Christianity and Psychological/Alternative/Complementary Therapies

[fred4761]

I guess the issue that I am having at the moment is determining if I can be a Christian and still participate in alternative therapies. I was raised a Christian and attended church until a trauma that resulted in depression/anxiety/OCD. I had been on a high dose of meds and was doing CBT with my psych until 4 years ago when I started developing gastrointestinal issues and testing revealed chronic erosive gastritis – most likely due to the long term high dosage of meds. The gastro recommended coming off meds altogether and looking into more natural and alternative therapies. My psych talked with the gastro and began decreasing my meds and I am now down to less than half of my original dose. We tried other meds but couldn’t find anything that worked and didn’t have side effects. It is a balancing act between the minimum meds I can take to manage my symptoms and that will cause the least amount of problems to my body. I am still doing CBT regularly and have seen psychologists to learn alternative techniques for dealing with my anxiety and depression. I have found EFT Tapping to be helpful and was also introduced to meditation and positive affirmations. My psych suggested breathing exercises and yoga. I got really into positive affirmations and started reading some of Louise Hay’s books and have found that positive self-talk has been beneficial to me. I often look at Louise Hay’s facebook page for daily affirmations and recently someone had commented that affirmations were evil and New Age. I began looking into what Christians think about alternative medicine and found many of them saying things like TCM, Acupressure, Ayurveda, Aromatherapy, and Massage were bad. I have improved so much since taking a more holistic approach to my health and incorporating yoga and mindful meditations to my daily routine. When I do meditation I refer to it is my meditation/prayer time as I find that the two seem to go together. Then I found some articles on how EFT Tapping is bad and Christians should not do it. I am so confused right now. Why would my doctors be teaching me these tools if they didn’t work? Why is acceptable for a Christian to fill my body with high doses of medication that have harmed my body yet these more natural therapies are frowned upon? Up until a few days ago I was in a good place and felt like I had a found a good balance of medication/medical treatments/psychological therapies and complementary/alternative therapies.

[james1]

hello fred4761,

I should preface this by saying I am not religious.

I come online here because I want to help people find their way to a mentally healthy state in a way which works for them.

My own opinion is that there are a whole bunch of different therapies and some will likely go against Christian teaching. But Christian teaching is also very broad and there is a lot of disagreement about what is okay and what is not.

I have a friend who is a Christian and also is gay - not something that would be traditionally accepted. But he is happy, his church is okay, and it does not bother anybody. Equally, I know someone else who was very much encouraged to not be gay. He eventually turned his back on that particular person, and finds he has a much closer connection to God now, without having the institutional view.

Both of these people made their own decisions with input from their church to help guide their exploration.

Do you have a trusted religious leader that maybe you can speak to? it sounds like this might be somethign worth you considering with both inputs from your doctors and church.

James

[Chickenhead]

Hi Fred,

It's been a while since you posted this, I'd love to know if you found a resolution?

I'm a divorced Christian, and it was me who left him. I've resolved this by changing my perspective on the rules listed in the bible. Christianity is all about forming a relationship with God, it's not fundamentally about following rules. If someone wanted to get to know me and did something I didn't like (for example telling me a joke I didn't appreciate) my response would be along the lines of "please don't tell me jokes like that". It's not so much a rule to follow, but an indication that I don't appreciate that humour. I'm not likely to hang out with someone that has a humour I find distasteful, so ceasing that humour altogether would be the preferred option if you really want to get to know me.

would God really want me to stay in a marraige that is abusive and fundamentally undermining me? I sincerely doubt it, even though He has stated not to divorce. The relationship goes both ways, He loves me too.

The only alternative therapy you discussed that I understand is the positive affirmations. I've also heard this is bad, but the New Testiment talks of guarding your mind against evil thoughts, and that your tongue or speech reflects what is within. Is this not the same thing just described differently?

You sound sincere in your desire to be a Christian. My suggestion would be to ask God for wisdom in this area, to guide you away from alternative therapies that He knows would be harmful for you, and then be confident that He will protect you. Do what you must to be healthy, surely He would want this for you too.

If someone does tell you it's bad, then ask why. Nut it through because they may have a valid point, or it may be they just pass along what they were taught that "all alternative therapies are bad". It's possible that the term "alternative" encompasses so much more than just the occult. Approaching this topic with understanding and knowledge instead of broad rules may resolve a lot of the confusion.