Keywords

• Finding a Christian therapist can be hard, but it's important to find a therapist that has the same beliefs as you do. 
• This influence will help you with personal growth.
• You're never to old to grow or learn something about yourself

For many Christians, finding a therapist can be daunting, let alone a Christian therapist. In my life, I’ve been blessed to have found solid Christian therapists that applied both Biblical wisdom, and evidence-based approaches. I have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder type I with psychotic features; therefore, therapy proved imperative to my psyche. In compliance with my medication, my therapy helped me grow leaps and bounds, and I am still learning every day.

But Deliver Me from Crazy: A Memoir

Working with Christian counselors has made me feel blessed. Being a Christian, I find it crucial to share my deepest thoughts and feelings with a Christian counselor.

Being under Christian therapists’ influence and taking their advice when life is hard, or when I’ve been misguided in faulty beliefs, has been beneficial to my personal growth. There are things I have learned in therapy that when married with Biblical strategies and applying myself to live them out have brought me the blessings of peace, stability, and success.

Related Article: Does Faith Prevent Mental Health Issues?

Here are a few tools I have in my toolbox because of my Christian therapists’ good, Godly counsel:

1.  Sit With, Then Dismiss. When I had intrusive, sinful thoughts or memories, I used to try to ignore them and wasted energy doing so. Trying to push them away in my own strength exhausted me. After sharing these thoughts with my therapist, she taught me this strategy:

Sit with the thought for a few moments, acknowledge it, and then tell it to leave, in Jesus’s name.Tell it to be gone and never come back. Do this every time it approaches the front of your mind.

Sounds superstitious, right? However, for me, it worked. I’d struggled and fought with these thoughts for months, and by simply practicing this technique, in less than a week, those thoughts had less power than ever over my mind.

Of course, in secular therapy, you probably would not be taught to cast off those thoughts in Jesus’s name, but knowing that His name is the only name by which anyone is saved; I won’t deny it had the power to submit those tempting thoughts to His authority.

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2.  Question that Belief. Therapists have ways to help their clients hear themselves out and question what they believe. In therapy, you are challenged to examine your thoughts and beliefs, and come to a healthier, better resolution or answer.

There is plenty of good wisdom in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques that helped me ask those questions and reevaluate my erroneous, faulty thinking.

Having a Christian therapist employ those techniques and align it with Biblical principles and Truths gave me eternal answers and resolutions.

For example, I thought I “should” be nice and patient with another person who was making me uncomfortable by harassing me. After listening to my therapist, I realized I did not need to answer that person. I could just walk away from them if they were pressuring me. And I did.

It gave the person less power over me, and I was relieved in following through, aligning my beliefs with a better path of thinking. Sewing eternal principles of practicing dignity, and drawing my strength from Christ, leveraged my ability to overcome adversity.

3.     Trust God’s Voice. This is a lesson I’m sure will take my lifetime for me to achieve, but is something my last Christian therapist taught me by example.

In many instances, she was able to discern and decipher what was truly eating me up inside. I recall her quite a few times over the course of our two years together, having God-inspired moments with her spiritual giftings, and would call me out on something I had to do or stop believing.

It helped me think even deeper into what lies I believed for so long, and I was able to share with her at the closest soul-level what matters of my heart were lurking in the shadows.  She helped me shine so much light on these deceptions and half-truths, that I walked out of our meetings more confident, and more assured of my worth, and ultimately my value in God’s eyes.He used her presence in my life to be instrumental for growing me through much, from family crises to personal hang-ups.

I hope you know that you are not too old, or too far gone to learn something new...about yourself, about your life, or about the way God works. I hope and pray you find the courage to seek out Godly counsel and when the time comes, apply it. If you need help finding a Christian therapist near you, check out our directory here:   www.therapyforchristians.com/providers You’ll be blessed you did, as it’s been a blessing to me.

Check out these other articles on this topic by Katie R. Dale or the founder of Therapy for Christians, Corine Williams.  

 About the Author: 

Hey there! I’m Katie Dale, familiar with the storms of mental illness, and I blog about my faith and how it has informed my brain-based disorder at www.katierdale.com. I also have a memoir out about my journeys through the psych wards and how I found peace of mind with psych meds (by the grace of God) – you can find it on Amazon here. Since my former profession of case manager at a behavioral clinic, I’ve stepped into the role of stay-at-home mommy to Kylie. And I get to travel the world with Chris, my man in uniform. Aside from that, I could live off mac ‘n cheese, and I still hold onto my aspiration to run a sub-20-minute 5k. Come find me and say hi on social media @KatieRDale. Stay bold, brave, and real.

Help us increase mental health awareness in the Christian community by donating through our paypal link here: www.paypal.com/therapyforchristians, joining our mailing list by clicking below, or join our provider list here: Provider listing

Disclaimer: the information, including but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material contained on this article are for informational purposes only. No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you are looking for a Christian counselor near you, please check out our directory located here:  Christians Therapist Near Me