Controlling Your Emotions Before They Control You

Bob Phillips

Description

The roller-coaster of emotional turmoil can be devastating. Fear, anger, and stress take their toll, and families are hurt, job performance suffers, and self-esteem plummets. Is there hope? In this hands-on guide, readers will find practical help in: dealing with depression overcoming bitterness understanding feelings forgiving others praising God in the midst of problems True stories, emotional evaluations, personality charts, and biblical counsel make this book understandable and interesting. (Formerly What to Do Until the Psychiatrist Comes.)

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
• Date de parution: 01 mars 2001
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780736949897
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS Eugene, Oregon 97402

Except where otherwise indicated, Scripture verses are taken from The Living Bible, Copyright © 1971 owned by assignment by Illinois Regional Bank N.A. (as trustee). Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Verses marked AMP are taken from The Amplified New Testament, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Verses marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Verses marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version ®, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. The “NIV” and “New International Version” trade marks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society.

CONTROLLING YOUR EMOTIONS BEFORE THEY CONTROL YOU FormerlyWhat to Do Until the Psychiatrist Comes

Copyright © 1995 by Harvest House Publishers Eugene, Oregon 97402

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Phillips, Bob, 1940 – Controlling your emotions before they control you / Bob Phillips. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0736904514 1. Bible—Psychology—Miscellanea. 2. Psychology and religion—Miscellanea. 3. Christian life. 4. Spiritual healing—Miscellanea. I. Title.

BS645.P54 1995 248.8’6 — dc20 959663 CIP All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America.

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To Dr. Henry Brandt and Dr. Jay Adams. These two men have held high the importance of the Bible in counseling. They have coupled sound wisdom with a sincere desire to help people. They have personally encouraged and helped me to think and grow.

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Contents

A Word from the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7

Am I Crazy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

A Fresh Look at Mental Illness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

A World Gone Mad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Dealing with Depression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

The Battle with Anger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Understanding Your Feelings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Lifestyles of the NotSoRichandFamous . . . . . . 117

Taking Responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Understanding Yourself and Others . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Forgiveness—The Hardest Thing to Do . . . . . . . . 173

In Search of Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Slaying the Giant of Fear. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

How to Handle Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Praising God in the Midst of Problems . . . . . . . . . 251

Looking for a Counselor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Counseling Help from the Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

A Word from the Author

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. —Helen Keller

What a wild time to be alive. It is a time of crisis. Our families and our nation stand at a crossroad of change. The very fabric of our society is under attack. The traditional values that our country was founded upon have been eroded by decades of social change. The breakdown of the family has increased by dra matic proportions. Crime and drug usage are issues faced even by smalltown America. Problems such as AIDS and abortion are dividing communities. It is difficult, if not impossible, to read newspapers and magazines that do not regale us with murder, betrayal, and disaster. Television is filled with soap operas and talk shows that deal with every possible form of wickedness and sexual deviation. Not only have the national and international problems increased, but individual difficulties are also on the rise. Billions of dollars are spent annually in dealing with mental health. Tons of barbiturates are consumed daily by people trying to cope with life. Mental hospitals and psychiatric clinics are crowded with hurting people. Suicide is still one of the major causes of death. Nervous breakdowns, stress disor ders, and emotional exhaustion are common in many families. In the Chinese language, there is a symbol for the wordcrisis. It is formed by combining two characters.

One character stands for the concept of danger and the other represents opportunity.

To each is given a bag of tools, A shapeless mass, and a book of rules, And each must make, ere life is flown, A stumbling block, or a steppingstone.

There is no question that we all face problems and difficulties. Everyone has pressure and pain. But this is part of being included in the human race. How we face our difficulties is what makes or breaks us. Charles H. Spurgeon said, “Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties.” Our attitude toward the stress of life is the key. A. W. Tozer addressed this when he said, “Things are for us only what we hold them to be. Which is to say that our attitude toward things is more likely, in the long run, to be more important than the things themselves.” This book has been born out of the desire to help people change their outlook toward their pressures and difficulties. Like many young people entering college, I was not sure what profession I would pursue. I enrolled as a Christian education and Bible major and minored in psychology. Upon graduation, I joined the staff of an interdenominational Christian ministry, and later I went on to become a licensed minister. I then went back to school and earned an M.A. in counseling, became a licensed marriage, family, and child counselor, and eventually went on for a Ph.D. in counseling. After 30 years of ministry and over 14,000 hours of individual counseling with people, I am con vinced