Prayer In Counseling Paper

McMinn (2011) believed that the integration of psychology, theology and spirituality is tricky, for Christian counselors, because other therapists are focused on a change in mental health (symptom reduction, ego strength, etc.), whereas, the Christian counselor is concerned with spiritual growth and transformation (p. 39). This is the view that sets the tone for the rest of the book. In order to make the book easy to follow, McMinn (2011) began with a discussion about Religion in the Counseling Office where he clarifies the need for training, the importance of the spiritual life of the counselor, the role of spiritual disciplines, and God’s role in the counseling process (Chapter 1).

Siang-Yang Tan, a psychologist that has been in the field for over 25 years wrote a journal on the Use of Prayer and Scripture in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. This journal “covers the appropriate and ethical use of prayer, including inner healing prayer, and Scripture in a Christian approach to cognitive-behavioral therapy” (Tan, 2007). In this journal he expounded on the methods he used through his experience to ethically provide prayer and scripture in a suitable fashion. He also went a little further to talk about how, “Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the most empirically supported treatments (ESTs) available for a wide variety of psychological disorders” (Tan, 2007). Tan described in part on how the principles of prayer can be merged in the therapy process and in certain circumstances have value in the client’s needs through their receptiveness.

McMinn (1996) uses a cognitive/behavioral approach. Many clients, especially those in the “Bible Belt” seek our Christian counselors. They look for a counselor that will hold them accountable for their actions and make them question themselves. However, I also believe that the counselor must identify when their client is ready for this approach. Too much too soon can lead to dissolution of the counseling relationship. I enjoyed McMinn’s approach to prayer. I agree with McMinn that God is always a part of the counseling session. Without God we cannot experience healing. In my opinion, the way a counselor displays their spirituality and approaches spirituality in the counseling setting is a key factor in how well the counselor can blend psychotherapy

Pastoral Care and Counseling has been a very informative class in many areas that we will deal with as pastors and counselors. The areas that I believe are essential for me to continue to educate myself and be aware of are in the importance of the church, understanding the priority of visiting sick and dying of members, and

In this paper I will review the article “Interventions that Apply Scripture in Psychotherapy.” (Garzon 2005). Overall counseling can be very tricky, especially when the client is religious. This will require the counselor to use multiple resources, such as the Bible, when coming up with a treatment plan. The word of God is superior when it comes to healing. “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 (NIV)

McMinn unveils the realism of what essentially happens in the counseling office. He dives into the fitting together “Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling”. McMinn explains how “those who enter therapy in the midst of their pain experience a restorative counseling relationship that brings acceptance hope, and meaning into their broken lives” (McMinn, 2011, p. 20). There are various questions surrounding Christian counseling that McMinn faces head on in this book when it comes to the challenges counselors face as it relates to integrating religion and spirituality in their sessions. Life on the frontier as McMinn puts it, is where counselors face six basic challenges. Challenges such as moving from two areas of competence to three, blurred personal-professional distinctions, expanded definitions of training, confronting dominant views of mental health, establishing a scientific base or even defining relevant ethical standards (McMinn, 2011). Personal journey’s that McMinn has taken throughout his career provide him with the knowledge, skills and abilities to depict how we should face these challenges. McMinn talks about how many counselors have a need to interpret studies, have good psychodynamics and figure out which cognitive therapy is right for their counseling. As he states, “Christian counseling is more complex than other forms of counseling because our goal are multifaceted (McMinn, 2011, p.

Christian counselors have a responsibility to their clients to integrate psychology and theology in their therapeutic approaches. Incorporating multiple components however is not as straight forward as one might think. In Psychology Theology, and Spirituality (McMinn, 2011) McMinn discusses the benefits of an integrated counseling approach that strives to promote “both spiritual and emotional growth” (McMinn, 2011, p. 5) by including a third element; spirituality, or more specifically, spiritual formation. Finding the proper blend of elements can be challenging even for a seasoned therapist.

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I believe Christian counselors should, therefore, make positive use of what God has given them in their attempts to reconstruct an individual’s thought processes. Subsequently we all have bad thinking sometimes and are in need to reframe the mind. For instance, according to the word, Jesus died for all of our sins (John 3:16, 1 John 2: 1-2), but after we accepted Jesus Christ in our lives, most of us struggled with self- forgiveness. We can only count on the Holy Spirit to change our thoughts and reveal the truth through the Scriptures to replace all the lies and misconceptions, we formulated from old traumatic experiences. The knowledge I accrued from this article are similar to what I went through myself last year around this time; but, I would say I found it very encouraging that experimental studies are beginning to demonstrate the benefits of incorporating prayer and scripture into CBT, and that the scientific community is beginning to take notice. After reading this article, I was inspired to look for more information on this subject, and see what others are doing in this area to help people who profoundly brokenhearted. It’s acknowledged that in CBT a therapist with the best intentions can

McMinn tells how psychology, theology, and spirituality are used and how they should be used in Christian counseling. A Christian counselor has to look at not necessarily psychology and theology in a counseling session but how religion and spiritually is brought into the session. McMinn (2011) states, “Religious interventions require us to understand spiritual formation, place priority on personal spiritual training as well as professional development, challenge prevailing models of mental health, work toward a stronger scientific base, and sensitively recognize ethical issues” (p. 26). Counselors need to work on their own spiritual foundation so they can are able to help clients. This consists of prayer, scripture, redemption, sin, forgiveness, and confession (McMinn, 2011).

The author suggests that theology, psychology, and spiritual formation should all work together in order to help a client reach a state of health (McMinn, 2011). When reading this book, I recalled a point in my life where I wanted to reach out to a counselor in order to get help due to abuse that I had experienced in my life. I had left home and had begun to experience mental breakdowns in the workplace. My employer approached me and told me that I needed to go and seek help, but I refused. I remember thinking about conversations that I had previously with my father about counseling.

Although, the method of combining prayer and scripture with CBT can be an effective approach, the author makes known there are some clients who will not receive it, even though several empirical studies have shown benefits. Tan’s goal is to provide inner healing for all clients that reach out for help.

Christian counselor avoiding a secular worldview and rejecting psychology and counseling theory has to offer and denying scientific validation of Christian methods distance Christian counseling practice in various mental health fields. "We can only speculate on the effectiveness of Christian counseling interventions that are built on different worldview and theoretical assumptions(McMinn, 2011,

This article focuses on the use of prayer and scripture in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). First you must focus on the biblical approach which you acknowledge Gods love and deal with past hurts in a proper manner. You also must focus on Gods Holy Spirit and his scriptures. As the therapist you should not be in self, you have to focus on your client. You have to allow God spirit to be used in the therapy session. There were multiple types of integration that could be used. Implicit integration which refers to a more covert approach that does not initiate the discussion of religious or