Page 155 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 4

1. What relationship exists between a person’s pheno- be to cooperate with specialist associations of neurosci-
menal experience (consciousness) and the measurable entists, such as http://www.fens.org/, and information
electro-physiological and hemodynamic processes in his initiatives for the general public, such as https://www.
brain? dana.org/, in order to benefit from the information and
2. How do mental processes affect biological processes training they offer.
(mental causation)? How does interaction occur between
different levels of description? The following forum contributions by Jason Kanz and
3. Free will: how can one explain in an integrated mo- Trevor Griffiths discuss historical and current theolo-
del the orchestration of fast, unconscious and automated gical and philosophical positions in epistemology and
processes with conscious suppression of impulses (‘veto’) create framework conditions under which Christian
when a person makes a complex decision? psychologists and doctors can integrate neuroscientific
knowledge into therapeutic practice. The authors point
Most secular neuroscientists use ambitious theoretical out, moreover, that Christian psychology, with its perso-
models to try to approach this interaction of subjectively nality models inspired by the Trinity, can in turn make
perceived and objectively measurable reactions of the a unique contribution to further development of secular
brain: connectionistic networks, dynamics of complex neuropsychology.
systems, Bayesian statistics or cognitive architectures.

There are, however, also some counter-movements of
interest to Christian psychologists, seeking to avoid the
coarse reductionism of mind to material. These include
movements like Critical Neuroscience, Neurophenome-
nology or Neuroethics. Here, the ethical implications of
neuroscientific interventions for the concept of the hu-
man being and the development of society receive broad
discussion. Amongst these scientists, furthermore, great
value is attached to the subjective experiences or reports
from the 1st person-perspective by test persons and pa-
tients.

Much more than in the past, Christian psychologists
will in future have to face the challenge of how to deal
with results and diagnoses from neuroscientific labora-
tories, and of how to interpret them. Furthermore, they
will have to learn to assess how they can integrate neuro-
interventions responsibly into their Christian therapeu-
tic practice. This involves, above all, the already menti-
oned procedures of repetitive transcranial magnetic and
direct-current stimulation and deep brain stimulation.
In addition, it will also be necessary to evaluate how the
resulting changes in brain plasticity can be combined in
the long term with classical Christian forms of therapy. A
new canon of values for Christian psychology regarding
safe and sustainable positive application of these neuro-
procedures is therefore urgently required.

Textbooks such as Scrimali (2012). Neuroscience-based
Cognitive Therapy. New Methods for Assessment, Treat-
ment, and Self-Regulation attempt to bridge the gap
between the neurosciences and therapeutic practice. It
would be desirable for a start to be made with a compa-
rable transfer of knowledge from the dynamically deve-
loping neurosciences into the daily practice of Christian
psychology.

Training institutions in Christian psychology should in
future incorporate into their curriculum the practical
handling and reflected application of recent neuroscien-
tific tools for analysis and treatment and should not shy
away from their critical evaluation. An alternative would

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