Help From Above

When Mary Bailey of Takoma Park sought help for stress and anxiety, one thing was clear to her: She didn't want to see a psychologist or psychiatrist.

A health care worker, mother and evangelical Christian, Bailey says that "being a Christian guides the choices I make and how I make sense of the world. I didn't think a psychologist or psychiatrist would be sensitive to that."

So Bailey, like increasing numbers of people seeking help with personal problems, called a pastoral counseling center. She was matched with a therapist with an MA in psychology and "enough religious background to know what I was talking about and guide me," Bailey said.

While their discussions were not overtly religious, "we both knew that there's a purpose for the different challenges I was dealing with," Bailey said. "We could say things like, 'Let's leave it to God.' "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/02/AR2005120202287.html

Faith-based mental health care: Might sound great until they diagnose the voices in your head as demons and try to exorcise them. And it worked so well for Andrea Yates, who went from medicating her psychosis to being treated by a pastor who blamed her for not being a good enough wife and mother.

is a good thing, up to a point. When that belief system has become the problem ( e.g. attributing those voices in the head to gods or angels or demons), then a therapist has to be able to diagnose illness, not piety.

Most therapists out there are not proselytizers and most do respect the religious freedom of their patients. The thing that's wrong about this particular woman is that she doesn't recognize tolerance and its place in competent therapy.

I'm sure she'll get exactly the therapist she deserves. Poor thing.

Even though she's a Christian, I don't feel uncomfortable talking with her about my pagan spirituality. But then again, she's a licensed professional and not a "pastoral counselor" who has goddess-knows what training.

What worries me is that I've known too many Christian pastors who believe that mental illness is really just a symptom of good Christian folk who are too involved in the selfish, secular culture, and that there's no problem that can't be solved by more faith. If I had gone to my pastor in high school when I was suffering from clinical depression, I probably would have ended up swallowing a bottle of pills.