Week One & Two

Two of the world’s treatments are medication and psychotherapy. These also have some validity because our physical bodies are decaying and do malfunction. Medications are sometimes used to try to treat a chemical imbalance. (Two cautions in taking anti-depressants are: (1) they have unwanted side effects and (2) they may repress the symptoms and conceal the real cause of the chemical imbalance and depression.)

 

Psychotherapy occurs when one person talks to another person about his or her problems. It has many treatments. Some approaches include the psychoanalytic, neo-psychoanalytic, life-span, humanistic, ethnology, sociobiology, cognitive, and behavioral. These approaches have as many variations in treatments as there are personalities.

 

Christian approaches include:

 

- Eclectic Counseling which is Bible-oriented and integrates secular psychological concepts that are “consistent” with scripture. Steps on “how to” succeed over certain problems are usually given to help bring about a change in thinking and behavior.

 

- Directive Counseling a Bible-centered approach which scripturally confronts the depressed person out of a Christian concern for the purpose of producing repentance. Scriptural principles are given in “how to” steps to direct behavioral change.

 

- Memory Source Counseling, which is a Christ-centered approach that helps the counselee follow his or her present emotional pain to its source which is a past, stressful life event. Once found, Jesus is asked to reveal the truth about the lies the counselee has believed about the past hurt. Thinking and behavioral changes follow Jesus’ revelation.

 

- Discipleship Counseling, also a Christ-centered approach which focuses on the believer’s life in Christ. Essential to this approach is the Holy Spirit’s revelation in knowing God intimately and understanding how to live out of Christ’s life, one’s identity in Christ, the cross applied rather than implied, how one’s flesh has developed, the law of sin, brokenness, surrender, forgiveness, and resolution. Behavioral change spontaneously occurs as one learns to walk in the Spirit. This approach is also known as The Exchanged Life.

 

Weekly Key Terms:

 

Spiritual warefare

 

strong holds

 

bondage

 

intervention

 

discernment

 

holiness