Psychology is much more than counseling

The debate between thoughtful Christians about the causes of and cures for mental pain is very interesting. Because counseling psychology comes so close to the heart of the Gospel message, the debate sometimes gets ugly. I have noticed something about the Christian community that I think is related to the sometimes-vitriolic nature of the debate.

Find a homeschool curriculum seller’s catalog or website. Look for a text to teach intro psych. You probably will not find one (other than Homeschool Psych). I think one reason is that when Christians hear the word “psychology” they equate it with personality theory, Sigmund Freud, and psychotherapy. I wonder if, because Christians get so “fired up” about counseling psychology and equate counseling psychology with the entire discipline, many Christians decide they wouldn’t touch the entire subject with a 10 foot pole.

Psychology is much more than counseling. Psychology is about the brain, behavior, perception, motivation, learning, memory, thought, personality, and more. We’re caught in a downward spiral. Without Christian thought leaders in psychology (in the broad sense) we are inadequately represented in psychology in the more narrow counseling sense. In the meantime, the study of the wonders of the human brain is left to non-Christians