ARTICLE REVIEW: PRAYER AND SCRIPTURE IN CBT 2
Article Review of "Use of Prayer and Scripture in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
During the week one module our assignment was to choose an article to read and review
discussing the articles contents, our interactions with the article, and how we may apply the
articles contents to a specific type of counseling session. The article that I chose was written by
Dr. Siang-Yang Tan (2007) and it is titled “Use of prayer and scripture in Cognitive-Behavioral
Therapy”.
Prayer and scripture are important aspects of a person’s life in many different religions.
For example, both Muslim and Christian religions, many practice daily prayer and read passages
of scripture on a regular basis. Tan’s (2007) article does a great job at explaining not only how
prayer and scripture can be justifiably and ethically utilized in CBT, but done so in a way that
allows the client to choose what is compatible to their own personal religious faith.
Summary
Tan (2007) begins the article noting how CBT is “One of the most empirically supported
treatments…” (p. 101). This fact is important from the perspective that Dr. Tan was able to
further develop the methods of an already widely used and empirically proven treatment in a
manner that can further benefit the client outside of the standard methods of CBT. Tans (2007)
article is broken up into several different sections with information describing in detail the
methods he uses in CBT.
The first section is on a biblical and Christian approach to CBT. In this section Dr. Tan
describes his biblical and Christian approach that he has utilized in many different types of
situations over the span of over 25 years, situations such as hospital settings, private practice,
bible college counseling, lay counseling, and finally pastoral care and counseling contexts. All of
these situations can differ from client to client however Dr. Tan notes the eight key features of
his biblical approach.
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In the next section Dr. Tan describes the differences between implicit and explicit
integration in therapy. Tan (2007) notes that implicit integration does not necessarily utilize
spiritual resources per se whereas explicit integration does. He also goes on to note that
“intentional integration is the key in professional practice” (p.103). Dr. Tan’s explicit integration
approach methods have been successfully utilized with informed consent on clients with a
diverse range of problems such as anxiety disorders, anger, obsessive-compulsive disorders,
depression, stress, and many more. Dr. Tan does not only use a religious-oriented approach on
all clients, but also uses a standard method of CBT for clients who do not wish to use the
religious-orientated CBT method.
Tan (2007) goes on in his next section to describe the assessment (pre-intervention)
process for his clients which consists of a two hour intake interview session. During the session
Dr. Tan establishes what history the client has, what problems they may be dealing with, what
goals they would like to achieve, and with informed consent establish whether or not they would
like to continue with a Christian based approach to CBT. Dr. Tan notes that a Christian CBT
approach does not necessarily mean prayer and scripture will be utilized in every session,
however it will be utilized when it is appropriate.
In this section Dr. Tan describes prayer and inner healing prayer and his seven steps for
inner healing prayer that he has developed over time. Each step is important in religious-oriented
CBT. All steps work in sequence to allow the client time to pray and wait to for the Lord to
minister to the client and then to discuss the outcome of the inner healing prayer. Tan’s (2007)
article gives a very good example of an interaction between therapist and client where inner
healing prayer is used.
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In Tans (2007) final section of the article he describes how scripture can be utilized
ethically in Christian CBT. Dr. Tan notes that utilizing scripture can be effective when the client
feels that the Bible is “the inspired word of God” (p. 108). The article points out and outlines the
differences between Christian CBT and standard CBT questions that may be asked in cognitive
restructuring of dysfunctional thinking. Tan (2007) gives an explicit example of how scripture
was effectively utilized in a therapist and client session.
Interaction
My initial thoughts on choosing an article were based on wanting to know more about
using a spiritual method in CBT. I have often been faced with various questions regarding
whether or not a counselor can ethically offer services that are more faith based rather than
traditional methods. I knew CBT was empirically supported so I was immediately intrigued to
find out how religion could be incorporated.
I really enjoyed the examples that the author gave examples showing how scripture,
prayer, and inner healing prayer can be incorporated. I found it interesting how in the example
the therapist asked the client to think of an unpleasant situation and to feel her feelings fully. I
would have thought that a therapist would want to avoid deliberately having a client think of an
unpleasant situation, however after reading the interaction in its entirety I understand why. Once
the client did so and began to get emotional, the therapist then asked the client if it was ok to
pray. After a few moments the client began to see her unpleasant thoughts turn into a positive
thoughts. This example really showed how well prayer can help in a tough situation.
I felt Dr. Tan did a great job in expressing that Christian CBT will not necessarily work
in all cases. In fact, on several occasions in the article he points out various situations where
standard CBT would be better utilized. For example, Dr. Tan mentions that if a person is in a
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rebellious state with God a prayer and scripture may not be effective in those counseling
sessions. Dr. Tan also mentions that he does not use prayer and scripture in every session but
only those sessions where it is appropriate. Pointing out that his methods may not work with all
types of religious clients really shows that Dr. Tan has his client’s best interests at heart.
I will continue to read more of Dr. Tans work after this class. After researching more
about him I found that he one of the leading Christian counselors of today and his work is very
relevant to the calling I have on my life of becoming a Christian counselor.
Application
The scenario that I chose for this portion of this assignment is infidelity. One of the
congregation members has requested counseling. Prior to being saved and getting married he
battled a pornography and sex addiction. His wife recently found pictures in his phone of
pornography of couples who meet to have anonymous affairs.
In his assessment session he mentioned that he has not had a physical affair and did not
want to but he has fantasized about it. In his history he said he was abused as a child and that is
where is addictions began. He has recently relapsed into his pornography addiction and has been
trying to battle his urges and trying to deal with them on his own. He did not want to tell his wife
because he felt ashamed. He feels horrible about the things he has been doing and wants to work
through his personal issues and attend future counseling sessions with his wife. He signed an
informed consent form to have Christian CBT.
In this particular situation prayer and scripture would be appropriate. The client knows
that he has gone against what he knows the Bible says, he knows his actions are against what
God would want, and he has admitted that he has a problem that has resurfaced. There are three
questions that the client is faced with in Christian CBT. Those questions are “What does God
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have to say about this?”; “What do you think the Bible says about this?”; “What does your faith
tradition or church or denomination have to say about this?” (Tan, 2007 p. 108).
During sessions I would pray with this client on a regular basis and follow the seven steps
to inner healing prayer that Dr. Tan outlines in his article. The fact that there are multiple
underlying issues such as past abuse and addiction shows there is comorbidity present with this
client. In order to treat the addiction the therapist must first get to the root of the problem and in
this case it is the past abuse that the client has faced. The inner healing prayer would be effective
in the client going back to the unpleasant memories of past abuse and praying with them and
asking the Lord to intervene and help them get past the evil that they faced.
Scriptures on asking for help can be utilized such as James 5:14-15 where it says “Is any
sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing
him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord
shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him (King James
Version). Reiterating to the client that prayer is an integral part of the process is important. The
Bible does tell is to “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thes. 5:17 KJV).
In conclusion I found Dr. Tan’s article sets the foundation for an effective blueprint on
ethical Christian CBT. He has proven for over 25 years that his method can effectively be
utilized in a wide variety of situations and is not limited to one specific type of client or problem.
Christian CBT is an effective tool that will continue to develop even further in the future.
Reference
Tan, S. (2007). Use of prayer and scripture in cognitive-behavioral therapy. Journal of
Psychology and Christianity, 26(2), 101–111.
