First of all, thank you so much for your bold and courageous ministry.
I am a Bible teacher and counsel many women as an extension of my
ministry. Over the last several years I have been troubled by the
ravages of psychiatry that I have witnessed in the lives of well-meaning
Christians and their families. The more I studied scripture the more the
truth stood in stark relief to the tenets of psychology.
Not only that, I saw the failure of psychology and its therapies and
medications in the lives of the people I met. As their therapies
progressed families were torn apart by accusations of abuses. When the
therapy doesn't work and the patient becomes worse the therapist invents
a molestation, usually suffered from the father, which the patient has
simply suppressed. This is an abomination.
In actual fact, I know of no one I've counseled who's gotten better as a
result of therapy. They simply add medication to medication and live in
a state of fuzz, which removes them from real responsibility and life.
it gives them an excuse to check out.
A very old and dear friend of mine was studying to become a
psychotherapist. I will call her A. As part of the curriculum students
were required to undergo therapy. A. was experiencing depression. After
a long process of therapy, the therapist prescribed hypnosis after which
she claimed to have discovered a suppressed memory of molestation by a
second grade teacher which was deliberately ignored by the parents of my
friend.
These "revelations" caused an excruciating crisis in A's family. Her
retired father and mother were accused of not protecting their young
daughter from a dangerous pedophile. In further therapies, they
"discovered" that A's sister had been abused by the same man. The sister
was flabbergasted and denied it repeatedly. This caused A. to reject her
sister for lying. In fact she severed all ties with her family and
became embittered by their failure to protect her.
At this point we reunited after a 5 year geographical separation. It was
1993. As my friend tearfully recounted this story I was so unsettled in
my spirit. I know her parents and her sister. Even though A. was
distraught and completely convinced that she'd be abused by a teacher
and indirectly by her parents, it simply didn't ring true. It seemed
preposterous to me that such protracted events could take place and a
person wouldn't remember them, then, via hypnosis rebroadcast a whole
history.
I returned home and prayed about this and reflected on it. I sincerely
believe that the depression was caused by the guilt of an abortion my
friend had many years prior. The night she recounted the abortion she
was subtly proud of the informed, responsible decision she'd made. She
defended it as the right thing to do. I believe that the guilt of this
act haunted her for years and caused the depression. But the therapist,
who doesn't deal in sin, invented a cause: the second grade teacher.
But that's not the worst part. The therapist came up with a cure:
rebirthing. Something I'd never heard of until I got a call from A's
mother telling me that she'd suffered multiple strokes during her third
session and was now in hospital in a coma. She remained in a coma for
three weeks. As she emerged from the coma it became apparent that the
stroke had devastated her brain. She could remember the make and model
of her car, but not the fact that she had three brothers. She was
physically damaged, too. She was left paralyzed on one side, has slurred
speech and cannot write.
This woman was bright, beautiful and a very successful advertising
executive. She had a loving family (whom she no longer recognizes) , a
host of friends, a fiance and a beach house. She's lived for the last 15
years in a board and care home, drinking wine and chain-smoking in front
of the television.
I hadn't intended to tell you that whole story, but maybe it serves to
make my mission personal. A. is not the only person close to me that has
suffered from ungodly, unscrupulous mental health professionals who have
wreaked havoc in families. And I've seen so many people drop out of the
responsibilities and joys of life after being labeled with ADD or one of
it's myriad alphabetic cousins. I am currently counseling a couple in
which the husband is completely addicted to ritalin and other
psychotropic medications. He hasn't worked in 10 years.
The reason for my letter is that I've been seeking a good resource for
training in Biblical counseling. I've been doing this for some years now
and have learned there is no substitute for the Word of God. It is the
only cure. But I feel that I and my team could be more effective with
training. We are not interested in "Christian psychology", but rather,
true Biblical discipling. I find many organizations on the web. Can you
recommend one?
I should mention that I live in Switzerland so a lengthy training
program in the U.S. isn't appropriate. Maybe you know of a program
available on DVD, or on the internet. I'm not interested in obtaining
some counseling credential, but rather in using the Word more
effectively to minister. Any thoughts?
Thank you again for your ministry. I pray that the Lord will bless you
in every good work prompted by your faith.
