February 26, 2010 · 5:43 am

Belief in a loving God and Depression?


Thanks to a friend’s sharp eyes, I learned of this news release from Rush University Medical Center:

Research suggests that religious belief can help protect against symptoms of depression, but a study at Rush University Medical Center goes one step further.

In patients diagnosed with clinical depression, belief in a concerned God can improve response to medical treatment, according to a paper in the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

The release goes on to say that the positive benefit did not stem from hope but in belief in a caring God. What it doesn’t say is whether or not those NOT taking medications get positive benefit from a belief in a caring God.

What do you make of this? Should we get excited when research confirms our established beliefs? Should we look for alternative explanations? I would be curious how they separated hope and belief. Hope and belief that God is active and looking out for you probably encourages you to look for and remember evidence! The more you look for the evidence the more you practice being mindful of something bigger than your despair.

What is your reaction?

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February 25, 2010 · 5:35 am

Sexual Assualts on College Campuses


As heard on NPR’s Morning Edition: 1:5 college women report being the victim of a sexual assault. 1:5! Despite the efforts to curb these assaults over the last decade, it appears we are not making much progress.

Why? Simple answers include: victim shame, the haze of alcohol (it tends to reduce clarity about whether sex was consensual or not), the desire of the male to deny and cover up, and (very sadly) the fear in some leaders who worry too much about false accusations. Yes, people do lie. However, the ones who bear that cost are usually victims. We’d prefer that if we are to make a mistake, that the victim should be the one to pay for that mistake.

I didn’t have the privilege of having a sister or a daughter. But I do have female colleagues who I greatly respect and love. How is it that we, as a culture, have such low regard for women that we accept this problem.

Think you don’t accept this problem? What are you doing about the massive proliferation of women as objects for gratification? I drive by a bus stop ad that has women in various states of undress. What am I going to do about it?

I’m not sure, but I have to do something!

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February 23, 2010 · 6:13 pm

Dealing with unexpected losses


Some years ago, my wife and I wrote an article for CCEF’s Journal of Biblical Counseling entitled, “The Bible and the Pain of Infertility.” Of all my published writings, this article has garnered the most responses from readers. I don’t think it is because it is so well written as much as it touches many where they most hurt. Even though the article is about infertility, readers have commented that they found it related to their loss of a loved one, the unexpected loss of a career, a chronic disease.

Not that long ago I was asked to review a chapter manuscript on pastoral care of infertile couples. I was shocked to learn that he could find no serious work (than ours) attempting to think pastorally about infertility. Not sure he is right but it probably means we need more on the topic.

I say all this because CCEF has put the article up for free on the top of their homepage. Click here for their homepage. Click the image at the top of their page and it should take you to the full text article.

Enjoy. Pass it on to others you think might benefit, especially those who suffer in secret.

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February 22, 2010 · 12:41 pm

Quick Review of Mike Emlet’s “CrossTalk”


In my last guest post on the Society for Christian Psychology blog I give a brief review* of Mike Emlet’s new book: CrossTalk: When Life & Scripture Meet (2009, New Growth Press). I can’t say enough great things about the book. If you haven’t looked at it, you should. One of the big beefs I have with the Christian counseling world is that we either abuse or ignore the bible in the therapeutic context. Mike’s book does a world of good in rectifying two problems: (a) only using tiny portions but seeing most of the bible as unusable in ministry contexts, and (b) missing the big picture of how God connects to hurting people and how their hurts connect to God’s story.
Check out my blog post on the SCP site using the link above.

*I did receive a free copy of Mike’s book from the publisher but that did not influence my views of the book. More likely would be my friendship with him and any dinner his wife, Jody, might offer. 🙂

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February 18, 2010 · 12:26 pm

What’s on your nightstand?


Books that is. What books are you reading/recently read that you really enjoyed?

Here’s my list:

1. Robert Lacey’s Inside the Kingdom. A book about the royal Saudi family and the world of Saudi Arabia. Nicely done! Discusses the US/Saudi relationship, Bin Laden, the plight of women.

2. Robert Lacey’s The Year 1000. Since I liked #1 I got out this book published in 2000. Tells of what we know about life in England or Engla lond in the year 1000.

3. Janet Soskice’s Sisters in Sinai. What a great book about Scottish twins who brought to light one of the oldest Palimpsests of the Gospels. Well written and takes you right to the mid to late 1800s and how these women succeeded in a world ready to ignore them. You will not be able to put it down! Nice to see these women getting their due.

4. Mike Emlet’s CrossTalk. A great book about using the bible in personal ministry so as to connect the text to people’s lives and vice versa.

5. William Struthers’ Wired for Intimacy. Haven’t finished this one but it is about how porn impacts male brains. Written by a Wheaton College prof (not one that I have met).

6. Finally, G Campell Morgan’s The Gospel of John. Gift for my birthday. It is not dry a boring as you might expect a commentary to be. Very devotional.

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February 17, 2010 · 11:40 am

Thoughts on sport, romance, and perversion


I’m not particularly the romantic type but certain things tend to spawn warm fuzzies in me. One such thing is the Olympics. Watching young men and women throw their all into sport for the chance to win (even though most won’t even come close) is one of those things. I recall the same feelings as I lived and breathed track and cross-country running in high school. I have fleeting desires of being able to race that fast, throw every cell into an activity, to think that succeeding will be the best. But then, my aching ankles and knees remind me of the consequences of doing so…

Pairs figure skating, in my mind, is one of the best illustrations of sport, romance, and perversion. It is definitely a sport. Have you ever tried to skate? To skate and jump off the ice…and not have a brain injury? To catch someone spinning over your head? To do all that and look graceful? But pairs are also supposed to be artistry and poetry.  The couple skates in a way to tell a  romantic or romantic/tragic story. But with the new scoring system couples are rewarded with moves, jumps, catches, positions. They are not as well rewarded for fluidity, artistry, and poetry. Maybe I’m showing my age but I found very few of the skating pairs very interesting this year. The couple that won certainly were interesting, both on the ice and their personal story. But, many just skated to music and did the moves they knew would get higher scores.

In my mind, it perverts the romance of the sport. Sure, the skaters are athletic. Sure, the moves they do are amazing taken one at a time. But, I would liken it current pop hip-hop lyrics that skip all the romance and just flaunt or demand raw sexual activity. Forget the dinner and the candles, just give me sex!

If you were watching the long program of pairs, you may have seen a Canadian couple. They fell and so wouldn’t have medaled. However, I think they had more romance and art in their skating than all of the first three combined.

Which leaves me one question. Are we beyond romance in this day and age? Missed something on television? You can catch the 30 second clip of the most important points on video. Don’t want to watch a whole football game? You can get the highlights instead. Seems we like things raw and to the point.

Maybe this is the sin of Cliffs Notes 🙂

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February 15, 2010 · 10:47 am

Guest post on mindfulness


I have a post this am on the Society of Christian Psychology’s blog regarding the topic of mindfulness. I’ve written more here on the topic but you can go here to see my comments on the makings of a Christian Psychology version of mindfulness.

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February 15, 2010 · 5:03 am

Conference Announcement for the Society of Christian Psychology


One of the things I love about the Society for Christian Psychology is the diversity of professionals in the  membership. We have biblical counselors, clinical psychologists, sociologists, philosophers, and theologians. And starting this year, we have two different conferences, one for counselors and one for academics. I would like one that caters to both but this is still good. Anyway, the next academic conference (focusing on human agency) is next September 17-18 at Southern Seminary. For more info on the presenters, their paper topics and conference details, click here: 2010 Conference announcement titles

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February 12, 2010 · 5:36 am

The good and bad of new diagnoses


A draft of the next edition of the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual (DSM-V) has been posted to their website and open for comments by users. The website breaks out the changes being considered in categories so it is easy to find your area of interest.  The final edition isn’t expected until 2013.

Diagnostic changes can be a help and a problem at the same time. When DSM IV removed Multiple Personality Disorder in favor of multiple diagnoses for clarifying dissociative symptoms, that helped clinicians be more descriptive of their client’s struggles. In this new proposal, they plan on eliminating Asperger’s Disorder and subsuming a number of diagnoses (Retts, PDD, etc.) into one diagnosis: Autistic Disorder. I would think this would not be helpful as it reduces specificity.

How about this new entry: Temper Dysregulation Disorder with Dysphoria? A new diagnosis for children? I think it may help in that it might hinder the ever popular “bi-polar” label given too quickly to children (and accompanied with serious meds). On the other hand, it probably will make quite a few roll their eyes. The label doesn’t have that ringing medical sound to it. Not that I’m disparaging the symptoms it tends to cover. There are children who mood is so easily dysregulated, whose reaction to frustrations are way over the top. These children tend to be impulsive to boot. Something isn’t right, but what best identifies their struggles; the etiology of their problems?

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February 11, 2010 · 2:32 pm

Winter personality test


Try on this question to determine your snow related personality:

Do you shovel once at the end of the storm or do you shovel multiple times to reduce the amount of snow you move at a given time?
This only works for those of us who still shovel…

I’m a multiple shovel kind of guy.

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