Summary Of Christian Counseling

Summary

In McMinn’s (2011) text Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling, he discusses the concept of integrating theology and spirituality into therapeutic and counseling sessions. He starts off in the first two chapters by explaining challenges, both professionally and personal, Christian counselors may face when they attempt to integrate both psychology and Biblical principles. Real-life experiences, the frontier of integration, and a more complex way for Christian counselors to assist their clients are some ways in identifying the most important concepts from the first couple of chapters of McMinn’s (2011) foundation. He often emphasizes the importance of how a counselor’s personal life and worldview may hinder

their counseling by using real-life experiences to provide an accurate picture of how counselors can learn from their experiences and counseling styles. In chapters three through eight, the most important elements characterized by McMinn’s (2011) approach to integration are used to help promote a sense of mental health. These things Christian counselors face take place in one on one counseling sessions and are an examination of disciplines and spiritual tenants of confession, Scripture, sin, forgiveness, redemption, and prayer.
In chapter one, using these real-life experiences, McMinn (2011) often uses ‘What if this happened?' to further provide an understanding the need for spiritual formation, the need for good assessments, healing patterns, and mapping spiritual and psychological health. And often he shows us how the Christian counselor can efficiently integrate spirituality, theology, and psychology in counseling sessions.
The frontier of integration introduces interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary integration along with its personal and professional challenges Christian counselors may face. “Interdisciplinary integration brings together two or more different disciplines; psychology and theology and attempts to find connections between the two fields. Intradisciplinary integration occurs within a discipline” (McMinn, 2011, p. 29). The personal and professionally challenges include: 1) Blurred personal-professional distinctions, which is a “blurred distinction for the spiritually sensitive Christian counselor" (McMinn, 2011, p. 12). 2) Confronting dominant views of mental health, which "requires us to evaluate carefully the goals of therapy and to challenge the view of healing that surrounds us in the mental health professions" (McMinn, 2011, p. 17). 3). Defining relevant ethical standards, which is “the new frontier of intradisciplinary integration” (McMinn, 2011, p. 23). 4) Establishing a scientific base, which is “Christian counselors who wish to be accurately understood among mental health professionals must use the language of science that is common among these professions” (McMinn, 2011, p. 21). 5) Expanded definition of training is “considering both professional and personal training” (McMinn, 2011, p. 14). 6) Moving from two areas of competence to three, which involves including spirituality with theology and psychology.
In chapter two, McMinn (2011) sets a more complex way in which Christian may help clients obtain a more profound mental state, which is known as mapping spiritual psychological health.

According to McMinn (2011), "Christian counselors are concerned with spiritual growth as well as a mental health" (p. 39). He believed both spiritual and mental well-being intertwined together, which creates a sense of self, true understanding of healing relationships, and true sense of need (McMinn, 2011). All of these create an integration of spirituality, theology, and psychology

disciplines.
In chapters three through eight, McMinn (2011), tackles the disciplines and spiritual tenants of confession, Scripture, sin, forgiveness, redemption, and prayer to promote mental health.

Throughout these chapters, he repeatedly talks about when and how these elements are appropriate for a Christian counselor to use as Biblical principles during sessions. The first spiritual discipline is prayer. Prayer, for example, is a "more than a counseling technique. It is the primary vehicle of growth in the spiritual life" (McMinn, 2011, p. 105). Various methods of prayer are explored that can be used in counseling sessions and it’s noted that more research is needed in using these methods during sessions. McMinn (2011) also notes sometimes prayer is not the best discipline to be used during sessions as well. "Despite the power and importance of prayer, bringing it into the counseling office is not a simple task. Counselors should carefully consider the potential effects of various forms of prayer before using them in counseling. Some forms of prayer, such as counselors privately praying for clients, are always useful; whereas other forms of prayer, such as routinely praying aloud in counseling sessions, introduced both potential benefits and risks to clients” (McMinn, 2011, p. 105). The point he’s trying to make is, although prayer and Scripture are important, some client’s aren’t in a place to receive those things as of yet. But eventually, once they are in a spiritual

place they will be able to use those disciplines in their day-to-day life. Sin, forgiveness, and confession are also discussed more in detail.
Lastly, McMinn (2011) reviews redemption as a means of developing redemptive relationships using methods of Cognitive Therapy and Adlerian psychology treatments. He also states, “Christian counselors with a redemptive worldview respond to others with humility because they recognize that from which they have been redeemed, with compassion because they experience God's grace, and with gratitude because of God’s sustaining presence” (McMinn, 2011, p. 315).

Personal Reflection
“If the human body were not capable of repairing itself, by the time we reached adulthood, each of us would be an ugly mass of abrasions, bruises, incisions, and infections” (McMinn, 2011, p. 249). Of all the various subjects spoke upon in McMinn’s text, disciplines and spiritual tenants of confession, Scripture, sin, forgiveness, redemption, and prayer. that resonated with me the most. I’ve been that person that held on to grudges because I had such hard time forgiving. My maternal grandmother and paternal grandparents raised me, but I spent most of my time with my maternal grandmother. My maternal grandmother actually raised me along with four other cousins of mine. Throughout my life until the day I moved away from maternal grandmother's home, I was mentally and verbally abused. A few years ago I experience some very stressful things in life. I had recently lost my maternal grandmother, a great friend of a state-to-state move, and a very stressful new job. At that point, I felt like I was going to explode, so I decided to go to a behavior therapist to help me out with managing stress. Little did I know those counseling sessions ended up being the best thing I could've ever done for myself. Not only did learn to help manage my stress, but I finally forgave my maternal grandmother for the things she was done and said to me…I became a better person. A whole burden was lifted from me. “Fortunately, each mosquito bite, scrape, and injury is healed by a sophisticated physiological repair system that restores us to health” (McMinn, 2011, p. 249)