Saturday, February 27, 2021

Ask Aunt Dorcas: What About Counselors?


Aunt Dorcas with her favorite counselor, last May, 
when he could still use his left arm.

Dear Aunt Dorcas—

What is your opinion of counseling? Especially for Christians.

--Confused Connie

Dear Connie--

I know from your email that you’re conservative Mennonite, and the fact that you ask the question tells me that you live among people who are suspicious of counseling and question its legitimacy, value, and justification in Scripture.

This view isn’t distributed equally among all Mennonites, just so you know. I know a number of Mennonite and even Amish counselors. I also know of many Mennonites who are deeply suspicious of the very word, and I know one couple who was in deep trouble with their church because they got marriage counseling.

Counseling and therapy are relatively new fields. Psychiatry was the first related field to appear, in the early 1900s, and it was seen as weird by many both inside and out of the church. And, granted, Freudian psychology was pretty bizarre. With the emphasis on childhood events shaping your adult problems, it was seen as giving you permission to blame all your shortcomings on your parents. If you like old Shirley Temple films, Bright Eyes is a good example of the general view of psychiatry in 1934. Little Joy is an absolute brat, unlike Shirley of course. Joy also goes regularly to be psychoanalyzed by her psychiatrist, who tells her parents not to punish her but only to encourage her.

Today, however, Freudian ideas and methods are seen as outdated, and my sister-in-law, a psychiatrist, spends her time diagnosing disorders and prescribing medication as needed. She doesn’t ask patients to lie on a chaise lounge and talk about their dreams.

The counseling field developed out of the study of mental health and the need for helping troubled people. Requirements and credentials vary by state and by the type of counseling, from licensed marriage and family therapists with master’s degrees to a local pastor who probably has a degree in pastoral ministries or Bible but spends time counseling because the need is so great.

I’ve never understood the deep-seated antipathy to counseling among certain Anabaptists, especially since we go to medical doctors as needed and plenty of other health providers besides, such as dentists, eye doctors, chiropractors, and naturopaths.

Especially chiropractors. We love our chiropractors.

When I was teaching school, I lived with a young lady named Cynthia. She was hearty and strong then, but after our lives diverged she developed a number of health issues. Maybe fifteen years later we were visiting and catching up. She mentioned that she goes to a chiropractor regularly—I’m thinking once a week.

I exclaimed about this and said I had never been to a chiropractor in my life.

Cynthia sputtered, “But! Don’t you ever HURT?”

“Not really,” I said.

Years later, Jenny, our 25-pound toddler, was sleeping in a Pack-n-Play, and I saw she had scootched off the blanket. I bent over, scooped her up, and pivoted at the waist to set her back on the blanket. I felt a tight spring snap loose in my back, which sent me to bed for about two days of what felt like second stage back labor or maybe transition. Then I went to a chiropractor. I hurt that bad. He improved things immediately.

When you hurt enough, you go for help.

Soon after my nephew died of suicide in 2006, we had the misfortune to have one of those overly confident revival meeting speakers that churches further east are so willing to supply to us in the West. One evening he boomed eloquently on the evils of counseling.

I spoke to him afterwards, cautiously. Could he explain?

He did. I don’t recall the words, only his attitude, and how sure he was of his conclusions.

The words slammed painfully into my soul that was still raw with grief and a deep wish that my nephew could have talked to a counselor and maybe gotten help. I didn’t try to argue with the preacher. I only thought, “You haven’t suffered enough. Someday, you’ll have a family member with depression. Or you will go down that dark road yourself.”

I have no idea what he’s experienced or what he thinks about such things today. 

[Side note: I have a slightly wicked theory that if Mennonites saw more counselors, they’d need to see fewer chiropractors. I wonder if I could make a case that seeing a counselor would save money, long term, thus justifying the practice.

This is not to imply anything about Cynthia’s physical pain, only an overall assessment.]

Thankfully, neither my husband nor church has had any issue with me seeing a counselor, and I have done so for a period of time as needed, at several stages of my life. One helped untangle a few unhealthy patterns in our marriage, another was an enormous help in my relationship with an adult child, and recently I started meeting with someone via Zoom to sort through the enormous challenges of the last year and a half, ever since my dad died. (Though she is fully qualified, she prefers the term "coach" since she's officially retired.)

I think it’s unfair to generalize about counselors, because they come in such variety, from dreamy souls who light candles and use words like “unpack” and “heart” far too often, to blunt, practical, matter-of-fact people like my current coach who is a farm girl at heart and likes to raise cattle and hang out with sheep. Her family came from a very strict religious background which was not Anabaptist but has been helpful in understanding the lingering effects of my Amish thinking/family/belief patterns.

As with any profession, some counselors are excellent and some are completely inept. Also, someone who is a good fit for you might not be helpful for your friend or husband.

An argument that often comes up is this: “You have the Bible and the church. That’s all you need.”

To that I say: You, despite having the Bible and the church, travel to South Dakota for chiropractic treatments at Canistota and to Mexico for chelation therapy.

When we hurt, we need help. It’s great that you allow people to get help for physical pain, but cruel that you don’t let them seek relief for emotional pain.

However, I do think if the church actually fulfilled the responsibilities of brotherhood, we wouldn’t need quite as many professional counselors.

In my opinion, the number one way the church fails its people is this: we can’t handle the truth. We are aghast at people’s raw emotions. We don’t like to hear what people do to each other. We are horrified when someone talks about what happened to them.

So we shush, smother, and smooth.

We are suspicious of any real emotion, assuming it means a lack of forgiveness and faith. We crank off that spigot as fast as we can.

Also, we don’t have time. Talking and sorting through grief, losses, and struggles of every kind simply takes big chunks of time. We hate to impose on others and ask them to listen, and we resent it when someone uses up our precious time with endless recitations of their problems.

These are advantages of counselors:

1. The time and expectation boundaries are clear. You will meet for an hour on Tuesday. You can talk about whatever you choose. The counselor will listen but will also direct and provide insights. It will cost X dollars.

There’s a huge relief in having all this spelled out.

2. They accept emotion. If you have a completely unacceptable emotion, like a murderous rage at the man who molested your daughter, a good counselor won’t gasp or raise their eyebrows or quickly direct you into a forced forgiveness. Instead, they nod and keep listening.

3. They’ve seen it all. You might be the fiftieth parent they’ve seen whose child was violated. They’ve seen this rage before and know it’s a typical response. Knowing you’re typical and normal is also a relief and gives far more hope of a path forward than being treated like a freak.

4. They emphasize personal responsibility. Even though they may trace a behavior or emotional pattern back to something that was done to you, they always circle back to you. Most of us with emotional issues are very mixed up about what is our job and what isn’t. We think whenever someone isn’t happy or behaving, it’s our job to fix them. We carry heavy loads of guilt and responsibility for parents, siblings, children, and spouses. Also, we blame our own unhappiness on others. Counselors help you see that each of us is responsible for our own choices and reactions. They also help you examine the lies you picked up and believed, and they assist you in replacing them with the truth.

A lot of Christians are happy to see what you’re doing wrong and tell you to repent, but a good counselor will help you uproot the root that the wrong behavior is sprouting from, so you’re not always lopping off the blackberry vine, only to have it sprout again a foot away.


5. They know more than you do and see things you don’t. For example, I’m learning a lot about how childhood trauma and fear affect the nervous system, creating a lifelong high-alert situation. I have an extreme startle reflex. My kids have learned that if they walk into the laundry room and start talking unexpectedly when I’m bent over a basket, they just about have to scrape me off the ceiling. So, if they know I’m there, they sing loudly or knock before they come in, because they are very kind people, but even then I might shriek and jump. I’ve always thought was only a somewhat embarrassing quirk. Now I’m learning it’s a symptom of PTSD.

Recently I was stressed out over a change in our normal routine, so much so that I could barely focus or think, and way out of proportion to the situation. My coach pointed out that it was most likely a “trauma response” connected to the overactive nervous system. This connection had never occurred to me. She gave me some helpful ideas for calming down and un-freezing my mind. There are specific physical things you can do that help rewire a damaged brain. It’s very cool. Ask your counselor about it.

Friends are sympathetic and kind, but someone with more training is more helpful with some of this deep-rooted damage.

6. They guide you toward solving your own problems. Despite having gone to counselors and taken a few weekend courses, I haven’t learned this magic trick. Most of us tell people what they ought to know and do. A good counselor asks a few casual questions and suddenly you realize where you went wrong. Duh! It’s so obvious! And you figured it out all by yourself, or that’s what it feels like, which is far more powerful than having someone tell you.

7. They keep your conversations confidential.


If you really want to reduce the need for your church people to go to counselors, here are some things you can do:

1. Schedule times of listening. Offer to sit down with someone and listen for an hour or two. It’s hard to explain what a gift this is. My neighbor, Anita, has at various times told me that she wants to be available for me to “debrief” after big events—funerals, our son’s wedding, and so on. After my dad passed away, I took her up on this offer. She let me talk and made sure she understood. May her tribe increase.

2. Be ok with truth. If you listen to people, you will hear alarming things. The truth might be that a church leader violated a child, your favorite aunt was an abusive mother, a young unmarried couple is pregnant, your loving neighbors’ marriage is horrible, your friend is deeply angry, or your son got a DUI. While you need to be discerning and respect confidentiality, these are not good reasons to slam the door on the truth. The truth is your friend. Don’t be afraid of it. You might need to go to bed with the covers over your head until you get used to the revelation, but believe me, if you go on to play whack-a-mole, trying to suppress any indication that this truth is coming out, you will be frantic, exhausted, and ultimately fruitless.


3. Be ok with emotion. Most of us have learned that it isn’t safe to say how we really feel. As I mentioned earlier, we equate genuine emotion with a lack of faith. So we smile at church and go home and cry. We lie when people ask how we’re doing. We hide and pretend and ultimately need doctors and chiropractors for all those vague aches and pains. We have not learned true lament.

How you can help: let people feel what they feel. Seek to understand. Invite the grieving mother over for tea and let her talk about the ravaging pain that won’t go away. Be quiet. Nod. Say, “That sounds horrible. Here’s some more tea.” Let yourself cry with her.


4. Stop the pat answers. Just stop. If you have any Christian decency and common sense, don’t say this stuff:

“Well, it’s all for the good to them that love God.”

“He’s in a better place.”

“You shouldn’t feel that way.”

“You need to forgive.”

“Just think, Mary has it so much worse and she never complains.”

“You’re holding a grudge.”

“I know he abused you, but just look at how much good he did in the church.”

“You need to let it go and quit bringing it up.”

“You’re just bitter.”

“You’re just lazy.”

“I’m sure they meant well.”

“Pray about it.”

“You need to think positive.”

“You need to read your Bible more.”

“Can’t you try harder?”

This is what you should say instead: “That sounds hard. Have some more tea.”

Set a box of tissues at their elbow.

Yes, there’s a place for speaking hard truth to a brother or sister in the church. Exhorting, rebuking, all of that. But you don’t do that when they’ve just lost a loved one or are going through terrible struggle and loss.

If you listen well, you might find and gently expose the root that is producing the sinful blackberry vine. Our pat answers lop off the vine about a foot off the ground, so the problem grows and spreads all over the orchard.

5. Refer people to professionals. If you are listening to someone who is barely functioning, or out of touch with reality, it’s time to refer them to a doctor. If you get involved and listen well, you’ll know when you’re beyond your capacity to help. 

6. Respect confidentiality. If Martha confides in you about her depression, don’t hint at her issues in a prayer request at Bible study. However. If Martha says her husband is molesting the children, tell her that you can’t keep this secret.

In conclusion, I think counseling can be a good thing for Christians or anyone. It ought to be approached with the same care that you’d use looking for a good doctor or mechanic. If we cared better for each other in general, we would deal better with both physical and psychological pain, and we would need fewer professionals to fix us.

That’s what I think. 

--Aunt Dorcas

+++

You can send your Ask Aunt Dorcas questions to dorcassmucker@gmail.com.

You can find my books at Muddy Creek Press.


49 comments:

  1. I especially love your list of "Advantages of Counselors." I've never seen such a list in our church context. It stays out of the weeds of confusion regarding different approaches to counseling, and I really like that it gives validity to what I think are key understandings about counseling.

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    1. Thanks, Miriam. The different approaches to counseling were beyond the scope of this post and honestly, when I first went looking for help, I couldn't have cared less what specific approach they had. I just wanted help.

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  2. Preach it sister! :) I really enjoyed hearing your thoughts on this. My family has experienced first hand the blessing of counseling. I remember how my family functioned before counseling, and seeing how we relate now I give God glory for the healing He's brought.

    More recently, I been considering pursuing a counseling degree. I've received a fare amount of push-back. The most common being "It's just such a fad right now." And I agree. But there's also a lot of hurt right now. How do I think rightly about the fad without discounting the great need?

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    1. If you have been helped in the past and are burdened about the needs you see, that seems like significant information to me.

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  3. Your experiences have given you great wisdom. Thank you for sharing it with us who need it.

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  4. Very well written, Aunt Dorcas! Trauma is a very real thing and well meaning people can do a lot of damage by not being trauma informed. So yes, dont ignore the professionals! Therapy changed my life. Okay, a critic would look at me and say, "Jesus changed your life." Many more of us would do well to get professional help. At the outpatient clinic where i was for several weeks, I learned how much control I have over my mind. And you cant put a price tag on that.

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    1. Jesus changed your life and used a counselor to help in the process. Jesus may heal someone of cancer, but he often uses doctors and treatments as part of it.

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    2. I'm so happy you received help and yes, at the end of the day, it's Jesus, no matter the method used.

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  5. An encouraging post. You have a way with words.

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  6. Well said I appreciate this article I have been to quite a few counclers in my lifetime and I agree they can be SO helpful in working through trauma

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  7. I read this thinking that I might just have had a good upbringing even though there were shortcomings. Also I realized I have a good husband and a good sister that act as counselors in my life. I find true what you say about the church. If we truly cared about each other there wouldn't be a need for counselors among us. Also if we wouldn't be so scared of saying or hearing the truth it would do our churches a lot of good. One of my sisters is going through the grief of losing a daughter to an accident and she has someone her life that tells her to just read the Bible and see all the promises there. Also she is horrified when my sister says she identifies with Job in looking all around and not finding God. Mennonites don't know what to do with the truth. They like to smooth over and reword what you said so it doesn't sound quite so shocking. Thank you for all the insights. Mim

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    1. Thank you for sharing, and I am so very sorry for what your sister is going through.

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  8. 👏👏👏

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  9. I just read a fascinating book about the measurable physical effects on the brain and body of psychological trauma. Thankfully, our brains and bodies are also able to heal and the author talks through various treatments for trauma. The books is called “The Body Keeps the Score” by Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to understand more about trauma and how to help people.

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    1. I've been reading this same book! Thanks for mentioning it here.

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  10. Long live Aunt Dorcas. I eagerly await her posts. It's just so good to hear such wisdom and clarity. Thank you.

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    1. Thank you for reading and "hearing."

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  11. I LOVE this post!

    A trauma-informed, pastoral counselor

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  12. Such wisdom. Anyone who has you as a friend, is blessed, indeed.

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  13. What a joy to read your insights on this really crucial topic...thank you for using your gift of communication with grace and wisdom. I absolutely loved this.

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  14. My own professional counsellor actually helped me to take more personal responsibility than anyone or anything else did: about abuse, she explained that I'm not responsibile for what happened, but it IS my problem and my responsibility to deal with. Those are hard truths, and it would be difficult to accept them coming from someone who didn't have professional levels of empathy and patience, and also the ability to offer effective help.

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    1. Amen to all this. Yes, the hard truth is that we must do the work of healing from what was done to us. Praise God for the people who walk with us.

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  15. AMEN & AMEN. I agree that the church needs to be a safe place for all. Thank you for these words that explain how we should respond to each other as a loving, caring brotherhood. We need to be continually reminded of what's important in life and I want to do my part. I loved this article and may God bless you for taking the time to share it with us.

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  16. This is soooo good! Thank you, Dorcas!

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  17. THANK YOU for these wise, loving, truthful words! THANK YOU. I think I say that after each of your posts, but I'm so grateful to read a Mennonite woman putting these beautiful words out to the world.

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  18. I used to think counseling is all a bunch of phooey. (Looking back, I realize now that it was mostly because the people I knew who went for counseling seemed to just blame all their problems on their past and never got beyond that. They were also not seeing professionally trained counselors. I won’t say more than that about that.)
    Later I changed my mind but said that not EVERYONE needs counseling.
    Later still I said I think I might need counseling.
    Last week I made the phone call and set up an appointment for myself.
    “When we hurt enough, we get help.” Thank you so much for just saying it how it is.

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    1. I think we've all been exasperated by people who went to counseling but weren't motivated to change.
      But. When we need the help and it's available, it is SUCH a gift.

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  19. "You haven't suffered enough." That resonated. I am so ashamed to think about the judgmental thoughts and attitudes I had when I was younger, before I lived this long, experienced this much, and suffered as much as I have.

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  20. I also know people who think counseling is unnecessary, but I honestly think it saved our marriage. We were headed to major heartache and disfunction but he helped us connect using the Bible as the foundation. I praise the Lors for the care we received. Thank you for sharing .

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  21. Angela Martin3/03/2021 5:42 AM

    Well placed words! Truth! I luv reading your writing.
    Angela

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  22. This resonates deeply with me! I agree on every point . 💡moment with number 5 ! I have often been embarrassed at my jumping reflex and never understood why I’m sensitive to any loud noises. Also the panic that I feel at the suggestion of change even good ones and adventure. It’s caused friction in our marriage already , I’m married to a visionary , they live for adventure and don’t know the meaning of planning ahead ! I’ve learned to hide a lot , so I might look calm on the outside but it throws my mind into a frenzy and freezes my productivity which leaves me frustrated! The only time I cannot hide my panic is when my husband says excitedly on the way home from church let’s ask so an so to stop in to eat lunch with us ! I simply can’t handle that kind of unpreparedness , he claims he can handle lunch . He ends up not understanding why it’s a big deal to me and angry and I end up a crying mess and feeling like he does not understand my make up or care . So we never approach that subject and I live in fear of having cold water dumped on my head every Sunday . We do host ,very little last minute. I have learned to not react and take him seriously and he has learned to give me a few days to warm up to his adventures, sometimes they fizzle out 😅 I grew up in a dysfunctional home , my dad had deep emotional hurts and sexual sins he hated himself and his children who inherited his personality suffered most , there was no help available (conservative church forty + years ago )know they tried . I’m thankful that the conservative churches have places to help the hurting now ! My pain became more then I could handle at the ripe old age of 39 and I went for counseling. Validation, Forgiveness, healing in that order . The stinky ugly clog in my life was finally opened and Jesus life giving love could finally flow freely into my heart and out to others , I was a changed person by the grace of God ! No one but my husband knew that I was getting help at the time . I seen a ripple effect go through my family, especially my dad and my one brother who suffered most at the hands of my dad , even though to this day they have no knowledge of my healing . We wrestle not against flesh and blood , but against principalities, against powers,against the rulers of darkness of this world against a spiritual wickedness in high places . Ephesians 6:12 A born again counselor is a dr of the soul . I’m convinced! I’m in awe of your wisdom Dorcus ! You can help many ! To God be the glory !

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  23. Counselling helped immensely in our marriage as well, also when our little boy was fighting cancer, and when my husband subsequently descended into alcoholism. I thank God for the wonderful, Godly man he brought into our lives, who, along with his wife ministered God's grace and wisdom to us. Some people don't get to grow up in Christian homes. When we come to the Lord, there is sometimes some "mud" sticking to us that needs to get washed off. It is like the scripture where the older women are to teach the younger women to love their husbands and children, and be workers at home. That's love/teaching/counselling, if you ask me. Some don't have Godly role models in the home, and need to unlearn and consciously overcome dysfunctional ways of relating that seemed normal growing up, because that is all they knew and saw.

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  24. Grateful you wrote this......my parents were very suspicious of and negative about counseling.......until, I told them as a teenager about the extensive abuse a relative subjected me to for almost a decade. They both had a sort of emotional breakdown and traumatic season, for which I felt enormous guilt. I never saw such a swift shift in perspective but they almost immediately helped me to find a counselor. I was deeply grateful, having opened myself up to them about my past, not knowing how much help I would be able to get. ‘When you hurt badly enough, you get help.’ Yes. Thank you for writing that sentence.

    I now live in an area where there is tremendous stigma and suspicion around counseling. And I think the need for counseling is about always ten times greater in those situations.

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  25. This is so good! Counseling is such a gift, and I am grateful the Lord can use it to help us find healing!

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  26. Dawn Stoltzfus3/08/2021 9:30 AM

    Excellent! So on point!! Thank you for being a voice to our culture!! Dawn Stoltzfus

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  27. Thank you for sharing this- I’ve been really struggling with my mental health lately and I know that I have things I need to face. I just prayed before I saw this article that God would show me what to do. I feel like I should go to counseling after reading this.

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  28. This is so good. I was fortunate to grow up in a home where several respected aunts, uncles and cousins dealt with depression; they got help, they got medication, they got counselling, they got better. They were respected and productive people, and I grew up knowing that if you need help, you get it and there's no shame in that. We all need each other. I've also benefitted greatly myself from counselling, mostly in our marriage. To me it only makes sense that we need help sometimes! So I really loved this article. Thank you.

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