LIBERTY UNIVERSITY JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Biblical Concepts for Christian Counseling
A Paper Submitted to
the Faculty of the School of Divinity
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (Ed. D) Department of Christian Leadership and
Church Ministries
By
Mary Gracias
Lynchburg, Virginia
10/2022
Can a Christian trust psychology? This is the essential question one must consider in
evaluating the mixing of psychological concepts and Scripture in Christian counseling.
The Contrived Medical Model
William Kirwan presents his case for integrating psychology and theology in his book
Biblical Concepts for Christian Counseling. He believes that psychology is “the science of mental
processes and behavior.”1 If psychology is a science along the lines of medicine, one could
expect a fair amount of agreement within the trade. Indeed, newcomers normally view
psychology, psychiatry, and other forms of counseling as a rather unified discipline. Those who
have studied the field, however, know that there are literally hundreds of distinct and
contradictory therapeutic approaches to counseling—with thousands of conflicting techniques
—all claiming to cure the human psyche.
Gary Collins quotes F.H. Garrison, who wrote in his 1921 Introduction to the History of
Medicine: “Whenever many different remedies are used for a disease, it usually means that we
know little about treating the disease.”2 Psychology can’t even agree on the diseases, let alone
the cures. Medical doctors study physical ailments, diseases, injuries, and remedies. Generally
speaking, when a treatment for a given illness is found to be successful, most doctors use that
technique until a more effective one is discovered. There is general agreement among doctors
regarding human physiology. Most medical doctors agree on the functions of the heart, liver,
kidneys, or lungs. You may travel the globe from Mexico to Mauritania and not find significant
medical disagreement about the purpose of the pancreas or the lymphatic system. Medical
students from the time of Hippocrates have dissected cadavers and found the same physical
human organs regardless of race, culture, continent, religion, or economic condition.
Dealing with the human mind and soul, however, is an entirely different matter. No one has
yet observed a mind or dissected an emotion. No X-ray scan has ever detected the soul.
Psychologists are not even sure how to define the mind. Is the mind synonymous with the
brain? The following statement on psychology is revealing.
Psychology [is the] science or study of the mind. Such a definition, however, without an
accompanying adequate description of what is meant exactly by mind is without meaning, and
as yet there is no agreement among psychologists upon any single definition of mind. By some,
for example, mind is considered a definite thing apart from the body and as such virtually
synonymous with soul. Others, although they establish mind as distinct from body, bind it to
body by the interaction held to take place between the two. Still others, in an attempt to do
away with this separation, tie mind closely to the brain, making the one a function of the other.
Others, however, deny existence of mind altogether, basing their conclusion on the belief that
human behavior can be adequately described without the use of any such vague and
indefinable term.3 Isn’t that amazing? According to The Columbia Encyclopedia, psychology is
the study of something that cannot be defined, and the term mind, lacking a clear definition, is
“without meaning,” and according to some, the mind does not exist at all. Is there any wonder
that psychology is confused and confusing?
The Questionable Use of Psychoactive Drugs
Though psychologists cannot adequately define the entity they presume to cure, they want
us to trust their judgment and place ourselves in their care. In so doing, we can actually
jeopardize our health—especially now that the psychological establishment has reduced all
negative human emotions and behaviors to diseases instead of sin, and now that its natural
conclusion is to treat those ailments with drugs. For example, prostitution is now being
described as an addiction,4 and if so, it must be treated psychotherapeutically. The
misconception that sin is a psychic disorder is precisely why Christians need to question the use
of psychotherapeutic drugs as a normal part of counseling.
Most counselors have encountered people who use the medical model as an excuse for
their behavior. After all, who can be blamed for having a “disease” that requires medication?
There is the question of whether psychologists and psychiatrists haven’t merely redefined old
behaviors as new “disorders.” For example, I hesitate to accept Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
as a genuine malady unless it is caused by biological problems such as brain or nervous-system
damage or infant addiction to substances carried by the mother during pregnancy. Sometimes
ADD is merely undisciplined behavior. There is another serious question about therapeutic
drugs: Can they lead to addiction? The answer clearly is yes, and that fact alone should be cause
for deep concern in a potential counselee. Dr. Lee Coleman, a practicing psychiatrist, writes in
his book The Reign of Error that psychoactive drug dependency is actually fostered by
psychiatry: “Millions of patients are now told by their doctors to stay on psychoactive
medications for years or even a lifetime.”5
Zilbergeld says that “common anxieties are also treated with drugs” and that “there are
dangers, addiction to the medication being one of the worst. Antianxiety medications are highly
addictive for some people, as easy to get hooked on and as hard to withdraw from as heroin.”6
One of the “mental illnesses” commonly treated with drugs is schizophrenia. While it is true
that those who have biologically caused symptoms sometimes improve with drug therapy,
“there are debilitating side effects with long-term use of these medications.”7
Lithium is a case in point. It is often prescribed for patients who have been diagnosed as
having a manic-depressive or bipolar disorder. Some clients have been led to believe that they
are suffering from a lithium deficiency. Coleman reports:
So many patients have told me similar stories that I now know that psychiatrists and family
doctors are disseminating a great deal of misinformation about lithium. Authorities advocate
that patients be “educated in the concept that lithium is a perpetual preventive much like
insulin.” These authorities also repeatedly call lithium a “simple, naturally occurring” substance.
It therefore comes as no surprise that many patients consider lithium to be like a new vitamin.
Unfortunately they are wrong: Lithium is a very toxic substance whose side effects include
permanent kidney and thyroid damage, as well as other potential complications.8
Side effects of psychoactive drugs are a legitimate cause for concern. A patient should be
informed of the potential dangers a drug presents, and he should understand that the doctor is
actually experimenting on him, for the doctor cannot reliably predict how a given patient will
react to a particular drug. Harold M. Silverman, a doctor of pharmacology, writes, “Every drug
has side effects. Your chances for developing a specific side effect depend on the drug, how
much of it you are taking, the frequency of the specific effect, your age, your metabolism, and
unpredictable responses to drugs known as ‘idiosyncratic reactions.’ ”9
Some drugs may actually increase the symptoms they are supposed to cure. Xanax, a drug
used to treat anxiety, has been known to create depression or to make existing depression even
worse in some patients. It is now recognized as habit-forming. Its common side effects include
clumsiness, drowsiness, and dizziness. In some patients it can cause hallucinations, irritability,
confusion, and depression.
Antipsychotic drugs such as Haloperidol are used to restore emotional calm in people who
suffer extreme anxiety, agitation, or other “psychotic” behavior. It is not completely understood
how these drugs work, but one theory is that they inhibit the action of dopamine—that is, they
short-circuit nerve-impulse transmission in the area of the brain believed to control the
emotions.10
The “natural, expected, and unavoidable drug actions” of strong tranquilizers include
drowsiness, lethargy, blurred vision, dryness of the mouth, impaired urination, constipation,
and transient drop in blood pressure.11 In addition, there are other potential side effects, such
as skin rashes, loss of hair, anxiety, agitation, heart palpitation, jaundice, Parkinson-like
disorders, muscle spasms affecting the jaw, neck, back, hands or feet, eye-rolling, muscle-
twitching, convulsions, photosensitivity, hallucinations, impotence, and depression. There is the
danger of interaction with over-the-counter allergy medications, drugs which control internal
eye pressure, antihypertensive drugs, and especially with methyldopa, which can cause “serious
mental and behavioral abnormalities.”12
Tricyclic antidepressant drugs, such as Norpramin, are used to treat emotional depression
by affecting those areas of the brain controlling moods and emotions. Again, scientists are not
entirely certain how tricyclic drugs work. It is believed that “the drug slowly restores to normal
levels certain constituents of brain tissue (such as norepinephrine) that transmit nerve
impulses.”13 The potential side effects are similar to those of Haloperidol. This drug can have
adverse effects upon the liver, bone marrow, heart rhythm, and more.
Some of my counselees have been treated with antidepressants. One had been incorrectly
diagnosed as a schizophrenic and another had been in psychiatric therapy for more than 14
years, without cure. In both cases, the cause of their problems was deep anger and bitterness.
Drugs were not the solution.
Though many exaggerated claims are made for psychotherapeutic drugs, it is clear that a
large percentage of patients in one study recovered without any treatment, counseling, or drug
therapy.14
Notes
1 William T. Kirwan, Biblical Concepts for Christian Counseling (Grand Rapids: Baker Book
House, 1984), p. 24.
2 Gary R. Collins, Can You Trust Psychology? (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988),
p. 65.
3 The Columbia Encyclopedia, 3d ed. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1963), s.v.
“Psychoanalysis.”
4 Thomas Szasz, The Myth of Psychotherapy (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1987),
pp. 195–96.
5 Lee Coleman, The Reign of Error (Boston: Beacon Books, 1984), p. 130.
6 Bernie Zilbergeld, The Shrinking of America (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1983), p.
146.
7 Ibid., p. 149.
8 Coleman, Reign of Error, p. 148.
9 Harold M. Silverman, The Pill Book, Guide to Safe Drug Use (New York: Bantam Books,
1989), p. 3.
10 James W. Long, The Essential Guide to Prescription Drugs (New York: Harper & Row,
Publishers, 3d Edition, 1982), p. 345.
11 Ibid., p. 346.
12 Ibid., p. 348.
13 Ibid., p. 209.
14 Collins, Can You Trust?, pp. 37–38.
15 Ibid., p. 38.
16 Ibid., pp. 38–39.
