August Blogger of the Month: Kathrin Halder

Posted on July 30, 2007

Let me introduce the Society’s blogger of the month for August. She is Kathrin Halder from Germany. Kathrin is Dean of a study program at IGNIS, a Christian Psychology insitute in Germany. She has been a part of IGNIS since 1993, first as a student, then as writer and publisher of 1800 pages of correspondance course materials, and now as Dean. She teaches courses (e.g., Introduction to Christian Psychology, Theological and Psychological reflections on humanity, illness, and healing, etc.) and is a member of the Society from its inception. Kathrin describes herself as one, “dedicated to the vision of developing a unique Christian psychology on the foundation of a biblical view of man and world.” Welcome Kathrin.

Phil Monroe, Blog moderator.

Empirical Research

Posted on July 23, 2007

[Editor's note: This is the last entry from our July blogger, Mark Yarhouse. Thanks Mark for raising some good questions here and in your previous posts.]

Is there a place for empirical research in Christian psychology? This may seem like a strange question, but I have noticed that much of what I read about a distinctively Christian psychology is theoretical. It is often tied to philosophical and theological perspectives on psychology. This has been valuable to me and, I think, to many others.

Empirical research is the currency of modern psychology, at least academic psychology. Some would say it ought to be the currency of clinical psychology, both academic and in actual practice, particularly with recent efforts to identify “best practices” and empirically supported treatments.

Will Christian psychology use a similar currency? What are the benefits to relying upon empirical research and what are the limitations? I do not think of myself as a hard core researcher, but I do see its value, and I hope Christians will not shy away from conducting good research on various elements of a Christian psychology. As I think back to my first blog, I had quoted Alvin Plantinga in his inaugural address as he began at Notre Dame. He spoke of integration for philosophers, and I applied it to psychologists. What I want to point out this week is that he also included that we would have our own research program. We should think about this as psychologists. What is the research program for a Christian psychology? More accurately, what are some of the research programs for a distinctively Christian psychology? What would we benefit from studying?

Also, will a distinctively Christian psychology value both quantitative and qualitative methods? I would say it would depend upon the research being conducted, but I can certainly see the value in both approaches. What has kept research from having more of a prominent role in the early stages of Christian psychology?

Psychopathology

Posted on July 16, 2007

[Ed. note: This is the 3rd blog entry by our July blogger, Mark Yarhouse of Regent University. Mark and two other colleagues at Wheaton College have authored a text, Modern Psychopathologies: A Comprehensive Christian Appraisal, published by IVP in 2005.]

This past week I have been thinking about what it means for something to be a psychopathology. There is a committee currently working on revisions that will eventually become DSM-V, with publication probably around 2011 or so. This is always an interesting time when various symptom clusters are given consideration and some current psychopathologies may end up being removed.

It is interesting to me to explore the question of psychopathology in a Christian psychology. As an intellectual exercise, it may be telling to consider what a diagnostic manual would look like if it were developed out of a distinctively Christian psychology. If there were no DSM and a group of thoughtful Christian psychologists, philosophers, and theologians were to have come up with a manual of some kind. In what ways would it have been different than the DSM? In what ways would it have been similar?

One of the many challenges in psychopathology is how to determine if a cluster of symptoms represent a condition that is pathological. The DSM tries to draw upon atypicality to some extent, but also maladjustment and distress are obviously considered. What we are left with is no real consensus on psychopathology today, and we see that the DSM has some disorders that are more clearly tied to sociocultural variables (e.g., eating disorders) while others (e.g., schizophrenia) are not.

It should also be pointed out that sociocultural variables are but one of several considerations in contemporary understandings of psychopathology. David Barlow is one of many authors who would also consider biological, emotional, learning, and cognitive factors.

So we are talking about more than what is in and what is out of a manual. We are talking about criteria for what constitutes psychopathology, as well as the many factors that are given consideration when determining what contributes to psychological problems.

Clinical Integration

Posted on July 9, 2007

I think of integration as the bringing together into a meaningful dialogue the fields of psychology and theology or religion (specifically, Christianity). By meaningful dialogue I am referring to a discourse in which both psychology and Christianity bring something substantive to the exchange. Integration ought to hold both psychology and Christianity in high regard.

In clinical practice, integration means the practical application of this meaningful dialogue. Take, for instance, a couple I saw not too long ago. Let’s call them “George” and “Laura.” They are both Christians. They are struggling with whether to remain married. George struggled with pornography and eventually sexual liaisons for about 3-4 years and stopped viewing pornography and meeting other women about 4 months prior to seeing me. Laura is struggling with what it means to trust George.

How does the Christian who is also a psychologist approach this case? My pastor was mentioning recently that the Bible often tells us what but does not always address the how. We know, for example, that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church, and husbands are to be faithful to their wives (faithful in behavior and in their thoughts). There are broad principles for addressing issues in the family and in areas of human sexuality. But we do not always get the how from Scripture. We have little by way of instruction as to how to restore trust and covenantal faithfulness in the wake of these behaviors. I draw upon the best of what we know from psychology and the broad principles from Scripture to provide clinical services.

What interests me in the SCP is the development of a Christian psychology that would approach clinical services in a distinctively Christian manner. But I know from experience and training that I do not hesitate to draw upon psychology to inform clinical practice. It would be interesting to learn from others how they draw upon existing findings in the field of psychology, etc. while practicing as Christians. What do they believe a distinctively Christian psychology will bring to the table? How will that be expressed in clinical practice?

Integration and Christian Psychology

Posted on July 2, 2007

It is exciting to see the development of the Society, and I look forward to many meaningful discussions that move us in the direction of a Christian psychology. Let me say that I have many questions about the development of a Christian psychology, but I am intrigued by the idea. Much of my interest really came from my training at Wheaton College, where I first works that either directly or indirectly suggested the possibility of a Christian psychology, such as Alvin Plantinga’s “Advice to Christian Philosophers”, Bob Roberts’ Taking the Word to Heart and Steve Evans’ Soren Kierkegaard’s Christian Psychology. I suppose that I was also primed in some ways to enter into an integration discussion from my undergraduate days at Calvin College. Probably one of the more influential books I read there was Wolterstorff’s Reason Within the Bounds of Religion.

It should be noted that these authors are philosophers and not psychologists, so we may want to return to that at some point. I will say that each has shaped my thinking about the relationship between psychology and theology and have challenged me to think as a Christian about the field, and they have raised in my mind the possibility of a truly Christian psychology.

What struck me most about Plantinga (1983) was the idea that Christians in the field of psychology – if we make the jump from philosophy to psychology – have their own questions to ask, their own topics to address:

Christian [psychologists] … are the [psychologists] of the Christian community; and it is part of their task as Christian [psychologists] to serve the Christian community. But the Christian community has its own questions, its own concerns, its own topics for investigation, its own agenda and its own research programs. (p. 6)

We cannot expect non-Christian psychologists to ask about or care about the questions, topics, and research agendas that Christian care about. So we have to be in the field doing the work.

The question that comes up is how should we be in the field of psychology? What is the best way to position Christians so that we can do the work that is important to the broader Christian community? And is this the only work we are to do?

In part because I train students in the context of a Christian doctoral program, I end up asking myself questions like, How might a Christian psychology develop? Does it occur in the context of existing secular training programs? Can it develop in the context of religiously-affiliated training programs? In explicitly Christian training programs? Does it develop best outside of the context of training programs altogether? Is it an independent endeavor, or is it to be done in collaboration with many Christians working on facets of it (e.g., clinical, developmental, social)?

References

Evans, C. S. (1990). Soren Kierkegaard’s Christian psychology. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Plantinga, A. (1983). Advice to Christian philosophers. Faith and Philosophy, 1, 253-271.

Roberts, R. C. (1993). Taking the word to heart. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Wolterstorff, N. (1984). Reason within the bounds of religion (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Blogger for July: Mark Yarhouse, PsyD

Posted on July 2, 2007

By way of introductions, Mark Yarhouse, Psy.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist and Professor of Psychology in the Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology at Regent University. Mark teaches courses in psychopathology, ethics, family therapy, and human sexuality. He has also taught courses in community psychology, traditions in Christian healing, and geropsychology. Mark directs the Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity (www.sexualidentityinstitute.org) at Regent. He has published in mainstream psychology journals, such as Psychotherapy, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, and American Journal of Family Therapy. He has also published in integration journals such as Christian Scholars’ Review, Journal of Psychology and Theology, and Journal of Psychology and Christianity. Mark is the co-author of several books including Modern Psychopathologies: A Comprehensive Christian Appraisal (2005) and Homosexuality: The Use of Scientific Research in the Church’s Moral Debate (2000).

It was mentioned last month that one of the exiting things about the Society is the diversity among its membership. Last month Ed Welch, a biblical counselor, shared his approach to counseling and some of the topics of interest to him. This month Mark, an integrationist, will share some of his interests. Again the Society is a place for psychologists (researchers, professors, and clinicians) and counselors, pastors and theologians, philosophers and public policy theorists, any Christians who are interested in human beings and whose faith seriously impacts their thinking and soul care practice, regardless of the label they use to describe themselves (e.g., integrationists and biblical counselors, as well as those who identify themselves as Christian psychologists).

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