Thinking about My Orientation

I've been thinking about my orientation lately. No not my sexual orientation; my theoretical orientation. What kind of therapist do I want to do? There are several things to consider when you consider theoretical orientations. The first is effectiveness. Does it actually work? Does the therapeutic intervention do what it is supposed to do and does it do it better than other interventions? I have learned that some therapies work better than others but there really isn't one that is a cure-all for all problems. Cog-B and interpersonal therapies work best with depression. Behavioral therapy, like systematic desensitization, work best with phobias. By no means will I be able to become proficient in all 400 psychotherapy modalities and so I must choose to understand a select few.

The second thing to consider is the philosophy behind the theory. If I were to be a strict behaviorist then I would consider human beings to be like machines without any free will. Obviously that poses a problem for me as a Christian. So what I have to do is admit that some behaviors are less controlled by free will than others. Of course this makes sense Biblically because although we are said to have free will, there is plenty of evidence that God believes in using punishment and reward to encourage and discourage different behavior. If we were truly beings of free will then we would not be affected by consequences.

However, most theories don't break down so readily and so I need to reflect on what I believe constitutes the human experience. Does mental health mean freedom from psychologically distressing symptoms or does it mean emotional well-being? Do I believe that humans are essentially good or evil, or perhaps neither? What is the Imago Dei that God places on us? Obviously these questions have no clear answer - or at least it's not clear to me right now.

Thirdly, one must consider who you want to work with. This goes back to effectiveness again but we must consider what population we would work with and understand the philosophical questions well enough to know how you want to work with them.

Finally, I'm going to need to think about how to bring my faith into how I practice psychology. That does not always mean telling them about Christ, which would be unethical to do to people who are paying me for my time. But it does mean bringing in an understanding of grace and forgiveness that I can share with them. I believe one of the key ways to change a person is by teaching them to forgive. And the only way to teach them that is by showing them just how wretched they themselves are.

So there you have it. Welcome to a little bit of my world.