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Mental Health
Pioneers in Christian Counseling: An Interview with Paul Meier
Paul Meier, M.D., is cofounder and Medical Director of New Life Clinics, one of the largest nationwide providers of Christian mental health care. He is also co-host of “New Life Live!” a national radio program. Author of more than 50 books, he is a well-known teacher and speaker who has appeared ... Read More
Men and Depression
Depression is ubiquitous among aging men. It affects approximately 13% of all men during their lifetime, with rates increasing with age to 40% of men between 40–60 years of age. This age-worsening factor is reflected in suicide rates that triple in midlife and reaches 4–10 times the rate of femal... Read More
Superwoman Syndrome: A Woman's Work Is Never Done
Sandra rushed into her counseling session 10 minutes late. Apologizing profusely she moaned, “Sorry I’m late. There’s never enough time in the day to get everything I need to get done. I always feel like I’m rushing to get to the next thing. Is it ever going to stop?” Sandra’s complaint m... Read More
Online Counseling and Telephone Counseling (eCounseling) with Clients in Crisis
All eCounselors provide some crisis counseling. Crisis situations are a common concern for eCounselors - and rightly so. To be ethical, counselors of all philosophies and practice settings need to handle these situations carefully. If you haven’t been concerned, consider that failures to mak... Read More
The Body/Mind/Spirit Connection: Is Spirituality Always a Good Thing?
This edition of Christian Counseling Today reaches deep into the “Body, Mind and Spirit” connection and helps us to understand the intricate connection between these three dimensions of our lives. Making sense of how these three are connected has never been more challenging on the one hand, and m... Read More
Migraines and the Biology of Joy: It requires a healthy biological system to fully experience the joy that comes from God
The presence of God is joy. Great writers, poets and artists have come short of expressing this joy in their greatest works. A.W. Tozer wrote, “The modern scientist has lost God amid the wonders of His world...” 1 So how does a neurologist dare try to explain joy? We use it everyday and never giv... Read More
Healing the Hardware of the Soul: Nine Principals of the Amen Clinic
Like the hardware of a computer, the brain must function at an optimal level in order for us to run the software programs of life (learning how to function in child rearing, education, going through adolescence, training for a career, marriage, navigating mid-life crises, for instance). When the ... Read More
Lonely Children: Love and hope for empty souls
LONELY CHILDREN. We all have a picture of them in our minds. Our hearts ache when we hear our children cry, “Mommy, Julie doesn’t want to sit with me at lunch.” Or our son confesses, “Daddy, why am I always the last one picked?” And we wonder whether or not our children are lonely children. It is... Read More
Journaling: A personal Pilgrimage into knowing yourself
Have you ever been hiking in the woods and come across a dark, murky pond? It’s back in the swampy area down the path a little ways, and it has that black oily liquid that just sits there. With the exception of some green seedlings that float on the surface of this quagmire, no signs of life. It ... Read More
9 Things You Simply Must Do (to succeed in love and life!)
I remember when it first happened, but I do remember the feeling. It was like being in an episode of The X Files—or more accurately, a strong sense of déjà vu. I would be talking with someone, either in therapy or a consulting role, or even in a business situation, and I would think, wait a minut... Read More
Rapport in the eCounseling Relationship
Rapport may be the single most important aspect of a counseling relationship. It has been found to increase client interest, motivation, and comfort, all which contribute to clinical efficacy. But can rapport exist in an eCounseling relationship? Theorists Debate Early theori... Read More
eCounseling: Is it History in the Making?
Q: “Do you think someday a computer could pretend to be a counselor, and communicate with a client?” A: “Yes! That occurred at MIT in 1966 with the creation of ELIZA, a computer program that functions as a Rogerian therapist. Many consider ELIZA to be the dawn of eCounseling.” The ... Read More
The eCounseling Controversy: Advantages of Telepone and Internet Therapy
The eCounseling Controversy: Advantages and Disadvantages of Telephone and Internet Therapy Raul is a Hispanic American looking for a counselor who speaks Spanish, and who understands first-hand his cultural perspectives. There’s no one like this within 50 miles. Dave can ne... Read More
About eCounseling
Greetings readers! I am very excited to write the first installment of a new column on eCounseling practice. We have only 500 words together each issue, so it will be a challenge for me to scribble something with both interest and take-home value. I am already wasting precious space; what I... Read More
The Sword and the Trowel: A Biblical Model for Men's Accountability
In today’s fast paced world there are temptations for men everyday. The pressures of work, the allure of the Internet, and the sexual energy of our culture all make it hard to make healthy decisions. It was no different in Paul’s time. In Romans 7:15, he writes, “I do not un- derstand wha... Read More
The Crucible of Therapy: Looking Inward
Parenting contained some epiphanies for me. One of those occurred many years ago when our sons were very small. The three-year-old chose one evening to be relentlessly disobedient about something – I no longer remember what. The youngest was still nursing and I was a very tired young mother. I ke... Read More
The Spiritual Impact of Abuse on Children
Child abuse violates every aspect of a child ’s life – their world, their self, their future and their faith. We know this from both the research literature and clinical experience. A child is, by definition, in process. Children are vulnerable, dependent and easily influenced. They do not know v... Read More
Emotional Abuse: The Abuse Beneath Abuse
Abuse in the context of an intimate relationship involves a persistent pattern of behaviors. It is not simply a mistake, an isolated incident or a sudden loss of control. The husband, who engages in this style of relating, misuses his wife for selfish ends and violates her dignity and self-determ... Read More
Body Image Blues: Understanding the psychological factors that fuel personal insecurities
Have you ever wondered why some people never seem happy with themselves, or are constantly comparing themselves to others to see if they measure up? I sure have and to be honest, I've been in situations where I did it too! Depending on the situation, we all can feel a little insecure at times, so... Read More
Iceberg Personality Principle
90% of an iceberg is under the water, leaving only a tiny amount exposed above the surface. Like an iceberg, a large portion of our personality is hidden from view. Most of who we really are is typically covered up and tightly protected from ever being seen by others. The Bible teaches this pri... Read More
7 Strategies to Survive the Holidays
Have you ever wondered why traditional holidays are so stressful? Instead of being called the ‘most wonderful time of the year,’ it seems that we should rename it to be more accurately called the ‘most difficult time of the year’. I believe you can break the pattern of stressful holidays by re... Read More
Strategies to change ADD into a blessing instead of curse
Is ADD a blessing or a curse? The answer is probably going to be different depending on who you ask. For some teachers and school systems, it may be a curse because of the difficulty motivating highly creative and over stimulated kids. However, for the parents of these high energy children, I ... Read More