Primary Problems in Nouthetic and Biblical Counseling Approaches: A Guest Post by Dr. John Weaver

Host's Introduction

When we human beings experience deeply painful setbacks in life when trying to cope with and solve our problems, and when our hopes are met with disappointment, we face the challenge of letting those things either “make or break” us. To thoroughly move forward through the experience to gain true wisdom from it, we need to understand what happened to us, why it happened, and who owns responsibility for causes that may have contributed to the disappointing outcome. When those who fully intended to help us or the systems or tools used result in failure, our healing becomes so much more complicated because of those good motives.

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Foundational Concepts Towards a Christian View of Mental Health (Part II of II): Axioms, Evidence, and Discerning Truth

This might well be subtitled as

“Is all psychology atheistic and evil?”

or

“Why won't people in patriarchy listen to me?”

The last consideration I'd like to offer before John Weaver's guest post about problems with nouthetic counseling or “Biblical” counseling that tends to trace problems back to a sin cause on the part of the person in distress concerns how Christians go about discerning truth. As previous stated in the preceding post, this subject is one of great interest today because of the Southern Baptist Convention's (SBC) initiative to develop a doctrinal statement about mental health. I will again endeavor to condense some complex concepts down into some simple descriptions, though I would love to jump into elaborate discussions of them. I again beg the mercy of those with knowledge of these matters as I did in the previous post, for I have condensed them significantly for the sake of brevity.

In reading John's article, I realized again just how profound the implications of how a person arrives at truth is for those who are working through questions about mental health and care offered to those in need. In philosophy, this discussion of developing a theory of knowledge, is called “epistemology.”

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Foundational Concepts Towards a Christian View of Mental Health (Part I of II): Theories on Convergence of Spirit, Soul and Body

As stated in many previous posts on this subject, I believe that if a person suffers emotional problems because they're struggling with a sin issue and won't repent, I suspect that Biblical counseling is likely helpful. My concern is piqued, however, when sins are assumed to be the cause of symptoms that might be due to physiologic cause or due to syndromes that have strong physical elements (e.g., diabetes, nutritional deficiencies, thyroid disorders, brain dysfunction, etc.). 

Challenges like grief and forgiveness also involve a journey of growth that may take many years, during which a depression or anger phase may be very healthy and appropriate – and are not sins. Often, they are part of the healing process that result from sins committed against them. When mental health issues present themselves and are not the sequelae of problems with sin on behalf of the person experiencing them, I believe that Biblical counseling only approaches (that reject physical or clinical/functional causes or perspectives) can often do more harm than good and serve to condemn the person in distress.

Before presenting Dr. John Weaver's guest post about problems with Biblical counseling, I wanted to explore some of the reasons why certain Christian groups may prefer a Biblical counseling only approach to mental health, ideas that may help put his upcoming post into perspective. I will attempt simplify some helpful related concepts, distilling them down to the basics to broaden the understanding of why nouthetic counseling in particular makes certain assumptions about the nature of man.

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Why Stay in the “Church of the Gospel of Discipline”? (What do SGM, Millennials, and Nouthetics have in common?)

Thursday's post reviewed the scandal at Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM) as an example of spiritual abuse. After posting it, I found myself thinking again about my criticisms of some of the related articles I cited by the “Rock Star” Baptist leaders. While purporting to establish standards of conduct for churches, they presented many of their statements in the form of rhetorical questions which they used as talking points: “Should we stay in our local church?” “Should we go?” “Should we talk about why we want to leave?” Perhaps the church should ask better questions of themselves: “Why would anyone really want to stay here?” This question becomes especially poignant when considering that Evangelical Christianity was commissioned to make new disciples to faith in Jesus by sharing His Gospel – that which is supposed to be “good news” to those who hear it. “Why come?” “Why stay?” If people reach out to religion to find encouragement, hope, and meaning as they struggle with the hardships of life, why would they want to embrace a religion that ultimately takes these things away from them?

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An Example of the Anatomy and Physiology of Spiritual Abuse: Mahaney, T4G and the Gospel Coalition

In then next few days, I will feature a post written by a university professor who left Evangelicalism because of how poorly the Church responded to his needs. He references the similar plight of a population of people within the Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM) network of churches as an example of his frustration with his own matter of concern. Prior to diving into his contribution here, I wanted to focus back on how spiritual abuse works using the example of recent events  and problems concerning SGM. The misuse and abuse of authority through rigid systems allows a fleeting virtuous end to justify ever more questionable and unethical means. Soon, the individual that the system was meant to aid them finds themselves crushed by it instead, and the system blackmails the individual by claiming to govern their eternal fate. 

For many years, several parents and families endeavored to engage their church leaders to adequately and appropriately attend to the needs of all of those who were ill affected what emerged as a pattern of of both physical and sexual abuse that insulated abusers. When these change agents failed, they filed a class action civil lawsuit against SGM leaders for decades of unreported child physical and sexual abuse, attempts to cover up these cases, and for the pain and shame suffered by those who were manipulated to remain silent.

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What It's Like to Experience Only the Right Side of the Brain in the Way that Children Do (A Neuroscientist Experiences a Stroke on the Left, Analytical Side of the Brain)

Michael and Debi Pearl claim that very young children exercise their diabolical wills to dominate their parents, one of the justifications that they use to prop up their aggressive practices of corporal punishment. In a previous post describing the development of the minds of young children, I pointed out that the brainwaves of a child under the age of two are reflective of a level of consciousness much like what the adult experiences while they are sleeping. From ages two to six, the child's level of consciousness is much like dreaming or falling asleep for the adult.

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Brain Versus Soul: Being Better Stewards of Our Minds

I recently mentioned in this post that sleep deprivation and emotional stimulation that extends for several days sets up a physical response in the brain that people identify as a spiritual experience. Some people have a greater predisposition for this experience than do others, depending on the unique structure of their individual brains. There is actually a type of personality that is more "religious," a personality that also overlaps with an interesting population: those with temporal lobe epilepsy. This brings up a sensitive issue for some Christians and one that I find very fascinating. Where are the boundaries between brain and mind and soul and spirit.

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Surviving a Conference Part III: Slipping into Alpha States

True Woman ‘08 Conference as a Prototype

As mentioned in this previous prerequisite post, an alpha state of consciousness allows for the bypassing of critical thought. The alpha state facilitates the absorption of ideas and suggestions without the level of discernment that is present during the beta state of problem-solving. If a group or an individual desires to gain cooperation from someone or seeks to persuade an critic, inducing an alpha state of consciousness will greatly aid in accomplishing this objective.



Also, as mentioned previously, individuals move into and out of these states of consciousness while fully awake. If children experience normal growth and development, they remain in an alpha state until they begin to develop beta waves (and abstract discernment abilities) starting at about 8 years of age. However, this state of consciousness can be induced or promoted by a number of factors, according to what we’ve learned from scientific study and recent advances in neurophysiologic imaging techniques. A good conference promotes these effects, sometimes by chance and sometimes by design. In either case, awareness in the reduction in usual critical thinking resources serves as a defense against covert manipulation, should any arise.

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Prerequisite II for Surviving a Conference: Understanding Basic States of Consciousness

We experience the very same states of consciousness that hypnosis induces purposely quite spontaneously all throughout the day. Hypnosis takes place at about 8 - 12 cycles per second/Hertz or lower on EEG (an observing of the electrical patterns generated by the brain), and critical thought generates a faster oscillation, usually ranging from 15 to about 25 Hz.

These states of consciousness can be objectively assessed through a psychological assessment (both through observation and self-reported interview) though we can observe these same states through physical responses as well. The names of the Hz range that correspond to these characteristics are used to describe the corresponding states of consciousness, though I will only mention those that are pertinent to hypnosis.

Different brain structures generate different frequencies and patterns, and during normal consciousness, there is an ideal balance of these different brain wave patterns taking place all at once.

 But it makes sense that if the problem-solving centers of the brain that generate a particular waveform are not being utilized heavily, there will be an overall decrease in those patterns. So this description of consciousness based on one wave form describes the predominant and general, overall pattern described. (For example, some very logical, left-brained people will generate beta waves all throughout their sleep cycle when those patterns are nearly absent during sleep for the general population.) 

Waking hypnosis can then take place during normal consciousness, even though a person might not be in a completely relaxed state, the general state that allows for the bypassing of critical thought to introduce focused, selective thought. It may also tend to occur when the oscillations of the brain wave patterns vary just between critical thought and a state relaxed alertness at approximately 12 - 15 Hz, at the Beta-Alpha Border. Beta State: When engaged in critical thinking, discernment and decision-making, the brain generates a predominant pattern of Beta waves, generally ranging from no lower than 12 Hz, though they can speed along as fast as 40 Hz. Logic and sequential thought as well as stress correspond with the beta state, and it is most easily noted by cool or cold hand temperature and muscle tension. Headache patients benefit by learning to control this tension, using hand temperature as a gauge and a focus to slow these thought patterns as high beta states often accompany headache and migraine. Alpha State: A comfortable, relaxed posture accompanied by a mental state of relaxed awareness/alertness characterizes the Alpha state of consciousness on EEG. (It ranges from approximately 8 to 12 Hz.) Selective attention typifies this state, when engaged in a task that causes a person to loose track of the passage of time. This generally the state that one experiences when one is sitting restfully or doing something that one finds relaxing (which can include sports that one finds calming). Learning takes place at this state, and it is ideal for memorization. (Classical education capitalizes upon the enhanced ability to memorize associated with this state, as this is the general state of children until about 8-10 years of age when beta waves being to develop.)

Hypnotherapy seeks to induce an Alpha state so as to more easily refocus attention (or introduce new information), and it is also an ideal state of mind for reading comprehension. The brain absorbs and stores information uncritically in this state of consciousness. The body will shift into an alpha state in response to certain physiologic factors: eye movement and deep, rhythmic breathing. Note that when a person’s gaze is directed to 30 degrees above midline or when a person breathes deeply from the abdomen, the body cannot resist shifting into an alpha state of consciousness. This is a physiologic response to gazing upward (to see a speaker or to view a projection on a display screen). Theta State: Theta, just a little slower than the Alpha state (4 - 8 Hz), corresponds to intuition and daydreaming, and it is often experienced while doing repetitive tasks. Have you ever been unable to remember a name to have that name pop into your mind hours later? Or have you been driving on the highway to arrive at your destination to realize that you don’t actually remember making the drive? You’ve likely shifted into a Theta state. This is the state of consciousness that enhances creativity. Many people find that they have ideas come to them “out of the blue” and will have their most creative thoughts while doing repetitive, rhythmic tasks like driving on the highway or while vacuuming. Automatic tasks induce a theta state and may bring with them a flood of ideas. Because people report seeing cool, blue and teal colors while in this state of consciousness, I am told that this explains the “out of the blue” cliche. This state of consciousness sometimes enhances certain aspects of hypnosis but is not the most desired state of consciousness for post-hypnotic suggestion.

Why is any of this important? Our activities determine our states of consciousness, but it is critical to note that conditions in our environment and certain stimuli and activities can enhance our tendency to one state or another. If you are in a situation when you need all of your “Beta” functions, anything that causes a natural, physiologic slowing of these brain wave patterns will make you vulnerable. Florescent lighting slows brain wave patterns as do the radiant light patterns of a television screen. If you know that you are going into a situation where you find yourself at a disadvantage, you might wish to do things to keep your Beta functions active and engaged. You can accomplish this through self awareness and through knowledge of how these states of consciousness can work against you.

Recognizing the characteristics of each state can help bring you back into healthy balance and a state of mind that is most appropriate for your circumstances. For instance, if you are a Christian and you sit down to debate with a person of a very different faith about these matters, you would definitely not want to slip into a state of consciousness that made you prone to accepting ideas without discernment. People with problems like ADD tend to fall into a particular brainwave pattern, so this of interest to them if they wish to improve their attention by avoiding any environmental factors that work against them. In an upcoming post, read more about factors that promote alpha and theta activity, especially when attending a conference.

  Single brainwave formation graphics noted above: An EEG (electroencephalograph) 1 second sample. The signal is filtered to present only the brain wave patterns of interest. The signal was acquired in the Oz position processed with scipy and saved with matplolib. Created by Hugo Gamboa Dec 2005
Comparison graphic by Intelegen, Inc.

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Surviving a Conference Part I: Making Memories

Every conference, even the True Woman ‘08 Conference, has a powerful effect on the mind of the person who attends. Before I delve into the effect that a conference environment has on a person too deeply, I would like to describe a little bit about how the mind works to help you better understand how conferences challenge your critical thinking.

As the old theory goes and what we now know from brain imaging, memory is quite a complex thing. First a stimulus is introduced to a person, and they experience that stimulus. If one hears a sound, along with the sound, the mind also remembers what the person is also experiencing beyond the sound: sights, tactile sensations, taste, smell, emotions, old associated memory, etc. The memory becomes like a snapshot that is stored, but the sound becomes bound to all the other things that the person experienced at that time. All areas of the brain become involved in that memory, creating a circuit. If a stimulus is repeated many times, that circuit is strengthened.

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Patriarchy Lecture Part VI of VII

“The Development and Practice for Patriarchy:

Cure for Cultural Decline or
New Gnostic Disease”

presented by Cynthia Kunsman, RN, BSN, MMin, ND

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Part VI of VII

Video by Raphael Martinez of Spiritwatch Ministries

Note: Bibliography now online at UnderMuchGrace.com

Please note clarifications below.

Epistemology:
There is some controversy regarding the epistemology and whether coherentists can actually be Christians. (Some maintain that because of sola scriptura, Christians must either be hard or soft epistemic foundationalists.) I maintain that Christians can be coherentists, and empirical information is accepted, granting that it is submitted to the authority of Scripture. Personally, I believe that all truth is transcendent by nature (whether it is axiomatic or evidential/experiential) and that truth validates itself and is its own defense. We should certainly be well prepared to declare truth, however.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder:
Though not mentioned in the lecture (but included on a slide), per the neurophysiology of PTSD and findings on 3 camera SPECT (blood perfusion nuclear imaging of the brain) and functional MRI, there are three major responses in the brain affected by PTSD. Because the brain affected by PTSD becomes caught up in an emotionally mediated stress response, three notable responses occur in the brain during positive self-messages (e.g. “You are the righteousness of God in Christ. You are wonderful.”):

• As mentioned in the workshop, the Posterior Cingulate Cortex area (“Yes, that’s me!” area – BA 23) does not become active or perfuse
• General activation of the anxiety center in the brain (amygdala)
• General suppression of critical thought or reasoning occurs in the PreFrontal Cortex

Complementarianism:
Personally, I hold to a traditional, complementarian view wherein women can be ordained but do not meet Biblical qualification to be senior pastors or elders. I am not intimidated by those who believe that women can be pastors, co-pastors or elders; but I believe that the Holy Spirit would have caused Tyndale and others to translate some of these passages more specifically if that were the case. I do believe that the disparagements between egalitarians and complementarians are intramural and not essential doctrines, however. Some of the arguments made by the egalitarians may be considered appeals to ignorance or arguments from silence, so I personally (and currently) maintain a view that restricts women from the roles of senior pastor and elder, but they certainly can minister as a members of pastoral staff.
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Persinger's "First Order Protections" for Resisting Cultic Influence PART III of III

PART III: First Order Protections

Resisting Manipulation

and

Cultic Influence

(by Michael Persinger)

SEE PART I and Part II

Things to Come …

Since the cause of [group] mania lies within the processes associated with parental dependency and the seductive pitfalls of emotional language, the potential for another epidemic is always very real. No doubt the precise details may change, but their themes and personal promises will remain. Conditions of anxiety and global apprehension—no matter how large the persons world – breed an odd composite of fantasy and fear. 

[Groups] that promise perfect prediction, cosmic order and the complete relief of uncertainty are always there with an answer. Sometimes they are called TMers, Jones’ cultists or radical Christians. Sill other times, they may start innocently but then transform from a mute conglomerate of pantheism and world brotherhood {such as the Bahai} into frantic [group] conversion. The present forms of [group-think] will soon habituate. 

[Blog host note: This was written/published circa 1980….] 

Those that are based upon novelty-jags and the stimulation associated with simple change must become more and more bizarre. Like TM, they must promise their followers more potent sources of irrational power. At some point, the credibility will be extended and the movement, except for the hard-core members, will collapse…. Movements such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and many similar cults that venerate the distant past will become reinforcing. The simplicity of the past and the dependence upon a benevolent force will be the essential themes of control. Like the atheist who prays during an airplane crisis, no one will dare take the chance…. 

As before, these odd events will be sources of anxiety and potential terror. People will report them as if they are singular prodromes to the ends to the occurrence of some great alteration in man’s future. These events will be seen as signs of an uncertain future, because of man’s ignorance of the same occurrences from times past.

from Pgs 172 - 176 "TM and Cult Mania" by Persinger, Carrey and Seuss (what a great couple of names for co-authors!) 1980

Note: The following terms were substituted in the passage: 

• "Group think" for "cult mania"
• "Group" for "cult"
• "Group follower" for "cultist"

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Persinger's "First Order Protections" for Resisting Cultic Influence PART II of III

PART II of III

Continued from PART I:

First Order Protections

.Helpful protective procedures

that will help you resist manipulation

from Michael Persinger

Consider Confounding Factors

Most successful [groups] caplitalize upon basic human behaviors. The most infrequently displayed response (due to inexperience or active suppression) of a particular generation is selected as a major sell point. For example the TM sell job tapped heavily into this [the baby-boomer] generation’s basic ignorance of the consequences of silence and relaxation.

When [group] claims are made, look for the confounding factor. In other words, attempt to determine what actual stimulus is involved that is masked or misinterpreted by the [group] leaders. Usually the confounding factor is so simple that it is easily overlooked. Never underestimate the effects of expectancy upon the interpretations of otherwise mundane private experiences.

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Persinger's "First Order Protections" for Resisting Cultic Influence PART I of III

Michael Persinger, professor of neurophysiology at Laurentian University has long studied neurophysiology and religious experience, winning the 2007 Best Speaker Award on Ontario Television’s “Big Ideas” competition. One of his earlier books concerning religious experience offers these “first order protections” for resisting religious deception – or any deception – as all types of religious or non-religious deceptions involve logical fallacy and temporary suspension of critical thought processes.

Persinger has this to say of deception and manipulative ideological groups:

Although they are obvious from hindsight, their contemporary existence is hidden cleverly within the vehicle of the day. By necessity, otherwise, they would be unattractive to present problems or rejected reflexively, each new [group] must contain a new vehicle immersed in a deceiving mass of details and sell routines. Following are some protective procedures that may be helpful. However, they are not infallible.

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Is it All In Their Heads?

Daniel G. Amen, MD

is a well known psychiatrist, author of several best-selling books, and is also a dually credentialed specialist in nuclear medicine brain imaging.

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Among other things, I think that, in this forum, it is also reasonable to note that Dr. Amen is a "born again" Christian and was among the first class of medical doctors to graduate from ORU.

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He is somewhat of a unique but growing number of psychiatrists that do not rush to prescribe drugs, but also considers and prescribes nutrition, healthy mental habits, healthy lifestyle and natural products for the treatment of psychiatric disorders and other organic diseases of the brain.

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~~~~~

This is from his recent publication in the Opinion Section of the Los Angeles Times:

What do Rudy Giuliani's messy personal life, John McCain's temper and Hillary Clinton's inability to seem authentic have in common? Maybe nothing. They may be just overblown issues in the otherwise normal lives of candidates under the political microscope.

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Such symptoms, however, may mean a lot -- such as evidence of underlying brain dysfunction. Sometimes people with messy personal lives have low prefrontal cortex activity associated with poor judgment; sometimes people with temper problems have brain damage and impulse control problems; sometimes people who struggle with authenticity have trouble really seeing things from someone else's perspective.

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As a neuropsychiatrist and brain-imaging expert, I want our elected leaders to be some of the "brain healthiest people" in the land. How do you know about the brain health of a presidential candidate unless you look? The brain is involved in everything humans do....

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Three of the last four presidents have shown clear brain pathology....

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Functional scans, such as Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, provide a window into the brain. Doctors can now see healthy or dysfunctional brain patterns, much as we can assess the strength of a heart or measure hormone levels, and recognize trouble....

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A national leader with brain problems can potentially cost millions of people their lives...

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Ensuring that our president has a healthy brain may be more than an interesting topic of conversation. It can be important information to put into the election equation. A president with brain problems could wreak havoc on the U.S. and the world at large.

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Maybe we shouldn't leave the health

of our president's brain to chance.

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We have the tools; shouldn't we look?

excerpts from

"Getting Inside Their Heads ... Really Inside"

LA Times Opinion - Editorial

December 5, 2007

Daniel G. Amen, a neuropsychiatrist and director of the Amen Clinics,

is the author of "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life."

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