Biblical Counseling or Psychology

I ran across this article the other day. It starts out:

Glenna twists a Kleenex in her hands and looks out the window of the counseling office. The Crayola-blue sky belies the storm within her. “I have these awful images,” she whispers. “I see children and they’re being hurt.” Her voice breaks off. “What kind of person am I? If I have these disgusting thoughts, then I, I must like them, right? There’s something terribly wrong with me.”

A Christ follower in her early-30s, Glenna shows telltale signs of Obsessive- Compulsive Disorder (OCD). In a few words, OCD is an anxiety problem characterized by recurrent, intrusive thoughts (termed obsessions) and repetitive behaviors (called compulsions). OCD is a label used among psychotherapists; no equivalent term appears in Scripture.

First, let’s look at a secular understanding of OCD.

I have a few questions. What does “telltale signs of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)” mean? Where does the author get that in the Bible? What would happen if she were to take each “symptom” and evaluate it in the light of Scripture?

The author said, “no equivalent term appears in Scripture.” Really? Are you saying the Bible has nothing to say to Glenna? The Bible doesn’t address the things that are going on in Glenna’s life? Really? “First, let’s look at a secular understanding”? Really? Let’s start with what some of the pagans say is going on? So, there are lots of secular understandings? Why pick the one you picked? Who says they know what they are talking about?

Further down the author said,

OCD has a strong physiological basis. Among the scientific evidence are twin and family studies that show people with first-degree relatives (such as a parent, sibling, or child) who have OCD are at a higher risk for developing OCD themselves.

Does “higher risk” automatically mean the problem is physiological? Do you know that Glenna has family members who also suffer from “OCD”? Do you know that each of them also suffers from “OCD”? Have you noticed that “science” changes every couple of years? All we have to do is wait a few months and “ta-da” new science.

“OCD has a strong physiological basis.” Based on studies done with twins, some folks are like their parents and siblings? So that proves it?

 It appears that the physiological problem may be a malfunction in a brain structure called the caudate nucleus.

And

But in OCD, the problem may be that the smooth shifting of thoughts and behavior are disrupted by a glitch in the caudate nucleus, causing the frontal lobe to become overactive.

There’s a little word that keeps popping up in the article, “may.” It may be a “malfunction in the brain structure.” “the problem may be that the smooth shifting of thoughts and behavior …” It may be this or it may be that. Of course, it might not be either. The next sentence assumes that it is rather than it may be. Why use the word, may in the first place?

If the problem is a physiological brain problem, not a thinking or act of the will kind of problem, how can anything other than surgery or as some of the secular world thinks, medication help a person who has OCD? How does cognitive/behavioral therapy change a brain, a physical problem?

Oh, wait further down she says, “His research shows before-and-after PET scans of actual change in the brain.” So, changes in thinking cause changes in the brain structure? Why talk about the “science” at all then? We observe the brain doing something, then we observe the brain doing something different. Wow! Really? What’s the point if at the end of the day, when a person changes, they change?

Why don’t we use the Bible to define the things Glenna is doing? Why don’t we address the fear? The bondage? The acts of the will? The sinfulness in her heart? The lack of trust in a Holy God? Why don’t you lead her to walk with God from moment to moment so that God can lead her out of her slavery to sinful things? Why do we need to “borrow” four steps from anyone, especially a non-Christian psychologist, to “treat” someone who is suffering from a sinful life? Isn’t the Bible sufficient for life and godliness anymore?

I thought we were Biblical counselors? Why is this article at best an integrationist article? And at worst a secular article with whiffs of Christianity thrown in?

I guess the meme at the top of the page, “Your Counseling is only as strong as your Theology” is true. If your counseling goes first to a secular take on what you’re observing, it is very difficult to get back to helping people walk with God.

Are we trying to help Glenna walk with God so that he is pleased and glorified? Or are we trying to help Glenna be a more productive and self-sufficient person?

The article ends with, “the good news is God can restore the fallen brain in people like Glenna, who now has hope.” Really? Where in the Bible does it say that God is even interested in the brain? Isn’t the Bible about changing hearts? The world is into changing brains?

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15).