Light Brings Salt
Volume 3, Issue 44
Iron Range Bible
Church
Dedicated to the Systematic Exposition of the Word of God
Psychotherapy - Pseudo Science
Dr. G. Harry Leafe
Psychotherapy rests on the assumption that problems of
thinking and living constitute illnesses or pathologies and therefore require
cures by psychologically trained professionals. One writer very wisely I think
points out that the prevailing popular psychotherapeutic systems merely reflect
the current culture. (Charles Tart; Transpersonal
Psychologies, P.4.)
Many critics in the field recognize the pseudo-scientific
nature of psychotherapy.
Psychiatrist-lawyer Jonas Robitscher, in his
book The Powers of Psychiatry, says regarding the scientific status of
psychiatric advice: "His advice is followed because he is a psychiatrist,
even though the scientific validity of his advice and recommendations has never
been firmly established." He also says, "The infuriating quality of
psychiatrist is...their insistence that they are scientific and correct and
that their detractors, therefore must be wrong."
Research psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey
is even more blunt when he says: "The techniques
used by Western psychiatrists are, with few exceptions, on exactly the same
scientific plane as the techniques used by witch doctors. Walter Reich refers to "the sudden
recognition among psychiatrists that, even as a clinical enterprise,
psychoanalysis and the approaches derived from it are neither scientific nor effective." Reich mentions the "dangers of
ideological zeal in psychiatry, the professions preference for wishful thinking
to scientific knowledge, and the backlash that is provoked, perhaps inevitably,
when the zeal devours the ideology and the wish banishes the science."
Linda Reibel, in an article
titled "Theory as Self-Portrait and the Ideal of Objectivity," points
out clearly that "theories of human nature reflect the theorist's
personality as he or she externalizes it or projects it onto humanity at
large." She says, "...the
theory of human nature is a self-portrait of the theorist...emphasizing what
the theorist needs." Her main point is that theorizing in psychotherapy
"cannot transcend the individual personality engaged in that act."
Karl Popper, who is considered to be one of the most
influential thinkers today and considered by many to be the greatest
twentieth-century philosopher of science, has examined psychological theories
having to do with the why of human behavior and the what to do about it. He
says that these theories, "though posing as sciences, had in fact more in
common with primitive myths than with science; that they resembled astrology
rather than astronomy." He also says, "These theories describe some
facts buy in the manner of myths, They contain most
interesting psychological suggestions, but not in testable form."
Psychologist Carol Tavris
compares astrology and psychological determinism and says; "Now the irony
is that many people who are not fooled by astrology for one minute subject
themselves to therapy for years, where the same errors of logic and
interpretation often occur.
Jerome Frank also refers to psychotherapies as myths
because as he says, "they are not subject to disproof." One can devise a system of explaining all
human behavior and then interpret all behavior in the light of that
explanation. This is just as true of
psychotherapeutic theories as it is true of graphology, astrology, and other
such "ologies."
Crucial to a science is the possibility of not only
refuting theories but also predicting future events, reproducing results
obtained, and controlling what is observed. Lewis Thomas says, "Science
requires, among other things, a statistically significant number of reproducible
observations and, above all, controls."
As we move from the natural sciences to the so-called
behavioral sciences, we move away from refutability, predictability,
reproducibility, and controllability. In
addition, the cause and effect relationship so evident in the natural sciences, is ambiguous or absent in the behavioral
"sciences." Instead of
causation (cause and effect), psychotherapy rests heavily upon co-variation
(events that appear together which may not necessarily related.) From cause and
effect, where there is a direct relationship, psychotherapy utilizes
co-variation even though the events which seem to be related may in fact have
nothing to do with each other.
There is a great temptation to assume that when two events
occur together (co-variation) one must have caused the
other. This is the basis of much superstition. For example, if one walks under
a ladder and then has "bad luck," often a cause and effect
relationship is assumed and one then avoids walking under ladders for fear of
"bad luck." This type of
superstitious relationship occurs often in the behavioral "sciences."
The superstitious nonscientific illusions of psychiatry are many.
Psychotherapy escapes the rigors of science because the mind is not equal to the brain and
man is not a machine. Psychotherapy attempts to deal with individuals who are
unique and possess a will. Interaction
in a therapeutic setting involves the individuality and volition of both the
therapist and the person being counseled. Additionally, there are variables of
time and changing circumstances in the lives of both therapist and counselee
and in their values, which are an inevitable part of therapy. Science is at a
loss because the deep thoughts and motivations of humanity escape the
scientific method. Instead, the study is more the business of philosophers and
theologians.
Dave Hunt addresses this issue in his book Beyond Seduction: True faith and true
science are not rivals, but deal with different realms...To mix faith with
science is to destroy both...the God who created us in His image exists beyond
the scope of scientific laws. Therefore, human personality and experience,
which come from God and not from nature, must forever defy scientific
analysis. No wonder psychotherapy, which
pretends to deal "scientifically" with human behavior and
personality, has failed so miserably! No human being has the power to define
from within himself, much less dictate to others, what constitutes right or
wrong behavior. Only God can set such standards, and if there is no creator
God, then morality is nonexistent. This
is why psychology's "scientific" standards for "normal"
behavior are arbitrary, changeable, meaningless, and inevitably amoral.
The labyrinth of psychotherapeutic theories leads to far
reaching influences, not only in thought but in behavior. It is said of Sigmund
Freud: His ideas about dreams, religion,
creativity and the unconscious motivations underlying all human behavior are so
pervasive that it would be difficult to imagine twentieth-century thought
without them.
The Christian community has not escaped the all pervasive
influence of psychotherapy. The church has unwittingly and even eagerly
embraced the pseudoscientisms of psychotherapy and has intimately incorporated
this specter into the very sinew of its life.
Not only does the church include the concepts and teachings of
psychotherapists in sermons and seminaries, it also steps aside and entrusts
the "mentally and emotionally sick" to the "high altar" of
psychotherapy.
Many church leaders contend that the church does not have
the ability to meet the needs of people suffering from depression, anxiety,
fear, and other problems of living. They
therefore trust the paid practitioners of the pseudoscientisms of psychotherapy
more than they trust the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit. Because of the confusion between science and
pseudo science, church leaders have elevated the psychotherapist to a position
of authority in the modern church. Thus in many circles to attack the
amalgamation of psychotherapy and Christianity is
considered to be an attack on the church itself.
Although the church has quite universally accepted and
endorsed the psychological way, there are those who have not. Jay Adams says:
In my opinion, advocating, allowing and practicing psychiatric and
psychoanalytical dogmas within the church is every bit a pagan and heretical
(and therefore perilous) as propagating the teachings of some of the most
bizarre cults. The only vital difference
is that the cults are less dangerous because their errors are more
identifiable.
Dave Hunt in his book The
Cult Explosion,
says: Today the church is being
destroyed from within by "Christian psychology" that interprets
Scripture on the basis of bankrupt, atheistic philosophy, which at best turns
Christ into a heavenly psychiatrist. Months and even years of "Christian
psychiatry" are now attempting to do what was once accomplished in a
moment by coming to the cross.
Paul exhorts Timothy to "avoid worldly and empty
chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge." (1 Timothy 6:20) Scofield comments on this, "If theories that rest upon
mere speculation or insufficient knowledge, e.g. religion, philosophy, science,
etc., they deserve the description that the apostle gives here: "what is
falsely called knowledge" (pseudo science of psychology) which they are to
avoid."
The conflict between the psychological way of counseling
and the biblical way is not between true science and true religion. The conflict
is strictly religious, a conflict between many religions grouped under the name
of psychotherapy or psychological counseling and the one true religion of the
Bible.
Persecution of Christians -
Two high school girls are in critical condition after
being shot point blank on November 8th near their church. Ivone
(last name unknown) and (Yuli) Siti
Nuraini, both 17 years old, were shot by men on a
motorcycle in the Gatot Subroto
area of Poso. Ivone was shot in the left jaw, while Yuli
was wounded in the neck.
Both girls are presently in critical condition in the
hospital. This incident follows the shocking attack on four Christian girls in
the same city on October 29th, when three were beheaded. Hundreds of troops have been dispatched to
the area. This recent shooting, however, demonstrates the danger from militant
Islamic groups has not abated.
"Liberals
stoutly maintain that a woman has a privacy right to kill her unborn child,
that pornographers have a right to broadcast the most nauseating filth, that
scummy traitors have a right to spit on the flag, that adults have a right to
have sex with adolescents, and that two men or two women have a right to
marry—but two individuals who gave a child life, who fed, clothed, sheltered
and nurtured that child, have no right (constitutional or historical, explicit
or implied) to control when, where and in what way they will be exposed to sex.
And they wonder why, for normal people, 'liberalism' has become a dirty
word." —Don Feder