What about Bob?

John told me the other day that I should write an entry about something psychological. I told him, that I was not sure who would be interested in reading about that, but he encouraged me that there would be some people and he also said that a blog is more a self-disclosure than a dialoge anyway. Then he launched into a longer explanation about how self-disclosure (rather than a dialoge) has been a characteristic of modern European literature and how it became a prevalent part of our society. So all that said, I thought I will give it a try.

I had 3 conversations in the last weeks, that I would like to share with you. The first one, a lady asked me if the schizophrenia of her father is mainly a brain disfunction or if it has a spiritual component as well. The second, an other lady called and asked me if there is anything she can do for her son who has severe epilepsy besides giving him drugs. The third, was a conversation with a handsome young man (namely my brother :-) who asked me what my perspective on positive thinking was.

All these questions once again showed me how influental psychology and especially secular psychology has been on our society. Many people I talk to believe that most psychological disorders are exclusively a product of our brain, a chemical inbalance or some hormonal disharmony. Unfortunatly this causes them to neglect addressing the emotional and spiritual component by solely focusing on the physical.

These were my answers to the 3 questions above. To the first lady I said, that I believe most if not all psychological disorders have a spiritual component. I am convinced there are physical, emotional and spiritual roots behind schizophrenia. To the sencond lady, I said that surely there is more that can be done for her son alongside taking drugs and we explored some options together. To my brother, I told that I think positive thinking is nothing new. In the Bible there are many verses that encourage us to focus on what is good and uplifiting to our souls. One problem with positive thinking is if it is practised independently of God then I think in a way we are trying to be our own saviors through the power of postive thoughts. Plus even though the Bible gives plenty of examples for positive thinking it also balances it with a realistic picture of our sinfulness.

I am thankful for these conversations and how I can use my degree in Christian Psychology to help people who have questions like the above.

I hope you enjoyed reading this entry and even against John's arguments I keep up my hopes that it will prove to be more a dialoge than just a self-disclosure. :-)