Therapy within Christianity

@ReflectionsInTime I wholeheartedly agree

@ReflectionsInTime i agree with this. God gives people talents to be counselors, doctors, etc.

@saintsong wow this is beautiful to see. God bless you for sharing this. May I ask do you go church or do you have other Christian friends who share the importance of having therapy as well as Jesus

@Adwoa my friend Noah went for therapy, nobody saw it coming. He went up in flames and left a little pile of ash on the welcome mat. It was very sad

@SW-User yeah that is is sad. Is that why you are personally against it ? If that had not happened to your friend do you think you would have a different outlook on therapy ?

@Adwoa Please. Surely, you're not taking her seriously...

@MrSmooTh Right on.

@Adwoa Those kinds of believers should be reminded that God works through others.

@SW-User I couldn’t agree more God has gifted people in the medical field to use their skills to serve others both believers and non believers. It’s limiting God and putting him in a box and that box is the church building and outside those four walls it seems as though God can’t work outside the church when he has called Christians to preach to the world and this can be done in various ways.

@SW-User You got that right. SUPPOSED to be, but it hurts God when those who profess to follow Christ, show just the opposite lifestyle, with their words, nude photos, and their false teachings. I've come across two lately. That's not judging. The Bible said you will [i]know[/i] them by their fruits. In other words, you'll know who the phony ones are, by their words and actions. These are phonies and false teachers, of which the Lord is ashamed. They're not fooling the Lord.

There's nothing wrong with seeing a therapist. God gave us doctors, too.

@Pinkstarburst thank you for sharing this and for opening up about your mental health struggles. I too have battles with it and is what led me to ask me to ask this question. I have opened up to certain Christian’s help lines and I got a similar response to you and it seems sometimes quite dismissive even though I know their intention wasn’t that. I have also done counseling in relation to anxiety and it has helped but with other topics not so much so there is this tug of war between counseling and the church. Very conflicting at times

@Adwoa I’m sorry you have this battle as well. After many years and a lot of work, I’ve learned and know the truth that God isn’t punishing me and I am not letting Him down in some way. I have also learned that my faith is between God and myself. A church does not define my worthiness of His love and acceptance.

To be honest, I had to separate my mental health from religion (or rather those surrounding me) in order to truly fight my mental health battle.

@Pinkstarburst wow thank you for sharing that. I think I might take that approach as well and see how it goes for me.

@ReflectionsInTime Thousands, look it up. Then look up what the Christian Church did to Native American Children.

@Pitchblue You sure like to pick on the Christian Church don't you? Thousands. Ok. lol

@ReflectionsInTime You sure like to protect pedophiles don't you.

@hippyjoe1955 pastors could be trained but they are definitely not licensed to any state board in particular at least in the country I’m from to do psychological assessment and analysis on patients as this path requires formal education in psychology and a doctorate but yes pastors could be like life coaches or “counselor”in a way and give some sort of advice but wouldn’t be allowed to call themselves legally a psychologist.

And also for therapy it’s more like trial and error to see which therapist best suits you same with church not every preacher is going to suit you but doesn’t mean that church is bad altogether because of one bad preacher. But everyone is different so I understand

@Adwoa They are licensed here in Canada.

@hippyjoe1955 oh that makes sense I get it

@Adstar everything within psychotherapy e.g CBT ,family therapy etc

@Adwoa I have no opposition to that.. I do however get very uneasy about the medications they sometimes prescribe to people.. But anyway there is no Biblical ban on getting behavior therapy.. But there is teaching about not abusing ones body with drugs.. Not saying that all drugs prescribed by therapists are damaging to ones body / mind.. But some of them,,, well as a said they are suspect to me..

@Adstar that’s more so psychiatrist that would prescribe medication but psychologist aren’t allowed too. I agree with you I’m not for medication in the form of pills rather medicine through more natural remedies e.g. mediation to regulate the mind

@Anielka good observation. I’m referring to psychotherapy aka cognitive therapy