Caution to those seeking Counseling/Psychiatric Help

Caution to those seeking Counseling/Psychiatric Help


I'm reminded of this by listening to the brave and loving mother of the pregnant lady who was murdered in Canton, Ohio as she talks wisely of helping her 2 year old grandson to cope with loss of his mom. (My heart goes out to the whole family, and prayers for their solace.) Pat has wisely told the little boy that his mom is with Jesus. This is a very good thing to do and will give him the foundation of faith he will need to grow up strong even under the weight of the cruel and unrighteous loss of his mother. Talking heads who analyze this story on the media are quick to suggest that the boy will "need professional help." That may or may not be true, but I urge all who are in this situation or similar situations to be VERY careful about your selection of a professional counselor. Be sure that they are God fearing and of your faith. That is a harsh statement but I've seen things that would horrify you. I will tell you about my personal experience working in a Catholic hospital where the psychiatric outpatient unit was controlled by secularists.

Patients were forbidden to discuss their faith at all, either during intake (where their illness is diagnosed) or later in therapy. If they insisted in even providing the most basic of information (e.g. a Hispanic patient saying she is a devout Catholic) that information is viewed as a symptom of her illness. Yes, you read right, proclaiming one's faith even in a Catholic hospital was viewed as a symptom of mental illness. These counselors were not Catholic, and if anything, they tended to be New Age freaks. The most religiosity that I noticed was discussion of their hot tubs, their arts and crafts business, and their reviews of the latest shows on stage. They viewed themselves as either very haute elite, or gosh, down earth "one of the little people." Instead of talking about the patients they spent a good 45 minutes every morning before clinical rounds talking about their wonderfulness as modern women. I was warned many times not to discuss religion with the patients, even when they want to as part of their wholeness and therapy, even though that is not in any authentic text or teaching of psychology, where one's faith is fundamental to one's healing. Just look at AA, for example.

Now, listen to this. Even in group therapy, where the patients are supposed to be able to discuss anything they want in a, "SAFE PLACE" (one of liberal and secularists favorite terms) they were forbidden from discussing religion. If even one mention was made, the patient was told they were imposing their beliefs and not to say anything. Needless to say this hindered recovery. The worst thing I saw was that coincidentally, in one new group that was formed, there were three avidly pro-life patients. The secular oppressors got together and decided that cannot be allowed, so they broke up the group, using the excuse that the religious people "MADE UNCOMFORTABLE" other patients (though "being sexually abused as a child" discussions did not make anyone uncomfortable, if you know what I mean.) Instead of the patients' who had interests outside of their illness being encouraged, such as working at their churches or just being pro-life, it was viewed as being a symptom of their illness and not one to be encouraged. Often faith is the only thing poor people have, and most of our patients were very poor. Some literally did not have an extra dollar on a given day. And they were humiliated and shunted out of the system just for having faith. I saw it with my own eyes and it made me sick.

The faithful are viewed by secularists as having a bull's eye on their back, in that secularists think they get "bonus points" in some insane system for denying people their faith, even if it's the only true thing sustaining them. So please, anyone who has a member of the family who needs professional psychiatric or counseling help, be sure that expression of their faith is accepted and supported by their professional. Do not assume that a religious affiliation necessarily means quality service either. Check the actual counselor out very carefully. Do not trust that the affiliation is necessarily indicative of the quality of care. The people I met in the system would love to take Jesus Christ away from even a toddler, because they would view it as an "ignorant crutch that will cause him or her problems later." Can you believe this? I could not until I saw it. This was what turned me off from the entire profession. This was my first year of internship after paying a small fortune for my Masters degree, and I was unpaid and not beholden to the hospital system.... except, of course, without references and connections you don't go anywhere in the profession. I'd rather go broke (and I have) than be part of the "helping profession" that views robbing people of their faith as a worthy goal. The Old Testament warns that thou shalt not put stumbling blocks in front of the blind. These type of people have a lot to answer for. I'm totally with Tom Cruise in one respect... medication is God for many of these systems. I then disagree with him, obviously, about where God is, and medication is needed when one is highly psychotic and in severe pain. But I'm telling you, you who read this of faith, psychiatry and counseling is rife with "New Age" secularists who use their work to suck the faith out of the most helpless and the most in pain. Be very careful with who you put the precious care of your family members.

And yes, there was huge jealousy of my successes with patients, and it was highly unbecoming and unprofessional and carried over into the care of the patients.