Page 86 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 4

Comment

to „The value of empirical research
for the clinical practice of a Christi-
an specialist clinic for psychosoma-

tics, psychiatry and psychotherapy“

Timothy A. Sisemore (USA)

I am so grateful to have the opportunity to respond to
this important article on the value of empirical research
Timothy A. Sisemore, USA,
for the clinical practice of a Christian specialist clinic in
Ph.D., is Director of Re-
Switzerland. In addition, I am grateful for the forum of
search and Professor of
this journal which is cross-fertilizing scholars in Christi-
Psychology and Counseling
an psychology across not only Europe, but the world as
at Richmont Graduate Uni-
well. I will respond to each section as presented by the
versity in Chattanooga, Ten-
authors.
nessee and Atlanta, Georgia
/ USA. He is also adjunct
The extended bio-psychosocial model presented fits
professor of psychology at
smoothly onto a model that is called by Plante (2012) and
the University of Tennessee
others abiopsychosocialspiritual model. Increasingly, se-
at Chattanooga, and directs
cular psychotherapistsare valuingthe roleof thereligious
the CBI Counseling Center.
and spiritual aspects of persons in coping with daily life
Dr. Sisemore’s research and
and managing stressors, including mental illness. Even
practice focuses on anxiety
the AmericanPsychological Association(2007) hasresol-
disorders and the relation-
ved to take a stand against prejudice toward (and from)
ship of Christian faith and
religious persons, considering it a form of diversity akin
psychology.
to race, ethnicity, and gender. The difference, though, is
while American psychologists are not, for the most part,
being well-trained in this area, Hefti and colleagues have
moved ahead to integrate a model for addressing the reli- especially in convictions. Separating out the degree of
gious in their treatment. commitment to faith was wise, as this varies from nomi-
nal Christians to those who structure their entire lives
Another impressive aspect of the work of these authors around the faith. I appreciate the authors’ intellectual
is their long-term commitment to internal quality assu- honesty in admitting it is unclear whether these changes
rance and seeking empirical support for their program. were due to therapy in general or to the holistic therapy
In the United States, Christian psychotherapists are often concepts of the clinic. It would be interesting to run the
reluctant to do research and to assess the effectiveness of data tolearn moreabout theroles ofpositive versusnega-
their use of faith in counseling. Yet, as health care in the tive religious coping on the outcomes. Table 3 shows that
United States is changing dramatically, we can learn im- negative religious coping changed more than positive,
portant lessons from Hefti et al. about the importance of and one wonders who was using it the most. Negative re-
assessing what we do. Increasingly insurance companies ligious coping could be more harmful to a devout Chris-
are moving to pay only for therapy with empirical sup- tian in some ways than to a mildly religious believer.
port – meaning that religious psychotherapy approaches
need to be more active in demonstrating their effectiven- The results are vague as to moderators and mediators of
ess orface aloss ofthese thirdparty payments.While cer- the effects of treatment, and the forgiveness study is a
tainly we trust God, we cannot ask others to rely simply helpful beginning to addressing this important issue. It
on that when they pay for psychiatric and psychological will be important for ongoing research on both sides of
services. Few American clinics are as committed to this the Atlantic to become more specific in identifying the
research as Hefti and associates. We are indebted to them specifics of religious therapy that make a difference. This
for setting the pace. I especially appreciate their rationale will be of particular importance in areas of faith that are
for assessing their work – seeing God himself as a model particular to Christians. Along with my colleagues, we
as he “assessed” the work of creation by calling it good. have begun a series of studies on the role of a Christian’s
understanding of grace in promoting change in mental
As to the results of the impact of religiosity and spiritu- health and found that those who see God’s grace as stron-
ality in treatment, I am not particularly surprised that ger tend to be less anxious and depressed and in better
the “slightly” religious group showed the greatest gains, mental health in general (Sisemore et al., 2010).

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