Why does there seem to be a steady stream of bad headlines about the church?
Has it always been this way?
How do we process allegations and bad news without losing our minds?
Tag: mental health
On Authenticity
Can we be our “authentic selves” at church?
What does it even mean to be our authentic selves?
Slides available below:
Healing vs. Destructive Empathy
Is empathy always a good thing?
Can it be used improperly?
What are some differences between empathy that leads to the well being of another person, versus empathy that facilitates their downward spiral?
These topics are covered in this presentation; slides below:
Faith Crisis: Presentation and Resources
What is faith crisis?
What are some possible responses to the experience?
What are some healthy ways of reframing faith crisis?
Is a positive outcome possible?
What are some helpful resources for people in faith crisis?
In this presentation, we cover these questions and more. And if you would like personal help working through faith crisis, we’re happy to link you with people who can help! Just send a note using the feedback form.
Slides available for viewing and download:
Carl Jung On the Inadequacy of Therapy for Treating Addiction
As a brief postscript to my article in Public Square Magazine, I thought I’d tell a little story that illustrates humility coming from a world renowned therapist. Since I complained in that article that sometimes therapists can be narcissistic by seeing every problem as treatable through acting more therapeutically, I thought I’d provide a fascinating historical counterexample.
It’s useful to share this story because, while it may not be apparent to outsiders, therapists and twelve step addiction recovery programs sometimes have a rocky relationship. It isn’t always the case, many therapists recommend (and may even require) attending a twelve step group as a valuable part of their therapeutic recovery process. (I’m one of them, for certain cases at least.) But why do some therapists have a problem with twelve step?
The short answer is: too much God, and not enough graduate degrees. The longer answer is they feel it lacks scientific support, that modern treatment models are superior, and that the free program costs too much money. This last complaint is a bit of a head-scratcher, but we’ll briefly touch on the other two at the end of the piece. Before we do that, let’s tell a fascinating story about Carl Jung and the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous that you may not have heard before.
Reflections on Guilt, Shame, and Neurosis
This morning I listened to the ever-delightful Econ Talk podcast, this time featuring Mike Munger speaking with Russ Roberts on Econ Talk.
I commend the entire episode to you, as it’s a delightful little romp on the topic of how economists view morality. (Okay okay fine, I’ll give you the quick version: economists view morality as a simple set of fixed preferences. Roberts and Munger argue that we can change our preferences, and in fact, have an obligation to. In short, we have an obligation to become better people who do not merely “respond to incentives” but rather “create their own objective functions.” [That’s fancy econ-speak for “choose to desire better things.”])
Anyway, in the discussion, Munger mentioned something that caught my attention, and I think is worth repeating and elaborating on.
Munger gives two examples.
• Imagine you do something wrong. You feel bad about this.
• Imagine you do something wrong and someone finds out. You feel bad that someone found out.
Munger then calls the first guilt, and the second shame.
The conversation quickly moved on, but I kept thinking about it.