Page 107 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 6

Christian Psychotherapy

issues before.” (p.7). In the face of the overwhel- furthermore, such as those relating to profes-
ming influence of the institution, the initiative sional therapeutic institutions based on the
of individual staff members had to retreat into combination model – “the main target was in
the background. harmony and wholeness of life” (p.6) – refer to
working situations and concepts from the 1990s
Taking the example of acquired relapse strate- (corresponding to the data status of the study
gies, Niemelä shows that this constitutes a loss: adduced). It would be highly interesting to
the most varied and best relapse strategies were make a follow-up study of the extent to which
described by clients of institutions in which institutions examined then have in the meanti-
faith-based help belonged to the core elements. me changed their concepts and with what con-
The chances of a “conversion experience” are sequences for their clients. While fully aware
also largely lost in the “optional” working ap- of the possible misuse of faith and faith-based
proach. help, the conclusion drawn in Niemelä’s studies
does indeed display current relevance: “With
It does not become clear, from Niemelä’s por- the increase of professional knowledge some
trayal, to what extent effects such as answers of the wisdom coming from religion may have
according to social acceptability or the Rosent- been lost.” This study thus also encourages a re-
hal effect could be ruled out. Some statements, newal of efforts to obtain more from this area.

Theism and a Theistic Psychology

In volume 3 of the EMCAPP Journal, p. 170-176, http://www.emcapp.
ignis.de/3/#/170, we had some comments on the article of Brent D.
Slife, Tiffani D. Stevenson, Dennis C. Wendt: Including God in Psy-
chotherapy: Strong versus weak Theism. Journal of Psychology and
Theology. Fall 2010, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 163-174.(Rosemead School of
Psychology).

There is an ongoing discussion on this topic. In issue 7.1 (2013) of
“Christian Psychology: A Transdisciplinary Journal” (the journal
of the American Society for Christian Psychology) you can find a pro-
found dialogue on pro and contra of Theistic Psychology.

First, J.S. Reber and B.D. Slife give their actual reply to critiques con-
cerning their former publications on theistic psychology. Than several
authors comment this answer and at the end, Reber and Slife can again
answer to these answers.

We very much recommend these articles. They will be a support to
thinking about and giving reasons for one’s own position, and a sup-
port for dialogue within and outside the Christian community.

Get your free download on http://christianpsych.org/wp_scp/publica-
tions/christian-psychology/
See: Christian Psychology 7.1.
(Werner May)

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