{"id":2128,"date":"2012-03-27T08:00:14","date_gmt":"2012-03-27T12:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/?p=2128"},"modified":"2015-12-02T11:58:56","modified_gmt":"2015-12-02T16:58:56","slug":"do-i-need-a-christian-therapist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/03\/do-i-need-a-christian-therapist.html","title":{"rendered":"Do I Need a Christian Therapist?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Question: I’ve got marital problems. I feel down all the time. Nothing seems to be working in my life. Maybe I need to get some professional help. But how do I pick a therapist? Do I need to see a Christian or will any good therapist do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Linda:<\/strong> You need a well-trained Christian therapist who has good relationship and clinical skills. Here’s why? The world-view of a therapist makes a difference. You need someone who understands your faith and can guide you from a biblical perspective. Someone who is not familiar with your faith is at a disadvantage in directing you to health.<\/p>\n

Therapy is not value free.\u00a0 While therapists are trained to respect the values of their clients and work from the client’s worldview, it is impossible to be totally neutral when it comes to values. A therapist’s belief system matters. And in couple work, we have data that shows that when a therapist is neutral or negative about marriage, there is a higher rate of divorce.<\/p>\n

A Christian therapist integrates faith with psychological principles, something a non-Christian therapist cannot do. Your faith is a source of power, a lens from which you view the world and relationships. Faith is integral in healing.<\/p>\n

You are the consumer of therapy services.\u00a0 It is perfectly appropriate to ask a practice or insurance company to give referrals for Christian therapists. You can also check with local churches and professional organizations like The American Association of Christian Counselors for possible referrals.\u00a0 Don’t be afraid to ask. It’s vital to work with someone who understands how to integrate faith with everyday living.<\/p>\n

Be specific when you ask about faith. Many therapists say they are “spiritual” but that covers a wide variety of religions.\u00a0 Here’s an example.<\/p>\n

A Christian woman called and wanted to see me in therapy. I didn’t have an opening and she was desperate for help. When I checked with my regular referrals, no one had room to take a new client. One of my colleagues told me she was available.\u00a0 She called herself Christian but also believed in using astrology and other eastern religions.\u00a0 I knew she had previously sent patients to psychics so I politely declined her offer. The young women referred specifically requested a born again Christian therapist and did not believe in psychics or astrology. Even though the therapist had good credentials and training, she would have not been a good match.<\/p>\n

The point is you need to find someone whose values are compatible with yours. Be assertive. You want the right guidance. So much of what you do in therapy involves the way you think and believe. Someone with different views and values can create more problems than good. Look for the right therapist. The best way to find a good Christian therapist is through word of mouth. Personal referral is usually a great start to finding a good therapist.\u00a0 Ask around and get started!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: I’ve got marital problems. I feel down all the time. Nothing seems to be working in my life. Maybe I need to get some professional help. But how do I pick a therapist? Do I need to see a Christian or will any good therapist do? Dr. Linda: You need a well-trained Christian therapist…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[913,914,916],"tags":[1097,1094,1093,416,545,1096,13,1095,53,38,1098],"class_list":["post-2128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-couple-relationships","category-family-relationships-2","category-god-relationship","tag-christian-faith-and-mental-health","tag-christian-therapists","tag-christian-therapy","tag-counseling","tag-couple-therapy","tag-marital-therapiy","tag-mental-health","tag-referrals","tag-relationships","tag-therapy","tag-values"],"yoast_head":"\nDo I Need a Christian Therapist?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Wellness\/Health\/Emotional-Health\/Do-I-need-a-Christian-Therapist.aspx\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do I Need a Christian Therapist?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Question: I’ve got marital problems. I feel down all the time. Nothing seems to be working in my life. Maybe I need to get some professional help. But how do I pick a therapist? Do I need to see a Christian or will any good therapist do? Dr. Linda: You need a well-trained Christian therapist…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Wellness\/Health\/Emotional-Health\/Do-I-need-a-Christian-Therapist.aspx\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-27T12:00:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-12-02T16:58:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2012\/03\/I-Married-190px-12-24C.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Do I Need a Christian Therapist?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Wellness\/Health\/Emotional-Health\/Do-I-need-a-Christian-Therapist.aspx","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Do I Need a Christian Therapist?","og_description":"Question: I’ve got marital problems. I feel down all the time. Nothing seems to be working in my life. Maybe I need to get some professional help. But how do I pick a therapist? Do I need to see a Christian or will any good therapist do? Dr. Linda: You need a well-trained Christian therapist…","og_url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Wellness\/Health\/Emotional-Health\/Do-I-need-a-Christian-Therapist.aspx","og_site_name":"Doing Life Together","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","article_published_time":"2012-03-27T12:00:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-12-02T16:58:56+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2012\/03\/I-Married-190px-12-24C.jpg"}],"author":"Linda Mintle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@drlindamintle","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2012\/03\/do-i-need-a-christian-therapist.html","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Wellness\/Health\/Emotional-Health\/Do-I-need-a-Christian-Therapist.aspx","name":"Do I Need a Christian Therapist?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Wellness\/Health\/Emotional-Health\/Do-I-need-a-Christian-Therapist.aspx#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Wellness\/Health\/Emotional-Health\/Do-I-need-a-Christian-Therapist.aspx#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2012\/03\/I-Married-190px-12-24C.jpg","datePublished":"2012-03-27T12:00:14+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-02T16:58:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Wellness\/Health\/Emotional-Health\/Do-I-need-a-Christian-Therapist.aspx#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Wellness\/Health\/Emotional-Health\/Do-I-need-a-Christian-Therapist.aspx"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Wellness\/Health\/Emotional-Health\/Do-I-need-a-Christian-Therapist.aspx#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2012\/03\/I-Married-190px-12-24C.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/files\/2012\/03\/I-Married-190px-12-24C.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Wellness\/Health\/Emotional-Health\/Do-I-need-a-Christian-Therapist.aspx#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Do I Need a Christian Therapist?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/","name":"Doing Life Together","description":"Relationship Doctor, Mental Health, Emotional Wellness, Relationship Advice & Entertainment","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142","name":"Linda Mintle","description":"It is rare that a trained academic who speaks passionately to the heart of people providing real answers to real life problems is so relatable. Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. Check out her latest book Hope and Healing for Anxiety, a whole-person approach to eliminate anxiety. .","sameAs":["https:\/\/drlindamintle.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/x.com\/drlindamintle"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/author\/lmintle"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2128"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2130,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2128\/revisions\/2130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}