved my claim. Thus this is how I learned to *read or interpret a prophetic dream.

I wonder how a traditionally educated psychologist’s would react to my explanation. Listening to some of these people on national radio can be very rewarding where the character of the soul himself and his expertise *natal UCI or *Unique Celestial Identity, will act in full force verbally. Some of them are quite interesting reflecting a totally robotic expression on how they perceive their own reality. It amazes me how many of these schooled psychologist professionals are so much into themselves and totally blind to whom they really are.

Traditionally educated famous radio host psychologists are all over the air wave and some on television but rest assured, they do not possess any Cosmic Consciousness and are the perfect examples of typical blind souls. In reality, they are adept on working other people’s problems using extreme logic and general psychology. But what about the depth of rare information coming from Astropsychology, involving the subject’s direct relationship to the Superconscious and the Cosmic Code” This is what creates the robotic response to life and designed the complex psyche of all human beings. But all they can do is to give you logical, plausible answers to something so mysterious, so complex and so mystical that without the proper training they will never ever realize.

One can only reflect his own UCI and in the case of some religious famous syndicated radio hosts, 99% of the *counseling will strongly reflects and involves a deep encrusted dutiful beliefs. Trying to explain the Cosmic Code jurisdictions to any of these talking heads *or any religious person, is like trying to teach a fish to speak Chinese because of the firm unmovable attitude of the accepted belief system. Of course as mentioned many times in my work souls born in January and October are prone to fall for the codification of thoughts. The soul fed on books showing absolutely no commons sense but a rigid know it all, puritanical, dutiful reasoning where anything out of the ordinary of the accepted scriptures should not be endorsed, trusted or taught. They are also born professional students where traditional schooling is a priority over any form of formidable opportunity. But what a schooled person must realize it that; “there is a BIG difference between education and intelligence”.

It amazes me that this type of logical down to earth religious righteous type of thinking runs the US radio waves where these pe4rceived as intellectual elites are very sarcastic and as blind as can be. Incidentally these are the ones trying to guide others. The spiritual pride, religious rectitude and coldness blasted daily from their radio broadcasts are not only wasteful but also detrimental to the listeners.

Anyone raised in such a bully, strict religious environment forced to eat the bible before any meal since birth can only display serious sign of mental instability. And you expect these Doctors on the air to help you or your kids with your problems? One can only see his own reality through his education, intelligence, experiences but most of all through his inherited UCI. Thus asking for someone who shares a very different down to earth *UCI may bring logic to where its needed while the real spiritual manifesto where all the real reasons and answers truly are is non existing.

So this is what it comes down to – Some human beings simply think they know better and believe their particular *wisdom is better than true geniuses who have made history. i.e. Einstein – Simply call their show and ask any of these famous psychologists what they think of Nostradamus, UFO, Edgar Cayce, astrology or even Astropsychology on the air? To them it’s all pseudo science because they never honored the word science to master the subject. Chances are the protective delay in place in all radio stations will take care of that question before it could ever be asked! You probably will get lectured and asked to pray for your sin because you dealt with the occult.

“A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.” Einstein

Blessings to All

D. Turi

http://cosmiccode7.ning.com/
http://www.facebook.com/drturi

The Source of All Good Healing

Psychology and fundamentalism at best have been polite opponents. In recent history, say the last 50 years, this opposition has become vigorous and often less than polite. Many churches, such as Calvary, completely eschew all mental health practitioners (whether social workers, psychiatrists or counselors) and staunchly maintain that all healing comes directly from God or prayer and that all you need in order to develop and maintain a robust mental health may be found in Scripture or a prayer session.

This rejection of psychotherapy may have been a reaction to the “I’m okay, you’re okay” generation of therapists who did very little for most people except to allay the anxieties of narcissists and sociopaths by telling them “if it feels good, it is good.” In the eyes of both Orthodox Jews and Christians, the field of humanistic psychology took the whole program of self-improvement one giant step too far, putting man in the center of the universe, particularly his own.

Their objections were not wrong. And I say this as a holistic psychotherapist with almost 25 years of experience in the field.

I have seen far too many well-meaning therapists do little more for their patients than make them feel better about being sick. They are loath to challenge or confront negative behavior or unhealthy thinking because they fear being seen as judgmental. As a result of their tentative relationships with the truth, they fail in their relationships with their patients. They do not see what needs to be healed so the patient is left unhealed. This is truly a disservice to the patient because what it ultimately does is feed the pathology and starve the essence of the person.

I think all good and true healing flows from the same Source which means that there can be an alliance-and an important one-between the Biblical and Mental Health communities. But only if we have an understanding of our terms and are actually seeking the same results.

What is Healthy? What is Unhealthy?

According to Samuel Hahnemann, M.D., after whom dozens of medical colleges around the world have been named, physical health presents with a very clear picture which is eternally derived from a healthy spiritual state.

“In the healthy human state, the spirit-like life force (autocracy) that enlivens the material organism as dynamis, governs without restriction and keeps all parts of the organism in admirable, harmonious, vital operation, as regards both feelings and functions, so that our indwelling, rational spirit can freely avail itself of this living, healthy instrument for the higher purposes of our existence.”

He goes on:

“The material organism, thought of without life force, is capable of no sensibility, no activity, no self-preservation. It derives all sensibility and produces its life functions solely by means of the immaterial wesen (the life principle, the life force) that enlivens the material organism in health and in disease.”

Therefore…health depends on a healthy wesen or life force or spirit. It is a process that proceeds from above down, from the inside out. This is also the philosophical underpinning of a proper holistic psychotherapy and the pivot point of all Scripture on the subject of good health.

Biblical Healing

Let us start with basics. What has the Bible been saying about health (whether mental, emotional or physical) for the past several thousand years? The following is a small sample of references:

“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear and respect the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.” Proverbs, 3:7-8

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick; but when hopes are realized at last, there is life and joy.” Proverbs, 13:12

“Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. And are you not worth much more than they?” Matthew, 6:26

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Your wound is incurable, your injury is beyond healing. There is no one to plead your cause, no remedy for your sore, no healing for you. All your allies have forgotten you; they care nothing for you…. But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds…’” Jeremiah, 30:12-14, 17

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John, 14:27

Even in this cursory perusal, it’s easy to see that the biblical concepts of health are the same as those taught to graduate students in counseling: Hope, faith and an acceptance of reality, an understanding that we are not the center of the universe, peace of heart (a release of worry), generosity, service, humility, joy, and love. I am sure there is more, but I believe this is a good core to start with.

Clinical Healing

I have worked with individuals, families, couples and adolescents for almost 25 years. They have been both mandated to see me under duress and crawled in desperate for help. I have seen a wide enough range of people to ask a few pointed questions and hopefully seen enough recovery and healing to offer a couple of observations.

The first question: What are the things that lead to poor health, whether physical or mental/emotional?

In my experience, they are the same things the Bible warns us about over and over and over: Pride, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony, Envy, Lust and Wrath.

Almost every single patient I have ever had was doing battle with pride in some way. Some were engaged in battle with nearly all of them at once. And I admit openly that almost every pain I have ever suffered myself had something to do with at least one of those sins or as some people call them, “character defects.”

One woman whom we shall call Sonia came to my office about 15 years ago. She was addicted to pain killers. She had some physical symptoms, but they were not the reason for the prescription or the solution for the pain she needed to heal. She complained about her mother, even though she had not spoken to her in many years and was enormously indignant (a combination of pride and wrath) about how she had been wronged. As she spoke of all the things her mother had done to her, she clenched her jaw and her hands.

When later in treatment I offered up the possibility that her continued rage (wrath) at what had been done to her those many years ago was actually only hurting her and that perhaps it was time for her to accept the fact that her mother had failed her and begin to consider forgiveness, she became outraged (pride). In her mind, accepting the reality of her mother’s inadequacies (without making them her own) was unthinkable. Her mother had to be shown who was right and who was wrong. Sonia equated acceptance with excuse and could not, would not see it any other way. The end result? She stayed in pain and addicted to pain killers. Her pride would have it no other way. When the choice between being “right” or happy was presented to her, she chose to be right.

The second and perhaps more pertinent question: How do we treat these problems in the modern world? What is a psychotherapist to do if the purpose is to facilitate true healing and he or she is not a priest, pastor, or rabbi? We are not preachers. Our job is slightly different and the people who come to us are not always ready for (or necessarily interested in) an extreme spiritual make-over. People who may not be ready to go to a church or synagogue may need to someone objective who will just listen to them and hear their suffering. Many people need to talk before they can learn to pray. And the therapeutic relationship-if it is handled properly-can be the training ground for having other relationships, including one with God.

There is a difference between preaching and manifesting. It is good to inspire others with great thoughts about God. It is also good to manifest God’s love through presence and compassion. There are times that a patient may be too angry at God to hear someone say, “God loves you,” but not too angry to have God’s love quietly demonstrated through patience, understanding, and honest integrity. And this may be the first time he or she has ever experienced it.

In my experience, what we have to do to be healing in psychotherapy is not all that different than scripture prescribes even if it is presented and packaged a little differently.

After working with patients for these 20+ years, I have broken it into five segments or stages, all of which I believe are biblically supported although none of these are dependent on one particular faith or point of view. All the seven deadly sins (or character defects) may be individually or collectively addressed at any point along these five stages. These stages are only clinical observations, not rules and shouldn’t be approached legalistically.

I: Hope

All recovery-whether from drugs, depravity, or desperate fear-begins with a promise of hope, that there is “another way” to be, to live, to feel, to love and be loved. This hope is offered in different ways by different people, but I have found it best received by my patients in the form of personal and true stories of redemption (mine or others), of living examples of other people’s recoveries, of their emotional, mental and spiritual salvations.

When we see the pain of the other person’s struggles, feel the roller coaster of his unfolding temptations and challenges, identify with her frustrations and longings and then witness her release and deliverance…we can begin to hope. If it happened for them, perhaps it can happen for me…? All a good psychotherapist needs is one good perhaps and the work can at least get started.

Most of my initial work with patients is an infusion of hope. Some are so habituated to sadness, to pain, to loss, to deprivation, that they simply cannot imagine anything but the way they’ve always been. “But you are here in my office, so there must be some small ember still burning,” I tell them. But many need quite a bit of tender care-a very careful fanning-for that flame to begin to burn again. So I pace them. (Pacing (*1) is a clinical term meaning that I am walking with the patient rather than running in front of him or dragging behind him.)

II: Surrender

Surrender is a word that gives moderns the shudders. What we are told to want for ourselves is power and control. We are carefully and consistently taught in graduate school to nurture in our patients their “self-empowerment” and imbue in them a solid sense of control. This can be important and necessary in very measured doses, particularly when a person has been abused and even the most personal controls have been denied them. But it can go too far and be endowed too freely.

Even some evangelists have done that with “prosperity gospel.” In that philosophy you can tell where a person is spiritually by what he owns and how well his career is doing. Ask and ye shall receive, they remind us. But instead of its focus on the spiritual it has become a modern, media spin on the Doctrine of the Elect and Predestination: How do we know you have found God’s favor? Because you’re successful. How do you get to be successful? By God’s favor. So, the goal is to acquire wealth, prestige, and power. Somewhere along the line even the ministers have forgotten, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

In the beginning of my own rebirth into sanity, the idea of surrender terrified me. I know from my own experience that surrender is at the very least an uncomfortable concept for most people. And some are not just tentative about it, they are panic-stricken, which is only reasonable since they have not yet come to trust that the universe is purposeful, creative, and meaningful. (For me that is God and, again, my surrender only came when I came to believe that God actually loved me.) For many of those just coming into therapy, the universe has been a hurtful, oft-meaningless, chaotic, unfair place. We cannot surrender to the abyss, to a vast darkness, to a deist blob that couldn’t care less whether we existed or not, to a universe without love or meaning. I certainly can’t imagine doing that. And I didn’t. I couldn’t. So, I present it in the way it was successfully presented to me-with great care and in small steps: Initial surrender means to accept reality. That’s it. Not to like it or excuse it. Just to accept it as real.

Accepting reality is something people can consider even when reality is harsh, even when they are scared, hurt, or confused. Accepting reality is the underpinning of sanity. Denial is the basis for all insanity. When surrender is presented initially in this way, it becomes manageable.

So, what can they surrender to? I keep it simple. They can surrender to the fact that their lives are not working, or the unhappiness they live with at home, or the way they feel and make other people feel when they’re drinking. They surrender to the facts first.

Why? We surrender first to reality because as we’ve been told: “The truth shall set you free.

Surrender in this way, taken in these gentle, baby steps, is what gets us strong enough to make the fuller, sweeter surrender, to take the leap into the love-both human and Divine-that is, as C.S. Lewis and Peter Kreeft call it, our heart’s deepest longing.

III: Honesty

If truth is what we need, then honesty is what we must give. Why isn’t my life working? Why is my spouse always angry? Why am I so easily offended? Why do I have trouble stepping out of the house? What do I feel? What do I need? What do I stumble over myself again and again and again?

This is a coming-clean, a venting, an admission of wrong-doing, a confession of mistakes and a map of wrong turns. It is what Alcoholics Anonymous has called a Fourth Step, what the Church calls a moral reckoning or examination of conscience, and the Jews a “tikun” or correcting. And it is absolutely necessary, whether one is an alcoholic or not, whether one is in a 12-step program or not, whether one belongs to a religion or not.

It is a brave step, this one. It takes courage to say “I really loused up that relationship,” or “I was a coward when it came to my career,” or “I was as abusive as she said I was.”

Interestingly, it is at this point that the need for hope returns. It is very painful to look at all we’ve done wrong and terribly hard to imagine that it can ever be any different. In my work, this is a good time to remind someone of what is possible, returning again to the stories-the true stories-of redemption and the view from the top of the mountain.

Some ways back I knew a young woman (details disguised to protect identity) who had been seen by numerous therapists. She’d been diagnosed with PTSD, Bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder. She’d been medicated, treated with a dozen techniques, restrained for cutting, and finally written off as hopeless.

We spoke about her life, current and past. After about a month of piecing together her history, we landed on the issue of an abortion she’d had when she was 15. She had been so afraid: the boy who had father the child had abandoned her, her parents were busy with work and a very high-level social life, and she had no older or wiser siblings to guide her. Her life with the family’s church had been cut off earlier because everyone had been simply too busy to bother with it. (She had been raised and baptized Catholic.) Ultimately her support and direction came from the media and from the information available at school.

I asked her about the abortion and how she felt about it. She answered with honest curiosity, “Why are you asking?”

“Because it’s a big event, especially for a little girl,” I said.

“No one else seemed to think so.”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone else seemed to think it was no big deal. You just go and do it.”

“Did you see it as no big deal?” I asked.

She started to cry.

It took some time and many tears, but she was neither borderline, bipolar, nor hopeless. She was guilt-ridden, not by my accounting but her own. In an effort to be what her surrounding culture believed she was supposed to be, she had to lie about how she felt, what she wanted, and what she really needed. Telling the truth was her first step out of the pain and the pathology.

This accountability is a way of owning our mistakes so we can move forward to owning our achievements. If everything is everyone else’s fault, then we are the victims of happenstance and there truly is no hope. People are awfully skittish about being accountable because they have been shamed and blamed to excess, but this is not about shame. This is the yellow brick road to freedom.

IV: Service

What does it take to make it better once we know what we’ve been doing wrong?

This is actually a more controversial question than one may imagine because according to many people in the field one must always focus on the positive. And by in large, they make a convincing point. Noticing what works often works. For some patients, I am the first one in their entire lives to say, “I see you. I see what is good in you. Let us look further to see what else you have that is good and can get better.”

However, I think going fully in either direction-focusing only on the positive or focusing only on all the wrongdoing-is a mistake. There must be a balance, an acknowledgment of both aspects or inclinations of our natures. As the first story of Adam and Eve illustrates, we are not wholly good or wholly evil. We have capacities in either direction and to become good or to continue to be good, it takes a conscious effort and awareness of both those inclinations. We must nurture the one and starve the other.

How is that best done?

First and foremost, through service and good works, even when we don’t feel like it. There’s nothing better for someone full of self-pity and hypochondria than to get out and volunteer. I had one young woman volunteer at an old age home. I had another at a soup kitchen. It doesn’t matter how we give, but in order to grow, we must start somewhere.
Through humility even when we feel boastful or proud or angry or indignant. We must do for others, like say we are sorry, even when we want to dig in our heels.
Through patience and generosity even when we feel deprived and impatient.

Service to others is seen by many as a healing of a higher order, which is why it comes later in the 12-Steps of A.A.-we can only offer what we have learned or gained. “If you want to keep it [recovery], give it away,” recovering addicts and alcoholics are told. The meaning there is clear-you must first have it to give it.

There is another side to this, though. Some of us call it “Act as if” and contend we only learn what we teach and only get what we give away. I think it works both ways and it is up to a good clinical team (meaning the patient and the therapist) to determine when and how to go about this. I am no Solomon. What I know, though, is that service-at any time it seems possible and right-is beneficial to the mind, the heart, the body, and the soul.

V: Forgiveness

Without forgiveness, we are stuck in the wrongdoing and don’t get to move forward into our new lives. My feeling is that pride is usually the blockage on this. We won’t forgive because we’re right, damn it! And we want to be vindicated even more than we want to be free or happy.

Forgiveness never denies the wrongdoing (Romans 3:10,23). But it forgives the doer, who clearly knows no better or is too sick to ever see the difference.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean we need to open our door to thieves. It doesn’t ask us to be fools. The irony is that the less one forgives, the more hardhearted, vengeful and angry one becomes and therefore the less one is able to see the truth of any kind. Hatred does not only reject joy, it rejects truth and can’t recognize a real threat when it’s there.

Forgiveness is often the last step in this small ladder to emotional and spiritual freedom.

As Corrie Ten Boom, a Christian woman who survived a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust, said, “Forgiveness is to set a prisoner free, and to realize the prisoner was you.”

One of the best examples of forgiveness is the story of Joseph and his brothers, who had collectively betrayed him and left him to die because of their own envy and greed. He crawled to survive, then was enslaved and thrown in prison. Many years passed. Still, when his brothers came to Egypt many years later, he not only forgave them after he saw that they had changed (and showed true repentance), he rejoiced in them.

Suffering: Is it Necessary?

There is one last issue I’d like to briefly address and that is the notion of suffering. I haven’t allotted it its own stage of recovery because it involves all of them.

The worst part of modern psychotherapy is that it does not allow for the existence of suffering. It insists on happiness as a human “right” and promotes its open-throttled pursuit along with everyone else in mass media and entertainment. This is the parting of ways between what is ordinary psychotherapy (and even those preaching the Prosperity Gospel I mentioned earlier who believe they can petition God for whatever worldly goods or emotional rewards they desire, quoting “ask and ye shall receive” as if it offered proof of God as the Great Pez Dispenser) and a holistic psychotherapy that is based in traditional Biblical values.

Part of the problem is that the modern age of psychotherapists see happiness-which is defined as the attainment of some desired goal-as the end goal of healing.

Orthodox Jews and Christians have a different take on this subject. While it is seen as normal to want to be happy, to be healthy, even to have material comfort it is not seen as the purpose of our existence. It is not even seen as terribly important. It is considered far more critical to be good than to get what you [think you] want. Happy is fine. Goodness and purposefulness and joy-they are far better and reach in far deeper.

What is even more troubling to me is that I see people wanting the rewards of happiness without even the minimum of self-sacrifice. Americans particularly believe it is their “right.” We have been told so repeatedly by the media and psychologists, and even a whole generation of “hip” preachers. Do what makes you happy. It’s all that counts.

The philosophical pinnacle of this thinking is in New Age theology, where sickness, injury and tragedies are defined as self-inflicted manifestations of poor core programming. In that epistemology, Mystery is abolished and we are responsible for everything that happens to us and around us. If abundant health and wealth and beauty are our birthrights, then suffering means we have either done something wrong to deserve it or written bad scripts for our lives.

Given this mental and emotional mulch we are planted in, it is no wonder that we are so worried about our bodies, our bank accounts, and our images. We fret about face lifts more than we do about whether we have a neighbor that needs our help because she has been bed-ridden for a week.

Denying suffering has a price that is incomprehensibly enormous. Because when we deny suffering (which as Buddha said is inevitable in this life), we must also deny death. And to deny death, we must deny life.

Why should it be included in psychotherapy, though? Shouldn’t we want to banish it forever? Why shouldn’t we want to avoid it altogether? What’s in it for us, anyway?

This is the answer I came up with: By being present for suffering, we become present for the whole of life, for the wholeness of another person. And the reward is nothing less than the ability to love-and be loved-fully. We suffer because we love and want to continue loving. It is a poignant irony, I think. In our attempt to avoid suffering, we cut ourselves off from the one thing that can mitigate it: each other.

Judith Acosta, LISW, is a licensed psychotherapist, crisis counselor and classical homeopath in private practice in New Mexico. She is the co-author of The Worst Is Over: What To Say When Every Moment Counts, hailed as the “bible of crisis communications” and Verbal First Aid (Penguin, 2010), the new book on therapeutic communication with children. She lectures around the country on Verbal First Aid, trauma, stress, and animal-assisted therapy. She may be reached at her website: http://www.wordsaremedicine.com, where she has an interactive blog.

In addressing the history of counseling we want to divide the subject into two sections, secular and Christian.

Secular. The history of counseling had its origins, first in religion, later in philosophy, and later still in medicine. Religion and philosophy asked many of the same questions: “Where did I come from? Where am I going? Why am I here?” Medicine on the other hand tends to ask the question “Are you covered by insurance?” From time to time, the members of a community would suffer from the vicissitudes of life. At such times, they would seek help from their priest, wise man, or witch doctor. Often all three were offices were found in one person. Generally the problems they faced were of two kinds; grief over the loss of a loved one, or guilt related to the problem of wrong behavior, sometimes called sin.

There were other problems of course, ranging from love sickness, to anxiety, to madness. Such extraordinary problems called for extraordinary solutions. Love sickness had its potions, and anxiety its elixirs and counsel, while madmen were often considered to be touched by the gods, and if not honored they were at worse driven from their community. Hannibal, Alexander, and Caesar with their bouts of epilepsy are examples of the former, whereas King David (I Samuel 21:10-15) and the maniac of Gadara (Luke 8:26-39) are examples of the later.

Such was the order of things for millennia. However, as populations grew and religions changed, madness began to be looked upon with less tolerance. In time, “mad houses” came into existence to deal with the impatience and fear of society with such people.

It was about this time that psychiatry and psychology began to make their presence known. Both had their origins in 19th century Europe. However, of the two, psychology was far more a product of science than was psychiatry. However, both were founded in the secular humanism of a Europe turned cold to the gospel of Christ and thereby far outside the pale of orthodox Christianity.

Christian. Christian counseling has been a part of the work of ministry from the origin of the Church. “Every since apostolic times, counseling has occurred in the Church as a natural function of corporate spiritual life.” Paul made it clear that he considered the family of God competent to counsel one another when the need arose. He said, “I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct (counsel) one another” (Romans 15:14 NIV).

Like the helping mission of the pagans around them, Christianity also addressed the problems of grief and sin, although with considerably different counsel on how to deal with these problems.

The Reformation, and later the Puritan movement in England and American saw a significant return by Christianity to the authority of the bible as the only source of “life and godliness.” What characterized the Puritans in particular was a practical application of the Word to the problems of life. In this sense, Christian counseling began to take on new significance. Several works stand out as exceptional representatives of this flow of valuable counsel to the Church. They are, Richard Baxter’s A Christian Directory, Thomas Brooks’s Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices, Jonathan Edwards’s A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections, and Ichabod Spencer’s A Pastor’s Sketches. Much of these writings are what we might call “case study” in style.

Nevertheless, in time, the message of the church grew dim, and the void created by a Church with few answers, was address by creative minds with humanistic convictions. Foremost among this crowd was Sigmund Freud a physician from Vienna, Austria. Operating not simply from unchristian, but actually anti-Christian premises, Freud postulated a humanity without sin, helpless victims of their parents’ failures. For a world struggling to free itself from a theological bondage of Reformed theology which made mankind totally responsible for their moral failures, the blame shifting of the new psychologists and psychiatrists did not prove to be resistible. Europe and America in the 19th and 20th centuries begin to flock to the answers of the questions of the dilemmas of life posited by these men.

In time, Christian ministers began to be aware that they were no longer looked to for answers on problems of living, as they once were. Indeed, the unspoken consensus was that Christianity did not have answers for these new problems. Not only did the humanists believe this; Christians themselves came to hold the same position. The liberals in the Church addressed these serious problems of living by Christians, either by “deferring and referring” to “those properly trained to deal with ‘real’ problems,” (psychologists or psychiatrist) or by obtaining the psychological training that would equip them to this task. The conservatives saw the problem as a lack of commitment, bible study, prayer, and faithful attendance of all the church services. In other words, they denied its existence.

In the ’60’s a new breed of evangelical, represented by Bruce Narramore, presented an alternative to the capitulation of liberalism on the one hand, and the denial of fundamentalism on the other. Their answer was the “Christianization” of psychiatry and psychology. Their rallying cry was “all truth is God’s truth.” With this banner held high, they boldly attacked the gates of neurosis, snatching brands from the mass of the depressed. Orthodox Christians flocked to read the new books harmonizing orthodox Christianity and the humanism of psychology and psychiatry.

This solution captured the imagination of the Church; it continues to do so to this day. However, in the early 70’s a new approach was pioneered by a professor of practical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, Dr. Jay E. Adams. In response to the responsibilities given him to teach counseling to the students at Westminster, he developed a counseling method, which he dubbed nouthetic counseling. Essentially, he asserted that in scripture the Christian has everything he needs for “life and Godliness.” The problem with the Church, he stated, was that it had not made the scripture useful by means of proper exegesis, and functionally relevant with useful applications to the problems of life.

His writings started a quiet, slow growing, revolution in many conservative/orthodox churches. It is this return to the bible that has brought Christianity full circle in its application of scripture to the practical and difficult problems of life.

http://www.living-hope-press.com/Christian-Counseling.html

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