A family counselor who also seeks to embrace Christian faith into the process of counseling must do so with a full understanding of what such integration entails. The author considers some of the criticisms leveled by those who question the possibility of such integration. Criticisms range from the argument that the narcissism that is central to the therapeutic process shifts focus away from God to the contention that anything not verified as the perceived word of God is automatically heretical. The author also looks at the ethical codes of three contrasting counseling organizations, using this analysis to develop a personal understanding of the ways in which faith and science can be combined to provide an effective therapeutic approach. The author concludes that Christian counseling offers a deeper, richer outcome to clients by addressing not only the family's psychological needs by its spiritual needs, as well. The Christian counselor's challenge is to maintain a balance between the secular and the religious, a balance that offers deeper meaning to the work of helping families in crisis.
FAITH AND PSYCHOLOGY: FINDING MEANING IN THE BALANCE
This is a personal integration paper. It focuses on my attempt to integrate my personal faith and my career plans to become a family counselor. While Christian counseling is a rapidly growing field, there are many critics who argue that a deep belief in Christianity is incompatible with the principles of family therapy and even with a comprehensive acceptance of theories of human psychology. This paper is my attempt to reconcile these two apparently disparate and profound approaches to helping people and to understand how, for me, they can combine to provide a genuinely spiritual and psychologically significant means of enabling clients to live lives enriched by both perspectives.
Tara Dooley (1999, February 24) writes,
Increasingly, Christians - even those who have not se...