Psychology Theology And Spirituality In Christian Counseling Summary

The book “Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling” is authored by Mark R. McMinn (2011) endeavors to establish clear guidelines, which can be helpful to Christian counselors who may face personally and professionally a position of religion in the counseling office while working with their clients. Moreover, this book venture to explain between theology, spirituality, and psychology and understand the complex relationship and interdisciplinary integration of religion and spirituality, and prepares counselor to be able to resolve potential complexity and challenges incorporating realistically into Christian counseling. McMinn(2011) states in his book “Christian counseling is more complex than other forms of counseling because

McMinn (2011) has discussed very honestly on how should the responsible Christian counselor counter to the question as Christian counselors are divided. Some Christian counselors state that prayer should be routinely included in Christian counseling or some utterly oppose such approach, saying that Christian counseling should be distinct from spiritual-guidance or pastoral intervention(p.77). He has researched the effects of prayer as well as the use of prayer in counseling based on survey data available and has presented his judgment and share his insight on the impact of prayer, and various methods of prayer. From a psychological viewpoint, the studies conducted about the effects of prayer are overwhelming inadequate and have severe methodological problems, but positive outcomes of praying with clients during a counseling session have been referenced supporting prayer’s positive impact (McMinn, 2011, p. 79). Nevertheless, “using meditation, contemplative prayer, or imagery prayer in counseling sessions, techniques that have received preliminary research support” (McMinn, 2011, p.82). McMinn(2011) emphasizes the importance of prayer and well suggests not to undermine the spiritual power of prayer(p.82). Moreover, "Prayer affects human interactions, but more important, it is a method of communication with God"(McMinn, 2011, p.82). McMinn (2011) warns that integration of prayer in counseling must be done cautiously due to the possible negative impacts of prayer in an incorrect time, though "the prayer is a good thing that can be misused, its use in counseling warrants careful monitoring (p.90). Several forms of prayer can be practiced during counseling sessions such as meditation, silent prayer, and praying for the client in during counseling session or outside of sessions in private