Sorry about the technocrati mix-up guys. I promise I'll try to get it fixed.
I just wanted to add that if anyone has gone through theophostic counseling, also feel free to post on this site. Theophostic counseling is similar to deliverance ministries, but relies more on recovered memories and accussations of Satanic ritual abuse. Theophostic counseling is condemned even by the biblical counseling movement, which thinks that theophostic counseling delegitimizes biblical counseling. Personally, I think biblical counseling is not particularly legitimate anyway, but then I don't do biblical counseling myself.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
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8 comments:
John,
If you need help with the technorati widget let me know
last year I had theophostic counselling... I am still not sure what I think about it, but it WAS interesting. My pastor and his wife did it with me. They have since moved to Florida and he is pastoring a church there... Anyway, stuff from my past came up of course, and there seemed to be a lot of free association in the whole process. It was sortta Freudian, in a way... Part of it kinda upset me: It was when something came up that I guess I hadn't faced squarely from my past. But I think I managed to work through it. I never did finish with the sessions, as I think I was a little uncomfortable, and my pastor would never push me into anything. My pastor and his wife are very loving sincere people so this probably helped the situation immensely. I do recall my mom and dad being very skeptical of theophostic counselling however. hmmm... I can DEFINITTELY see how in the wrong hands things could get really screwy with that particular method, and it could be used as a manipulative, brainwashing tool. Thankfully this was not my experience. But I can see how it could have been if it was done with different people.
I see a great danger here in unqualified people treating patients who may have significant psychological problems.
Why not see a psychologist who is Christian rather than a Christian Psych/Counselor.
In Christian Counseling it seems Christ is put before the client
Dear lissa,
Yea, I think the problem with theophostic counseling is that, like deliverance ministries, it relies too much on the idea that demons are influencing Christians. The theophostic counselor I went to as a child, Jean Schauffelberg, got me involved in a program by Neil Anderson. Anderson says that mentally ill people are often "demonized", by which he means demons influence them even though they don't actually inhabit them. It's just short of exorcism, may not even be any real difference. Fortunately, I didn't go through the whole program with Jean.
Sean,
I'll let you know about the widget. The problem is I don't know .html, which I think is neccessary for the widget.
Sean,
That is my biggest problem with Christian counseling as it stands now. Mind you, the integrationist Christian counselors do put counseling first, and are qualified, but it seems like there are a great deal of unqualified people running around, inflicting a great deal of harm.
Biblical counseling, unfortunately, is predicated upon the idea of putting God before the Christian's mental health, which I think has the potential to be extremely dangerous.
"I see a great danger here in unqualified people treating patients who may have significant psychological problems.
Sorry sean but please don't heap all Christian Counsellors in to the same boat. People come first. The Christianity is the belief the counsellor has in the power of the Holy Spirit to heal that person. If the person isn't a Christian it may not even be something that is discussed. If you're there for prayer ministry though the chances are you have a belief. And if you have a belief that is true then you would believe that with God anything is possible. I hold a degree in my field of counselling and have myself been a recipient of christian counselling (childhood survivor of sexual abuse). this healing allowed me to grow in my faith and in my ministry to the point where I commenced my degree to help others. Just as there are good doctors, lawyers, dentists and hairdressers there are good and bad counsellors. So please dont generalise.
"Theophostic Prayer Ministry" is Scientology in disguise.
A "TPM facilitator" (Scientology Auditor) leads the seeker (Preclear) through a "session" (same term as in Scientology Auditing) of "guided imagery" and "directed visualization" ("Dianetic reverie", "mockups" and "mental image pictures") towards "mind renewal experience" ("Clear") by dealing with past buried memories that may still be bringing you down today ("Engrams").
They claim that they seek to bring you to self-responisibility (Hubbard's "Self determinism") even as they keep you addicted to more and more "TPM Sessions".
They call each person's session a "case" (just like Scientology) and offer "training", "courses" and "seminars" (just like Scientology) in TPM Facilitating, which is simply Auditing without the E-meter.
I am a 54 yr. old survivor of ritual abuse & now healed (not because of Theophostics)from MPD that was caused by the severe occult abuse.I was in & out of mental wards for 18 yrs. & doped up till I was a walking zombie.I ran away from my own home & ended up in this pastors home where they had home church (no longer go there cause they're not quite right)and they took me to this charismatic church that was into Theosphostics & this woman who was to be my instructor (taking me through memories & "reliving them" came out dressed all in black with occult jewelry on & of course that set me off & I tried running away but they had the doors locked on me. Well, I went through all the traumatic session of "taking Jesus with me into my mind to bring out each repressed memory & coaxed to "relive the pain" associated with the memory & to recognize the lie I believed & to renounce it with Jesus ( I was to believe that Jesus in actual form was with me)there with me in the counseling room & going into my subconcious with me.Then I was to repeat everything the counselor (witch was what I saw her as) told me to,to say everything I was feeling was a lie & to replace it with some good feeling & belief. Well, that whole ordeal made things worse & I was so affraid of them all cause I sensed evil in it all & it made my MPD worse after that.Well, weeks later I ended up in a hospital in Texas that treats MPD & while I was there I learned that all the material, given to the pastor by them that they fully endorsed & used to help abuse survivors to use on me & also a book given to me & info on this certain ministry that went hand & hand with Theosphostics was all occult rooted. The ministry was to help people with disassociation (MPD,DID).The wife of the founder of this ministry was a former D.I.D.& author of Supporting Ritual Abuse Survivors-Diane Hawkins.Their daughter was a patient in the multiple personality unit just one month before I got there & the perpetrator of her abuse was her father--director of Restoration in Christ Ministries. Now my home Christian counselor was wonderful & with me few years & he was my greatest support & I say lifesaver a few times when I got severely depressed. He didn't have any experience on MPD, but he had alot of Bible Knowledge & a big heart & he didn't beat me up with the Bible but gave me certain passages to hold onto which really worked over time.He didn't put me on some guilt trip but did address wrong or dangerous things I did in a loving way. He was firm when he needed to be but always in a loving way.Like a good father with his child. So, not all Christian counselors are bad, but there needs to be much discernment & checking out of any kind of counselor whether it's Christian based or mental health. I had a couple of good counselors in mental health, but most did much damage to me over the years.What truly worked to bring about my healing was digging into my Bible hours & hours on end to find things out for myself & praying & using the information I had learned about in the Texas hospital about what the occult & ritual abuse is all about.Some of the therapies like anger management (beating on a pillow etc.)was ridulous to me & useless to anyone & I refused to participate. It was the educational therapies that really helped me more than anything there. I am able to now take what I learned there & get on the internet to research alot of that stuff & it gets very deep. My counselor said it was deeper than I could handle at that time & they wouldn't tell me more on what MPD & occult is all about. I say it's very important to research & don't be a fly in someones wed of deceit.
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