Journal Review

Use of Prayer and Scripture in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Liberty University

Running Head: PRAYER AND SCRIPTURE

PRAYER AND SCRIPTURE

Summary

This article describes how prayer and scripture have been incorporated in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). The article first describes how CBT is given a Christian approach. The author explains that the key principles of a Christian approach to CBT are to create a rapport with the client; adequately address past/childhood trauma issues; pay attention to the spirituality aspects of life; use Bible truth in addressing a client’s feelings; emphasize the importance of the Holy Spirit in bringing healing; implement a holistic approach by involving the church and the society at large; and use techniques that are consistent with Bible truth. Comment by Debra McIvor: Great review of the article. Much better review then the last one.

The article also discusses that for a Christian approach to CBT to be successful, there is a need to include explicit integration therapy. This will allow the therapist and the client to openly include spirituality and religion during therapy. The article highlights that explicit integration has been successful in handling cases of bipolar disorder, epilepsy, depression, pain, anger, and marital problems, among others. However, before starting a Christian approach to CBT, it is important to first carry out an assessment. This will allow the therapist to conclude whether the client is ready to go for this approach or seek other options. It is in this pre-intervention/assessment session that the client is briefed on what happens in a Christian approach to CBT. First, this approach will not be used in every other therapy session. Instead, it will be integrated in the therapy session in different ways. For instance, it will entail a prayer and scripture session; confession, forgiveness, and silence/solitude sessions; private self-retreats; and the use of inner healing prayers.

The article also provides a description of the main principles of inner healing prayers which is ideal for clients that have experienced traumatic or painful pasts. Basically, inner healing prayers requires one to rebuke evil spirits and call on the Holy Spirit for guidance; ensuring that the client is in a relaxed state; asking the Lord to manifest his presence and love to the client; giving the client some silent time for God to minister to him/her and for him to reflect on the goodness of the Lord; bringing the prayer to a conclusion, and discussing with the client about his/her experience with the inner healing prayer session. This way, the therapist will manage to gauge whether this session has been beneficial to the client or not. The author then illustrates with various client cases where inner healing prayer was utilized and their reaction/ feelings towards the session. Although many clients have registered positive results during the inner healing prayer session, some cannot withstand it as it makes them remember past traumatic events that make them breakdown and avoid such sessions. Therefore, the author cautions that such sessions should be implemented with care.

The article also highlights how the use of scripture in CBT is another concept of a Christian approach to CBT. Scriptures should be incorporated professionally and ethically to prevent cases of abuse and misuse of scriptures. This can be achieved by establishing why the scripture is included in the therapy session, the intentions behind the scriptures, any barrier that will hinder the achievement of these intentions, and the different ways in which the client might misinterpret the scripture. Once these are established, inappropriate misinterpretation and misleading conclusions will be avoided. The article also provides scenarios to illustrate how Biblical scriptures can be used in the Christian approach to CBT. From this discussion, the article concludes that the use of prayer and scriptures can be effectively and ethically employed in the Christian approach to CBT.

Interaction

I find this article interesting and well-articulated in the field of CBT. It is interesting because it discusses how prayer and scriptures can be incorporated into the Christian approach to CBT and even provides illustrations of cases where these have been applied. The article is well structured as the author starts with a general discussion that flows smoothly to the main concepts (prayer and scripture) that were the main aim of the article. It is also scholarly because it refers to relevant peer-reviewed and scholarly articles. This has greatly helped the author to build up the paper’s argument and discussion. Comment by Debra McIvor: Donna, great job with this section. It sounds like you gained a lot of new thoughts by reading this article.

I also gained new insights after reading the article. For instance, I understood that prayer sessions do not necessarily need to be included in every other therapy session. This is because it can be mistaken as the normal activity during therapy and thus, some clients would not take it seriously. Another insight from the article is that therapists can device different ways of initiating prayer sessions to break the monotony and allow the client to experience different types of healing through various processes. From the article, I have also gained the understanding that a therapist should develop a purpose and a goal before deciding to include scriptures in therapy sessions. This will prevent misinterpretations by the client and avoid the misuse of Biblical scriptures. One interesting finding from the article is that misusing scriptures might produce misleading interpretations, and this is regarded as the abuse of scriptures. Comment by Debra McIvor: In the next discussion board I will be providing a list of spiritual interventions that can be used in sessions. Be on the lookout for that.

This article captured my attention because initially, I always thought that scriptures and prayers are the normal events in most therapy sessions. However, this article has allowed me to understand that normalizing such issues in the Christian approach to CBT should not be done or assumed. Having read this article, my curiosity has grown in that I would want to understand whether there exists other non-Christian approach to CBT that is being employed in therapy. For instance, do the Islam society also refer to Quran scriptures during a therapy session? I also intend to read more about scenarios where Christian clients who have given up on Christianity (because of the struggles they have gone through) and yet want to undergo a Christian approach to CBT. If the client believes that God is unfair and unreal, how will a therapist deal with such during therapy sessions? What are some of the was to bring back positive vibes to Christianity before engaging its concepts in CBT? Comment by Debra McIvor: Do you feel comfortable enough to incorporate some of the concepts from this article in your counseling?

Application

It is a Monday morning and the office manager brings a file to me. The file contains the contacts of all clients scheduled to meet me today and the time for each visit. I have my first client at 10 am who is a 27-year-old female. From the records, she is suffering from major depression because she experienced a traumatic childhood where she was sexually abused by her stepfather and her mom did not believe the abuse happened. Fast forward, her marriage has been failing and she is in the process of getting divorced from her husband. She feels like it is the abuse from her childhood that is causing her to have a bad marriage. She has given up on life and wants to commit suicide. Therefore, her friends suggested therapy in a Christian faith clinic to strengthen and faith and to bring her hope.

Looking at this case, I realize that this client is suffering and feels as if she has no purpose nor hope for living. I, therefore, will apply a Christian approach to CBT to guide the client through this difficult situation. The client signed a consent form agreeing to a Christian approach to CBT. With this in mind, I prep for the session while selecting the relevant scripture for the session. The client walks into my office at exactly 10 am and the following conversation ensues:

Me: Good morning Mrs. Emmitt, please have a seat.

Client: Good morning, thank you.

Me: I had the opportunity to read your life story and I would like to take this time to ask you a few questions. At any time, you feel uncomfortable answering any questions please feel free to let me know. How are you feeling today?

Client: Today I woke up to a divorce letter from my husband. I do not know how to express this feeling, but I just want to start a new life in a different city or state. However, I cannot because the divorce case has drained me financially. I even feel like quitting my job because I am not giving it my best.

Me: A new life?

Client: Yes, I just want to go somewhere and start over. Make new friends and meet new people.

Me: You stated you think the divorce stems from your childhood trauma. If you go somewhere else do you think it would change what you experienced as a child?

Client: No, but I would not have to look at everyone and feel as if I failed everyone.

Me: Failed everyone?

Client: Yes, I feel like my childhood trauma is the cause of me failing at everything.

Me: Do you think what happened to you as a child was your fault?

Client: No.

Me: If it was not your fault you have failed no one. We can process what happened throughout our sessions and properly move forward. However, moving to a new city will not change your childhood trauma. Do you agree?

Client: Yes.

Me: A divorce does not signify the end of life. I want you to be encouraged and understand you have more opportunities ahead of you. You have had a lot of bad experiences, but you’ve also had a lot of good experiences, too right?

Client: Yes

Me: This means there is hope for days to come.

Client: Yes, I understand. But I feel like if I had not gone through such bad things in my childhood, I would not have experienced this divorce today.

Me: Do you remember the story of Hannah in the Bible? Comment by Debra McIvor: Incorporating Bible stories.

Client: Yes.

Me: Remember, Hannah was mocked but, in the end, God saved her from her misery. You should, keep praying and we can work through your trauma together. I believe once you find happiness within yourself, you will see things differently. In the meantime, I would like you to think of at least 10 things/goals that would make you happy as well as completing them within the year. Write your goals on paper and we can talk about completing them all as we work on healing. Comment by Debra McIvor: You might take her through the seven steps of Inner healing prayer: a treatment technique Tan developed to help clients heal from painful memories of the past. 1. Begin with prayer for protection from evil, and ask for the power and healing ministry of the Holy Spirit to take control of the session. 2. Guide the client into a relaxed state by using brief relaxation strategies (e.g., slow, deep breathing, calming self-talk, pleasant imagery, prayer, and Bible imagery). 3. Guide the client to vividly recall in imagery a painful past event or traumatic experience, and to deeply feel the pain, hurt, anger, fear, or other emotions associated with the painful memory. 4. Prayerfully ask the Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to come and minister to the client His comfort, love and healing grace (even gentle rebuke where necessary) in whatever way He knows will be helpful and healing to the client. It may be Jesus' imagery or other healing imagery, music (song/hymn), specific Scriptures, a sense of His presence or warmth, or some other manifestation of the Spirit's working. Usually, no specific guided imagery or visualization is directively given at this point (unlike some other approaches to inner healing prayer). The emphasis here is to be open, receptive and accepting toward what the Lord wants to do, and therefore to be more contemplative in prayer before Him. 5. Wait quietly upon the Lord to minister to the client with His healing grace and truth. Guide and speak only if necessary and led by the Holy Spirit. In order to track with the client and what he or she is experiencing, periodically ask the client: "What's happening? What are you feeling or experiencing now?" 6. Close in prayer (usually both the therapist and client will pray). 7. Debrief and discuss the inner healing prayer experience with the client. If appropriate, assign homework inner healing prayer that the client can engage in, during his or her own prayer times at home.

Client: Thank you for giving me hope. I can think of two goals now and I will write the other eight before our next session.

Me: You’re welcome. Let us pray for the Holy Spirit to give you peace and joy in your heart. Please lay back, relax, and close your eyes as we pray.

References

Tan S. (2007). Use of Prayer and Scripture in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. Journal

of Psychology and Christianity, 26 (2); 101-111

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