Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an extensively popular approach to dealing with mental-emotional-behavioral problems. Many Christians believe it can be integrated into Christian counseling. So it is no surprise that someone might challenge a recommendation against it, using reasons like some I have heard:
- CBT is reliably effective and trusted by a the vast majority of professionals.
- Why not use the people and techniques God has made available?
- If you don’t use it, you damage people.
I would like to make some preliminary points before answering the main question.
First, it is my assumption that therapists (a medical metaphor for a counselor) who use CBT care about people. So do counselors who don’t. We all have compassion for the suffering of others and want to relieve it.
Second, the belief that we should use the resources God has made available makes a huge assumption, that is, that God has done it. Just because a method or philosophy exists or is available does not mean that it originated from God and is intended by Him for our use. The serpent was put in Eve’s way and, mistakenly, she overestimated her ability to discern what was true.
This belief by Christians that we can freely use the philosophies, methodologies, and techniques invented by non-Christians for counseling is a version of the “all truth is God’s truth” claim. As a wise man once told me, yes, all truth is God’s truth, but all lies are the devil’s lies and we, like Eve, make the big mistake of thinking we have the discernment to tell the difference.
Third, I grant that CBT has empirical evidence that it is “effective.” (I’ll explain the quotes in a moment.) This is because those who developed CBT stumbled upon principles that the Bible has already been teaching for millennia, a source infinitely more effective and trustworthy than CBT.
Again, CBT has empirical evidence that it is effective for meeting the goals held by those who use it. Note the qualification. It is a philosophy with techniques to combat mental problems so as to feel and function better. If that is the extent of your goal, then CBT will likely work.
So why don’t I use it? For two general reasons with several sub-points. One, my goal for the women I counsel goes way beyond improved feeling and functioning. Two, the CBT copy of God’s principles is deficient and misleading.
Take a person with an anxiety problem. The counselor turns to one of the many counseling passages (good start) where God counsels us about anxiety, Philippians. She reads Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing,” and notes that 4:8 tells us to think on the right things and 4:9 to do the right behaviors. (“Whatever is true…consider these things.” “What you have learned…practice these things.”)
Think and do, cognition and behavior–isn’t this CBT? Far from it!
A biblical approach and CBT subscribe to different sources of authority. In CBT, the client and therapist collaborate on what is “dysfunctional” and what is “healthy,” whatever those terms mean. The authority for the definitions is the human doing the defining. They also collaborate on what is true and how to change. In a biblical approach, the Word of God is the authority for what is foolish or sinful and what is wise and/or obedient, and how to change.
A biblical approach and CBT use different language. CBT uses medical metaphors, “healthy,” “healing,” “dysfunctional,” “therapist.” It deliberately remains as morally neutral as possible to keep a person feeling better about herself. The Bible labels thoughts and behaviors in relation to God’s evaluation, to expose the moral implications so as to deal with them in a way that cleanses the heart and frees the counselee from any sin at the heart of the problem.
A biblical approach and CBT look to different powers for change. CBT puts the power for change in the hands of the client, to combat the problem with thoughts and actions. This is trust in self, not God. CBT leaves out the Holy Spirit. In contrast, returning to our Bible passage, back up before the right thinking and behaviors of 4:8-9. Verses 4:6-7 say, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication…” God’s solution prioritizes right prayer. Prayer expresses dependence on the Holy Spirit, wielding the Word of God, as the power for change.
A biblical approach and CBT hold different motivational goals. Motivational goals dig below thoughts (cognition) into heart desires. Jesus said that out of the treasures (beloved desires) of the heart come thoughts, words, and behaviors (Luke 6:43-45). We think and do what we think and do because we want what we want.
In CBT, the motivational goal for doing the “therapy” (counseling) is happiness, healing, and relief from troublesome emotions and problematic behavior patterns––to feel and function better. The counselee feels better about herself and behaves in less troublesome ways. What is the problem with this? It is mere self-improvement, and self-improvement is not godliness and earns no merit with God.
Desires for relief and improved behavior are usually good desires. Where they are definitely wrong is when they are the priority. The priority goal for a Christian must be the glory of God even if she does not obtain relief from suffering. If we love the Savior who died for us, how can it be less?
And here is the most vital contrast between CBT and a biblical approach. A change in habits doesn’t change what you love.
Our passage in Philippians supports the truth about a change in loves being the priority motivational goal. We already backed up from right cognition and behaviors (4:8-9) to right prayers (4:6-7). Now back up farther, to verses 4-5, which commands that the person with anxiety, “Rejoice in the Lord…the Lord is near.” Christ is in view! It isn’t just about us praying and thinking and behaving rightly. The focus for our handling of problems is Christ, not self. Loving Christ more than all else. God wants us “to know [Christ] and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil. 3:10), to enjoy Him with joyfully adoring love. And this will be practiced in the midst of our problems, not just when we feel better.
God’s goal for us goes way beyond the healing and happiness of CBT. We are to be made like Christ. And the purpose for being like Christ is to be the image-bearers we were created to be (Gen. 1:26). And the purpose for our image-bearing is God’s glory, that every tongue will confess Christ is Lord “to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-12). “For from Him and to Him and through Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” (Rom. 11:36).
For the Christian, the goal for change is the glory of God. Feeling better isn’t wrong, but ultimately it is Christ a Christian most wants.
I want my counselees to be happy and skillful in living. So why not use CBT? Because I want so much more for them. I want my counselees to be loving Christ and practicing an intimate, growing, joy-filled relationship with Him in pursuit of His glory. CBT does not and cannot provide that.
SeedSown 