On Diversity Domains

When I first came to Regent University, I taught a course on Community Psychology. I remember preparing a lecture on diversity issues and I was speaking to a staff member about it. He is from a racial minority group. He shared with me that there was no need to teach on diversity or to cover multicultural aspects if we are Christians. He proceeded to share that the story of the Tower of Babel indicates that such diversity is a result of human pride, and the current efforts to promote diversity or multiculturalism were of little to no value in light of a Christian’s primary identity in Christ, which he viewed trumping these other diversity domains. 

I recently co-conducted a diversity workshop for another Christian psychology program, and I was asked to reflect on a theology of diversity. As I began to look into it, I was surprised at how little had been written from an evangelical Christian perspective. Most of what had been written dealt with race or ethnicity but not other areas of diversity, such as age or disability, let alone the more controversial topics of sexual orientation or gender identity. 

The Psychology of Hatred: Part 2

Yes, we adults, many times truly like to hate our enemies. We enjoy creating fantasy scenarios and sometimes even real scenes where we get back at those who have hurt us. Indeed, revenge is so popular that it is one of the major themes in great literature from the Iliad to Star Wars. Why is hatred so much fun? Well: How do I hate you? Let me count the ways! (Apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning) Or at least begin to identify some of the more important ways (Kernberg, 1990).

Attunement

My husband and I traveled  to the Rocky Mountains to see family and friends and to celebrate our 25^th wedding anniversary last summer.  The experience of being in the splendor of the mountains was refreshing and invigorating, yet following the continental divide down from Montana, we also found a tragedy taking place within this landscape.  The pine forests are stained red, dying from the inhabitation of the pine tree beetle.  Mountainsides of trees have been infiltrated with beetles without the long periods of freezing temperatures needed to stop their spread.  The blight caused by the beetles has contributed to the recent spread of fire there. Upon reflection, I have found similarities between myself and these vulnerable trees under invasion by the pine beetle, though my enemy goes by a different name.

The Challenge to Find a Timeless Concept of Change

Understanding how people change should be a persistent pursuit for those of us who practice or are training others to become practitioners of psychological healing. I wonder about our paradigms of change though. I was taught in an era in which personality theories were very important. In fact, in my doctoral training program there were three required courses on personality theory and psychopathology, each from the perspective of a different personality theory. We didn’t talk about the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM). This was before the multi-axis DSM-III. I suppose because I’ve experienced this shift in the conceptualization of psychological problems and movement away from identifying with personality theories, it may explain why I wonder if even now we truly understand change. Also, I have to wonder how people thought personal change happened before there were psychological theories. It seems we tend to think of our own time period as having the most advanced and accurate ideas. However, perhaps beyond current conceptualizations, there have always been common factors that most significantly account for change.

Clinical Christian Psychology: Theory, Technique, or More?

For more than forty years, Christian mental health professionals have been writing about Christian psychology. Though these writers share many values and view points, there are significant differences amongst leading thinkers. (Most readers of this newsletter are well aware of the sizeable differences. If you are new to Christian psychology, you might try reading recent publications such as Eric Johnson’s Foundations for Soul Care or the edited volume, Christianity and Psychology: Five Views). If some of the variations in our core writings are the result of different views on ultimate reality, most are due to divergent definitions regarding the nature of problems and the subsequent path to healing. What should we make of these differences? Are these differences a tempest in a teapot? Are they real differences that influence how one might assess and intervene with a particular counselee?

Working Out a Distinctly Christian Psychology in South Korea

After finishing my undergraduate study in South Korea in 1997, I went to Hamilton, Ontario to continue studying Christian Education. Then my academic journey turned in the direction of counseling, which led me to the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. At SBTS, I was introduced to Christian psychology by Dr. Eric Johnson and I received my Ph.D in pastoral theology and counseling. Upon graduating, I worked at a Christian counseling center for three years as a professional counselor.  In September 2010, I returned to Korea after many years of life overseas with the ambitious visions of helping troubled Korean souls and building an academic community with the same mind as that of the Society of Christian Psychology. I have been experiencing both challenges and joys as I pursue those visions. I would like to share a couple of them.

The Virtuous Life as the Christian's Reasonable Service

About a decade ago, a new psychological movement entered the scene:  Positive Psychology. Positive psychology seeks to help people in the pursuit of authentic happiness. Rather than seeking to correct weaknesses and problems, Positive Psychology aims at understanding positive emotion, building strength, and providing guideposts for the good life in order for individuals to realize their potential for lasting fulfillment (Seligman, 2002). This approach focuses on character strengths, otherwise called virtues. Thinking about virtues, however, is not new. Countless philosophers throughout history have reflected on virtues, Aristotle being one of the more well-known in this area.

Confessions of a Group Leader

A recent experience I had in leading an experimental Spiritual Formation group provides a window into some soul dynamics that I thought may be helpful to other leaders. The group consists of two primary elements: emotional health, involving therapeutic elements such as safety and self-awareness, and spiritual formation through union with God in Christ. The unified purpose is to bring all of ourselves before God and live interactively with him in our day to day lives, as Jesus did.

Around the Web: March 2011

As a society, we are becoming increasingly aware of the effects of social media, such as Facebook, upon psychological functioning.  Russell Moore was prompted by an essay in Slate to write an essay entitled “Why Facebook (and Your Church) May be Making You Sad.” Moore rightly points out that not only does Facebook present a limited, often happy, view of others, we tend to see the same thing in our churches.  Some venues of public Christianity celebrate, but do not lament, are happy (even if artificial) but rarely sorrowful.  Moore writes, “Let’s not be embarrassed to shout for joy, and let’s not be embarrassed to weep in sorrow. Let’s train ourselves not for spin control, but for prayer, for repentance, for joy.” And, may I add, let us encourage others along this path as well. 

In the last issue, an essay about Michael Patton’s struggle with depression was presented in Around the Web.  In a similar vein, Justin Taylor presented a brief essay by Bob Kauflin, who went through a period of anxiety and hopelessness after planting a church.  In a few paragraphs, Kauflin described the depths of his sorrow, yet it was when a friend told him that he was not hopeless enough that he turned a corner toward healing.  These narratives from Christian leaders can be useful in our work with others.

“The Myth of the Teen Brain” was the topic of an essay by Dr Robert Epstein in Scientific American Mind.  Dr Epstein draws from psychology, neuroscience, anthropology in arguing that contrary to much popular opinion, adolescent rebellion is not an inevitable life stage.  In fact, he argues that adolescent rebellion is a myth perpetuated by science and media alike.  Epstein cites Edward Valenstein, a respected neuroscientist and author of Blaming the Brain, who suggested, “we make a serious error of logic when we blame almost any behavior on the brain—especially when drawing conclusions from brain-scanning studies.”  In a psychological era dominated, in many respects by neuroscience, we need to be careful not to overextend the data in drawing conclusions.  Although members of the media, and by extension general society, may be susceptible to colorful brain pictures, as professionals involved in soul care, we must cautiously interpret research and with an eye to Scripture.