Interventions That Apply in Scripture & Psychotherapy

Interventions that Apply Scripture in Psychotherapy

Liberty University

Summary

In the field of counseling, Christian therapists are faced with the task of creating bible-based components that can be applied during the treatment of their clients. In Garzon’s article (2005), he introduces several intervention strategies that counselors can apply in their practice. In a case-study format, Garzon introduces George, who is a Caucasian male in his 30’s. George is not real; he merely serves as an example of a combination of clients who are exposed to the inclusion of scripture in their therapy sessions.

George is described as a person who conveys that he is concerned about being depressed (Garzon, 2005). His other issues relate to self-esteem, problems with sleeping and contemplation of suicide. It is also noted that George has aspirations and goals both in his career and personal life. George does not have a history of defect or mental sickness that was known. He did grow up with both his father and mother and witnessed his mother being abused both mentally and physically by his father who was not only an alcoholic, but also a veteran who fought in the Vietnam War (Garzon, 2005).

George shared that he had declared his faith as a Christian a couple of years ago. He expresses concern with the members of the church discerning that he is worthless because that is what he believes (Garzon, 2005). It is pinpointed that George has chronic depression. George was introduced to psychotherapeutic strategies to address the issues that he was facing. The religious component of the therapy was explored to determine how George’s spirituality could be integrated in his treatment.

The Interventions that were explored with George included the application of scripture, psycho and theo educational, behavioral and cognitive (Garzon, 2005). The purpose of these interventions was to utilize scripture-based strategies to aid in...