Page 73 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 2

Christian Psychotherapy

Comment

on Friedemann Alsdorf´s
“My Therapy Goal – Your Therapy

Goal – God’s Therapy Goal?”

Anna Ostaszewska

Friedemann Alsdorf gives us questions very important If it is church activity, our patients may accept more reli-
for Christian psychotherapy and therapists and points out gious aspects being included in the therapy process.
useful differences between therapy goals and life goals. If a patient comes to a professional, he/she expects psy-
What is my goal on the basis of my profession? What is chological work and healing. They may also expect to be
my goal on the basis of my spiritual view and calling? respected with their religious experiences, attitudes and
Giving these questions assumes integration of the profes- beliefs or expect some help in integration psychological
sional and spiritual development of the therapist. and spiritual development. But they shouldn’t get evan-
gelization i n s t e a d of psychotherapy.
The therapist should be aware of goals he or she wants to
achieve and they should fit to the patient’s expectations
and to the agreement.

A client comes to the psychotherapist for psychological
healing. He needs to feel well.
He may come to God expecting spiritual healing like for-
giveness of sins or expecting any healing, including psy-
chological well-being.

The psychotherapist works in psychological dimension,
God can work in every dimension.
The Spiritual dimension is larger than the purely psycho-
logical, but both of them influence each other and partly
occupy the same area.

God’s goals can be salvation in general but in psychothe-
rapy it can be just psychological healing. This psycholo-
gical healing, given in a limited therapeutic process, can
be a part of spiritual healing which is the goal of life as a
whole.

Therapy work assumes an active attitude of the client.
Friedemann Alsdorf points also to the danger of passivity
when a person “expects everything from God”.

The goals of Christian psychotherapy depend on a model
of Christian therapy.
Christian therapy can be perceived (by therapist and by
client) as a church activity and in such a situation it may
be interested more in “life goals” and be concentrated on
spiritual healing more than on psychological healing.
Anna Ostaszewska, Psychotherapist,
A different model of Christian psychotherapy is when supervisor, European Certificate of
psychotherapy is given by Christians who are professi- Psychotherapy (ECP) Place of praxis:
onals and therapy is given in centers independent of a Association of Christian Psychologists’
church. In this model therapy is concentrated on psycho- Psychological Centre. President of the
logical healing although it can take into account the spiri- ACP Psychotherapy Section. ACP Pre-
tual dimension and the “life goals” of a client. sident in years 1995- 2009

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