Christian
spirituality and the stages of change model
By Jake Kohl
In a
world where intense conflict within the Christian community over godless
psychology and whether it should be embraced will always be up for debate;
especially when we live in a “culture that promotes freedom of religion, yet
separation of church and state” (Cohen & Inaba, 2011, p. 9.28). Christians
who study psychology is immediately confronted with truth claims that conflict
with the Bible and which are opposed to Christian theology and doctrines.
Thoughtful and honest Christians must determine how to resolve the conflicts in
order to integrate psychology and Christianity. Christian spirituality and the
stages of change model is an excellent topic on how each can be integrated and
go hand in hand with each other.
Christian
counselors can meet the client at each stage of change; for example, in the
precontemplation stage, “individual therapy allows the therapist to explore
reasons why a person has come into treatment” (Connors et al, 2013, p. 122). While
this exploration takes place, the Christian counselor can integrate a biblical
perspective with the client, especially when identifying the need and reasons
for change. Counselors use question/answer based approaches to get the client
to see through a lens that allows their minds to open up to a clearer picture
of the need to change their behavior, particularly to the behavior of substance
abuse. This is true through every step of the change model and is further built
upon even after the maintenance stage. The therapist incorporates the God
factor, or a biblical sin, love, forgiveness and healing perspective to the
client in a way that the client can see his/her behavior as destructive and not
aligning with the will of God.
The differing views between secular and Christian
counseling, especially within the treatment arena, emerges simply from ones
worldview. The downside to this is that "we can become so intent on avoiding
a 'secular' worldview that we end up rejecting all that psychology and counseling
theory have to offer" (McMinn, 1996, p. 21) including the stages of
change.
There is
evidence that the philosophical assumptions used by the various views of psychology
are somehow mutually-compatible, even though they appear contradictory. There
is great evidence that the 12-step programs or biblically based treatment
programs are highly effective and work well.
Cohen & Inaba, (2011) state that, “a large number of empirical
studies demonstrate a 60% to 80% correlation of better addiction treatment
outcome to participation in 12-step or other spiritual practices” (p. 9.11).
However, failure to understand the stages of therapy can hamper the process of
recovery (p. 9.31).
While
there may be conflict over the various worldviews in the approach to treatment
and conflicting views on a Christian approach verses a secular approach, the
model of change is excellent in implementing change in the behavior(s) of an individual
– it allows goal posts to be set and change be seen in a real world sense.
While worldviews may differ; evidence points to a greater success using a
Christian approach, but only when the Christian approach is incorporated with
the science of proven research of successful treatment used in modern
psychology.
References
Connors, G.J.,
DiClemente, C.C., Velasquez, M.M., & Donovan, D.M. (2013). Substance
Abuse
Treatment and the Stages of Change (Second Edition). New York, NY: Guilford
Press.
Inaba, D.S., & Cohen, W.E. (2011). Uppers,
downers, all arounders: Physical and mental effects of psychoactive drugs (7th ed.). Medford, OR: CNS Productions. ISBN:
9780926544307
McMinn, Mark R. (1996). Psychology, theology, and spirituality in Christian counseling. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House.
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