Page 169 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 5

A Portrait of a Christian Psychologist: Paul C. Vitz

should we then decide to make God imperso-
nal, since in these cases both father and mother
are psychologically threatening?
However, for those to whom the idea of Gad as
“Father”/”Abba” is hard to accept, we Christians Paul Vitz, Ph.D. Profes-
have Jesus as the living model of God and one sor and Senior Scholar,
more easily approached. Jesus is, in a theologi- Institute for the Psycho-
cal and psychological sense, a friend figure - a logical Sciences, Arling-
friend for both men and women. “I call you ton, Virginia; Professor
friends” and “What a friend we have in Jesus”. Emeritus, New York Uni-
Thus, the friendship of Christ is a theologically versity.
sound way of approaching the reality of God.
Let us turn now to psychotherapy and to the
problems raised by Joubert in addressing the
genuine suffering in a patient who had a father
who abused or abandoned him or her. This is of
course a serious issue. How can one psychologi- 5. For many Christians the Church is under-
cally address this within an orthodox Christian stood as a mother and for some patients
framework? I will mention a number of diffe- the comfort and love of the Church and its
rent approaches that might be helpful. They are community can give genuine support of a
not listed in any special order and, of course, maternal kind.
some may not be appropriate for a given pati- 6. Some patients afraid of and not trusting
ent. God as Father are especially anxious and fe-
1. As implied above, Jesus can be introduced arful in general. That is, their general anxie-
as the image of God. His non-condemning ty level needs to be reduced first. Once it is
and loving relationships with others, espe- addressed, then the anxiety/fear about God
cially women, can begin to heal a negative is often manageable.
father image. 7. Many Christian women throughout history
2. When one discusses a “bad” or dysfunctio- have been greatly strengthened by God as
nal father, an important question is: Could their Father. A woman who has God as her
the patient forgive his or her father? Such Father, Jesus as her Friend and brother, and
forgiveness will not be easy and should not the Holy Spirit as her Helper and Conso-
be pushed or coerced, but forgiveness can ler, has a great sense of security, protection
lead to great internal peace and even to and support. Like many of the great female
remembering some good times with the saints she remains womanly and feminine -
father, since forgiveness overcomes “split- but she is often something of an irresistible
ting”; the father can be seen as not all bad. force!
I could give a few case histories where this
has happened. The present concern with bad fathers is certain-
3. For some patients it is helpful to let them ly important and needs to be addressed. But
know that God is the father they always some perspective and balance are important:
wanted but never had. we should keep in mind that although a mother
4. For Catholic and Eastern Orthodox pati- is in one sense less likely to abuse a child than
ents, the Virgin Mary often serves as a mo- is a father, a mother typically spends a great
ther figure. She models many motherly vir- deal more time with a child, especially when
tues - and with her we avoid the God-the the child is young. Since during this period,
mother-theology. Mary traditionally leads young children are often frustrating, deman-
many to Jesus - which then allows Jesus to ding, crying, disobedient, etc., more children
introduce God the Father: “If you have seen are probably at some point abused or mistreated
me you have seen the Father.” by their mothers that by their fathers.

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