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Should I make sure a therapist is not a fundamentalist Christian
before sticking with them?
Sticking with them?
Don't start.
One dropped a friend of mine suddenly with abandonment issues...why?
Because she expressed her belief (that month,ha!) in Native Am things...the
Great Spirit, sweats...blabla...when asked what her religious beliefs were.
Next visit she got dumped....cried and cried.
One dropped a friend of mine suddenly with abandonment issues...why?
Because she expressed her belief (that month,ha!) in Native Am things...the
Great Spirit, sweats...blabla...when asked what her religious beliefs were.
Next visit she got dumped....cried and cried.
You can't always tell who's a fundamentalist right away. That's why I said "sticking with them" meaning after finding out that they believe you're going to hell. I didn't find out my most recent therapist was a fundamentalist until we agreed I should stop coming in a few days ago. As I walked out his last words to me were "I'm worried about your soul".
You need to find a secular therapist. Ask up front before even beginning therapy. If you Google, you may even be able to find secular therapists in your area.
You need to find a secular therapist. Ask up front before even beginning therapy. If you Google, you may even be able to find secular therapists in your area.
Thank you. I didn't know if it was rude to ask. I may have to travel a bit to see one though as I live in a very religious area.
I live in Alabama, and although there are a lot of religious therapists in the area, it's pretty easy to find a therapist who uses proven secular techniques, regardless of their personal beliefs. I hope that they understand they could be making your problem worse by not being a listening ear. I started going to counseling not because my counselor claimed to be Christian, but because she genuinely listened to my problems and tried to encourage me. Look for someone trained in a more liberal area with an eclectic practice; I think they are the best ones. The ones who are nothing more than glorified youth preachers may not know what they are talking about. You really don't want to pay for secular counseling and get religious counseling. If you live in a really religious area, you could get religious counseling for free at any church. The pastor's office is confidential. It confuses me sometimes. I think some religious people, especially the Christian fundamentalists, use a modified version of an out dated sales model I guess because they don't know of better ways. Worldly problems require worldly wisdom, that's my stance. An ideal counselor will listen to your ramblings about joining a cult and worshipping trees without judging you on anything except what's found on DSM-V. Specify that you want a middle-of-the-road secular mental health counselor. If you can't find one you like, try distance counseling.
There are some pluses to religious counseling, though. For one thing, it's free. You just have to find someone who is interested enough to actually care about you. They exist in the religious community just like they do in the secular community, but one is not the same as the other. You wouldn't go to the dentist about your foot, right? Think of religious and secular counselors like that; they are good for completely different purposes. The only time we get into trouble is when one tries to do the job of the other. Now, I might be able to guide you through the Bible and explain what you have to do to live a moral life, but if what you want to know is how, step-by-step, to enjoy your life, or if you are like me and just want a refreshing conversation with a fun hip person, that form of counseling may not meet your needs. Religious counseling is good for religious problems; secular counseling is good for worldly problems. Don't confuse the two.
I live in the buckle of the bible belt, I have been to many therapists and marriage counselors over the years, and I have NEVER met one that would say or even believe what you have written.
There has been a trend in the past 10-20 years for some therapists to be proselytize via therapy. This has been especially true of graduates of fundamentalists colleges where the line between personal belief and and helping others often gets blurred.
Used to be that religion never came up in therapy, sometimes now not so much so. You not likely to find this in larger cities but as the OP has noted if you're in certain areas it can and will happen.
Davros, I am having a bad case of the deja vu right now. I'm pretty sure you brought this up before. At that time you had a plethora of problems that were really weighing you down and your therapist was only worsening the matter, if I remember correctly. It was quite a while ago.
I hope that your issues are easing up...but are you still with the same therapist?
Honestly there is another thread about people's opinions of mental health professionals in general and the consensus seems to be that if the style of a particular therapist is not one that is working for you, then you owe it to yourself to seek another. MH Profs are human and there is vast variance of individuals in the field. Different personal beliefs, different styles, may be more or less help for different clients. If yours isn't good for you then don't waste your time or money on them. You're looking for help, after all. Only you can tell if they are actually helping.
Personally if I were seeing any kind of a counselor and they made their faith part of the conversation, I'd have a hard time continuing to see them. I think it's great if a person has faith...but I don't take kindly to having it projected onto the problems I am dealing with. I believe that the best kind of faith is personal...and it would be unrealistic for me to expect my faith to solve another person's problems.
If you wanted to get religion, you'd be seeing a pastor, not a therapist.
Best wishes.
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