Telling the Truth to Troubled People

William Backus

Description

A clinical psychologist and associate pastor in a large suburban church, author William Backus here provides background information, counseling techniques, terminology and scriptural basis for bringing counseling back into the Church. Integrating both biblical and psychological facts, he shows the reader how to use "Misbelief Therapy" as presented in the bestseller Telling Yourself the Truth in helping Christian counselors show their patients how to overcome their psychological and emotional problems.Chapters include issues such as:--Why counseling belongs in the Church--The limits of counseling--Truth, the core of counseling--Anxiety disorders--when fear moves in--Schizophrenia (departure from reality)--Sexual deviationDr. Backus gives the counselor many case histories and dialogue exchanges to help amplify and apply the counseling techniques. Review questions at the end of each chapter make it an ideal group study book for a lay counseling class.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 01 mars 1985
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781585588831
• Langue: English

Extrait

Telling the Truth to Troubled People Copyright © 1985 William Backus
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, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher and copyright owners.
Published by Bethany House Publishers 11400 Hampshire Avenue South Bloomington, Minnesota 55438 www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a Division of Baker Book House Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan. www.bakerbookhouse.com
Ebook edition created 2012
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 for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-0-8712-3811-5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Introduction
Part One: COUNSELING AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
1. So You Want to Be a Counselor!
2. Counseling Belongs in the Church
Part Two: DISCERNMENT, DIAGNOSIS, AND CHANGE
3. Looking Under the Skin
4. Planning Treatment in Advance
5. What You Should Know About Tests
6. The Limits of Counseling
7. What Do We Mean by “Abnormal”?
8. Truth, the Fiery Core of Counseling
9. Get a New Mind
10. “In the Beginning God”: The First Interview
11. What Do You Do for a Whole Hour?
12. Terminating With a Future and a Hope
Part Three: COUNSELING FOR COMMON DISORDERS
13. Anxiety Disorders
14. Depression
15. Anger
16. “My Doctor Says It’s Psychological!”
17. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders
18. Schizophrenia
19. Bipolar (Manic Depressive) Disorders
20. The Antisocial Personality
21. Sexual Deviation

Subject Index
Notes
About the Author
Other Books by Author
Back Cover
Introduction
“What do you plan to offer readers that they can’t find in the excellent books on Christian counseling already available?” Carol Johnson, Managing Editor of Bethany House, asked me when I proposed doing this book. Carol, concerned about good stewardship of time, finances, creativity and marketing skills which go into a successful publishing venture was suggesting, gently, that there are already books, good books, now on the market for Christian counselors. So why should another one be published?
The recent renewal in the Church has been accompanied by a great interest in reaching out to people who have problems. A veritable geyser of counselors, Bible study and prayer group leaders, and spiritual ministers, all willing and eager, have found themselves in a unique position to offer spiritual counsel to the “walking wounded” who fill the pews of our churches. As my editor pointed out, a torrent of books pertinent to counseling has poured out of Christian publishing houses. And many of these works do have lasting value.
Particularly worthwhile are writings by Dr. Gary Collins, Dr. James Dobson, and Dr. Larry Crabb. Dr. Crabb’s work has recently attracted my attention anew, especially for its success at formulating a specifically Christian psychology based on a Christian view of man, man’s fundamental problem, and the transcendent Source of resolution for that problem in God’s revelation. In my view, Crabb has done remarkably well at avoiding the pitfall of offering psychological theories and garnishing them with Christian-sounding phrases.
So why do I think there is room for one more book on counseling? The present volume has several features not commonly found in the existing literature. They are, I believe, becoming important for Christian counselor training.
1. Integration . It is becoming increasingly obligatory for Christians offering counseling to troubled people to acquaint themselves with what is known of clinical conditions, their diagnoses, courses, and treatments. Many Christian counselors have rejected this knowledge, assuming that clinical psychology is nothing but worldly values surreptitiously palmed off on unsuspecting patients. Although values form an important part of psychotherapy, and the values of secular clinicians are at odds with those of Christians, there is nevertheless an increasingly large body of empirical knowledge which makes a difference in treatment. Specific treatments exist for specific conditions, and it is incumbent upon workers in this field to know which is which.
The time is past when the church can tolerate pious but opinionated counselors who insist on exorcizing demons out of people who actually need lithium. This book is a beginning. It attempts to teach counselors something of diagnosis and specific treatments, although it cannot possibly exhaust the subject. All this is integrated with and governed by Christian understanding and values.
2. Specific instructions . Many of the volumes now available for Christian counselor training concentrate on developing an understanding of how the human condition gives rise to problems, the relationship between past and present in human emotional disorders, and the power of God to heal and alleviate misery. I have tried to offer the reader understanding too, but in a context of very specific instruction in methods. Formats for sessions, how-to-do-it dialogue samples (as well as how- not -to-do-it samples), and concrete directions for performing certain counseling operations are presented. It is possible for those who sense God’s calling to a counseling ministry to learn from this book a definitive set of procedures as to what they are going to do in the counseling session.
3. An eclectic counseling method which is based on “truth therapy” is offered . Although the current popularity of cognitive psychology attests its effectiveness as an explanatory device as well as a powerful change method, Christian authors have been slow to see that it offers a unique opportunity for integration with scriptural reality. The basic tenet of cognitive psychology is that what people believe and tell themselves determines their behavior and their feelings about life.
This very point happens to be the axis on which Christianity turns: belief, faith, is the key to everything! An earlier book authored by Marie Chapian and myself has offered self-training in changing one’s own harmful misbeliefs (see Telling Yourself the Truth , Bethany House Publishers, 1980). Our second book was released in the spring of 1984, also from Bethany. Entitled Why Do I Do What I Don’t Want to Do? , it teaches the reader to apply “truth therapy” to the work of overcoming sin. Since the present volume is meant to train counselors in the use of truth therapy, I suggest readers acquaint themselves with both earlier books. They are in no sense prerequisites for the use of this manual, but they will be helpful in showing how “misbelief therapy” works in a self-help setting. The present volume offers training in methods for applying this misbelief therapy in Christian counseling.
4. Questions for review . The reader will find review exercises at the end of each chapter. Although it has been clearly demonstrated that effective learning is aided by practice in recall, many training resources have been published offering no opportunity for the reader to recall what has been read.
Conscientious review at the end of each chapter using the materials and questions provided will increase the value of this book to the reader who wishes to be a student of Christian counseling and is essential for the reader who wishes to actually apply the skills offered in this book for helping others. The formation of groups and classes for the study of counseling methods is strongly encouraged, and for these groups the discussion questions offer a ready resource.
CHURCH COUNSELING CENTERS
The current spiritual renewal of the Christian Church has seen many innovations. One of the most exciting is the interest in lay Christian counseling which has emerged. The New Testament pictures the Body of Christ as a ministering fellowship, meeting human need with the wisdom of God. What more is necessary to mandate the establishment of lay counseling centers in churches?
Many have done it. One of the first such centers was established at North Heights Lutheran Church, Roseville, Minnesota, under my direction and supervision. Currently, approximately forty lay counselors, trained and closely supervised, see close to sixty counselees each week at the church. These lay counselors are presently augmented by a physician, Dr. Keith Oelschlaeger, who treats patients referred to him for possible psychotropic medication (medication which affects mental functions). This program has proved itself effective over the six years of its existence. The present book has grown out of training sessions which I conducted for the preparation of new counselors.
It is anticipated that, within the next ten years, many more churches will establish counseling centers staffed by trained and supervised lay counselors. To equip these counselors is one of the purposes of this manual. I believe instructors will find it a most valuable resource in the work of restoring primacy in counseling to the Christian Church where, in my opinion, it has always belonged.
Recent media publicity concerning the nation’s first clergy malpractice suit has caused some concern among the nearly two million clergymen in the United States. Parents of a young man who committed suicide while under pastoral counseling have charged a California church with responsibility for his death. As this book goes to press, the courts have not yet made a final determination. Though national media attention has given the case far greater significance than is actually warranted, church groups who plan to set up a counseling program may wish to investigate the possibility of malpracti