Thank you for this. I am sure your insights/analysis/experiences on this controversial subject (especially for those in churches pushing biblical/nouthetic counseling) has provided help for so many struggling.
Thank you for this. I’m going to link to this on my website because I have many people call me each month looking for a trustworthy combo of evidence-based care that is Biblically sound. Many of their pastors and spiritual advisors have told them that they need a Christian therapist because they don’t seem to be getting better. They find a Christian therapist, but most of the time, they don’t really treat OCD, and they still don’t get better. There are just a few of us who thread that needle of being explicitly Christian and trained/experienced in treating OCD. We need more.
I wonder if any of these Biblical counselors have ever seen an OCD sufferer actually recover without basically implementing ERP or I-CBT (which also ultimately eliminates compulsions and avoidance as well, just at a different point in the process). I find that most of my OCD clients who are Christians end up really growing in their faith because they learn how to hold that space where their faith and their life are not based on how they feel, but are based on what they value and know to be true in spite of their feelings. And as they walk that journey for a while, their feelings often start to come more in line with what they value and know to be true.
Amen here, Tyler. And you're asking a fabulous question I wonder as well: have Biblical counselors consistently worked with people who have real ICD and consistently seen people recover? Sigmund Freud claimed that he cured a case of OCD in his famous report of the “Rat man" but we know that psychoanalysis is not a treatment of choice for OCD. I truly wonder whether or not people with OCD are helped much through Biblical Counseling alone, and without evidence-based practices, we can't know except for some of the unfortunate results.
You nailed it. Thanks for your voice and friendship. And for the record, it's 1,000 x more bold of you to speak into this with your own story. Thanks, Alan.
Thank you for this. I am sure your insights/analysis/experiences on this controversial subject (especially for those in churches pushing biblical/nouthetic counseling) has provided help for so many struggling.
Thank you for bringing clarity to this issue!
Thank you for this. I’m going to link to this on my website because I have many people call me each month looking for a trustworthy combo of evidence-based care that is Biblically sound. Many of their pastors and spiritual advisors have told them that they need a Christian therapist because they don’t seem to be getting better. They find a Christian therapist, but most of the time, they don’t really treat OCD, and they still don’t get better. There are just a few of us who thread that needle of being explicitly Christian and trained/experienced in treating OCD. We need more.
I wonder if any of these Biblical counselors have ever seen an OCD sufferer actually recover without basically implementing ERP or I-CBT (which also ultimately eliminates compulsions and avoidance as well, just at a different point in the process). I find that most of my OCD clients who are Christians end up really growing in their faith because they learn how to hold that space where their faith and their life are not based on how they feel, but are based on what they value and know to be true in spite of their feelings. And as they walk that journey for a while, their feelings often start to come more in line with what they value and know to be true.
Exactly! Real spiritual growth does happen in the recovery process. It almost has to.
Amen here, Tyler. And you're asking a fabulous question I wonder as well: have Biblical counselors consistently worked with people who have real ICD and consistently seen people recover? Sigmund Freud claimed that he cured a case of OCD in his famous report of the “Rat man" but we know that psychoanalysis is not a treatment of choice for OCD. I truly wonder whether or not people with OCD are helped much through Biblical Counseling alone, and without evidence-based practices, we can't know except for some of the unfortunate results.
You nailed it. Thanks for your voice and friendship. And for the record, it's 1,000 x more bold of you to speak into this with your own story. Thanks, Alan.