Theophostic Counseling: What is it and what's your opinion of it?

It is a form of Christian counseling and it seems to help people with phobias, depressions, anxiety disorder and many other things. I have never used it so I can’t comment on it for myself though I have heard it has helped some.

@JustmeAman So… What do they do? How do they bring the religion into the therapy, and how do they bring the therapy into therapy? How is it different from having a member of the clergy council you?

I’m really not sure because like I said I haven’t ever used it. It would be interesting to have someone comment further on it though.

Here ya go

Add it to the heap!

Pseudo-psychology exists in so many forms, and people eat it up. The formula is the same, usually: give a few universal truths like “happiness doesn’t come from things” or “the source of your unhappiness is not tied to the daily events of your life.” Wow. Incredible insights. But people get interested and read more. The quacks then pour some of their own terminology on you (when they use their own terms and definitions, it’s harder to say they don’t make a lick of sense), and then dump some vague philosophies and beliefs onto the unsuspecting, desperate person, creating a framework that an uncritical thinker could possibly believe in.

Then comes the first treatment. There are many ways of replicating a “breakthrough,” (check out the insanity of Scientology’s E-meter for an intensely deliberate example) but usually, a person who is keeping an open mind, and isn’t familiar with low-level brainwashing, and who generally trusts others, can be convinced that they’ve had a major, life changing experience. Whether the “counselor” believes what they are doing is legitimate therapy or not, and whether the techniques are pure mental strain followed by release (Scientology) or forcing someone to drastically leave their emotional comfort zone and giving them a pat of the back and calling it a success (Landmark Forum) or simply conjuring an outside source to direct emotional pain at, the effect is the same. The patient buys into the whole philosophy, and everything related and unrelated thing the “counselor” is selling them.

Not that this is necessarily a case like that, but since there really aren’t any deities or demons controlling your life, this one doesn’t even pass my smell test.

Well said X1000, Smashley. It is just a Chirsitianized version of an already discredited nonsensical pseudo-science. There is no real value to it that couldn’t be as easily garnered from a random (and free) support group.

@crazyivan – Thanks. I’m constantly amazed by how otherwise intelligent people can buy into such tripe. I think the key is familiarity with the art of bullshitting, and a persistent unwillingness to accept that you’ve been duped.