Theophostic Prayer Ministry

Last updated

Theophostic Prayer Ministry (formerly Theophostic counseling) was developed in the United States during the mid-1990s by Ed Smith, a Baptist minister. [1] [2]

Contents

Its name comes from the Greek theo ('God') and quasi-Greek phostic ('light'), and it is often associated with the Christian Inner Healing Movement. Smith says people are being delivered from phobias, depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive–compulsive disorder, dissociative personality disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, sexual addiction, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and homosexuality through Theophostic principles. The name Theophostic is a registered trademark. [3] [4]

Few empirical evaluations of Theophostic ministry are available, although Christian psychologist Fernando Garzon says that current case study and survey data has yielded clinically significant changes in client symptom levels, and high degrees of client and practitioner satisfaction. [5]

Definition

Smith's definition of Theophostic Prayer Ministry is that "Theophostic is a ministry of helping emotionally wounded people to acknowledge and to identify the true source of their inner emotional pain and find lasting peace through receiving personalized truth directly from the Lord." [6]

Process

Participants in a typical Theophostic Prayer Ministry session are the ministry recipient, a ministry facilitator and optionally a prayer partner. [7]

The ministry facilitator ensures that the ministry recipient understands the process before the session begins. [8] [9]

The facilitator begins the session with a prayer of encouragement. [10]

The ministry recipient closes their eyes and concentrates on feeling the emotional pain from which they are seeking relief. The purpose of focusing on the emotion is to allow their mind to drift back to a related memory. [11] That memory is of a situation that the recipient regards as painful and which they have interpreted to form a belief about themself or their situation. [11] The event that is contained in the memory may have occurred many years ago, for example in the person's childhood. [11] The emotion provides a bridge to the belief. [12]

The ministry recipient describes the memory to the facilitator. [11] The facilitator asks the recipient some questions that will enable the recipient to drill down to the core belief housed in this memory that is troubling them. The questions are not leading questions, [13] as the facilitator does not assume anything about the memory's content. Rather they are open questions, posed to help the recipient himself to identify the core belief. This core belief is known in TPM parlance as a "lie" that causes lie-based pain. The lie arises from the recipient's interpretation of the situation. [14] For example, a rape victim may have formed a belief that they are dirty or shameful, whereas they were actually an innocent victim. Though their belief is false, it has the same impact on their emotional state now as if it were true. [15]

Once the recipient has identified the core troublesome belief, the facilitator prays, asking Jesus to provide the recipient with his perspective, that is, what he would like the recipient to know. [6] [11] According to TPM, Jesus answers that prayer in various ways. Jesus might provide his truth to the recipient by means of a mental picture, a feeling, a scripture, a word, a realization, or some other way. [11] The truth received from Jesus replaces the painful lie previously believed, [11] and the result is peace. [16] [17]

TPM says that every person believes not just one but many lies of the kind that lead to present emotional pain. Each lie can be eliminated with the same process. [11]

Research

In his 2008 book, [18] Fernando Garzon, an associate professor in the Center for Counselling and Family Studies at Liberty University, [19] describes his team's two-year-long outcomes-based case study research project that evaluated TPM. The research team found very clear preliminary results that showed a correlation between TPM treatment and symptom reductions. [20] Garzon wrote that the case studies strongly support the need for randomized comparative or control group studies. [20]

Garzon had conducted preliminary practitioner studies in 2001 which showed promise, concluding that "...outcome-based case studies and randomized clinical trials should proceed on TPM to ascertain whether the therapeutic perception of efficacy displayed in this survey actually has merit..." He also found that a wide variety of people were practicing Theophostic ministry at that time, including pastors, lay counselors, and psychologists. According to Garzon, this raised questions about some practitioners' level of training. [21]

A Kentucky journalist has associated Theophostic Prayer Ministry with recovered-memory therapy (RMT), an approach now widely discredited after discovery of false memory phenomena [22] on the basis that Theophostic Prayer Ministry also presupposes the possibility of repression or memory inhibition, [23] A critical entry from Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance also associates Theophostic ministry with recovered-memory therapy, although the article does not identify the aspects of Theophostic Prayer Ministry that merit the assertion. It also claims that Theophostic Prayer Ministry has added beliefs about demonic possession, Satanic influence, direct communication with "Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit" and "unique concepts about the inner workings of the mind". [24] [25] However, Smith himself strongly repudiates Recovered Memory Therapy, [26] and in recent years he has taught that it is counter-productive to pursue or even allow demonic confrontations in a ministry session. [27] However, in his Basic Training Seminar Manual and in each of the training videos, Smith warns strongly against making any suggestions that might affect the actual content of a memory, [28] and he lists ten ways in which TPM differs from RMT. [29] Nevertheless, once a core belief about self has been identified through the memory (not in the memory per se), Smith does "invite the Lord" to speak truth to the ministry recipient concerning that belief. [30]

In an article about TPM in the Christian Research Journal , Elliot Miller said that to accuse TPM of practicing recovered memory therapy and visualization is to betray ignorance or bias against TPM that refuses to be corrected by clear and consistent facts. [11]

A Christian psychologist, David Entwistle, has expressed concerns with its practice: "TPM follows in the lineage of 'healing of memory' techniques, though it departs from that lineage in a number of important respects. Numerous concerns exist surrounding insufficient attempts to ground TPM in biblical concepts; inadequate and often flawed explanations of basic psychological processes; dubious claims about the prevalence of [ dissociative identity disorder, Satanic ritual abuse], and demonic activity; estimates of traumatic abuse that exceed empirical findings; and the failure to sufficiently appreciate the possibility of iatrogenic memory contamination". [31]

Entwistle raises concern over empirical validity, with questions about literal appearances of God, as Entwistle interprets claimed perceptions of truth, including spontaneous visualizations of Christ; ethical and legal issues relating to guarantees of healing; application of TPM to a variety of mental disorders without empirical validation; the legal question of whether it should be considered a religious intervention or a counseling procedure – and whether this was settled by changing the name from Theophostic counseling to Theophostic ministry; and the failure of Smith to welcome public analysis and critique of TPM. [32]

In Cumberland, Maine, sexual-abuse charges against ex-member Tom Wright were brought after a church member's memory surfaced during Theophostic sessions of Wright allegedly abusing a child. When the case went to trial in 2002, the charges were thrown out by the district attorney because evidence was based on 'unconventional and biased therapeutic methods'. The district attorney noted that these methods were considered unreliable by the American Psychological Society. In 2006, in Australia, a psychologist was found guilty of malpractice by the Queensland Health Practitioners Tribunal for using Theophostic methods. The tribunal found that Irene Moreau, who practiced from a Christian counselling centre in Brisbane, 'inappropriately used Theophostic Prayer Ministry as a counselling technique'. [33]

Practitioners of techniques such as TPM frequently do not have formal training in psychology or counseling, although Fernando Garzon suggests that this in many cases may be beneficial, saying: "...it may serve people who might not get help otherwise, cannot afford professional therapy, do not wish to use insurance, or have access to counseling limited by managed care. Others belong to churches in which the pastor is either not trained, not interested, or not available (due to having too many other pastoral duties) to meet the needs for pastoral counseling. Still others simply may trust lay people, whom they know, more than a therapist, whom they do not know. In addition, the training itself may benefit the lay counselors spiritually and emotionally." [34]

In addition to questions about the efficacy, safety and reliability of TPM, it has also divided Christian observers with regard to the soundness of its theology. In the conclusion of their paper "A theological analysis of Theophostic Ministry", Bryan Maier and Philip Monroe put it this way: "...on the issues of sin and healing, the question remains for Christian counselors and the evangelical community as a whole as to whether Smith's 'theological basis' is consistent with responsible biblical doctrine. We do not think that Smith has warrant to make this claim. Furthermore, we think these differences are so significant that we advise great caution before engaging in this ministry – whether as a client or as facilitator." [35]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faith healing</span> Prayer and gestures that are perceived to bring divine intervention in physical healing

Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing of disease and disability can be brought about by religious faith through prayer or other rituals that, according to adherents, can stimulate a divine presence and power. Religious belief in divine intervention does not depend on empirical evidence of an evidence-based outcome achieved via faith healing. Virtually all scientists and philosophers dismiss faith healing as pseudoscience.

Psychotherapy is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome problems. Psychotherapy aims to improve an individual's well-being and mental health, to resolve or mitigate troublesome behaviors, beliefs, compulsions, thoughts, or emotions, and to improve relationships and social skills. Numerous types of psychotherapy have been designed either for individual adults, families, or children and adolescents. Certain types of psychotherapy are considered evidence-based for treating some diagnosed mental disorders; other types have been criticized as pseudoscience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychologist</span> Professional who evaluates, diagnoses, treats and studies behavior and mental processes

A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how individuals relate to each other and to their environments.

Clinical psychology is an integration of human science, behavioral science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and personal development. Central to its practice are psychological assessment, clinical formulation, and psychotherapy, although clinical psychologists also engage in research, teaching, consultation, forensic testimony, and program development and administration. In many countries, clinical psychology is a regulated mental health profession.

Psychology of religion consists of the application of psychological methods and interpretive frameworks to the diverse contents of religious traditions as well as to both religious and irreligious individuals. The various methods and frameworks can be summarized according to the classic distinction between the natural-scientific and human-scientific approaches. The first cluster amounts to objective, quantitative, and preferably experimental procedures for testing hypotheses about causal connections among the objects of one's study. In contrast, the human-scientific approach accesses the human world of experience using qualitative, phenomenological, and interpretive methods. This approach aims to discern meaningful, rather than causal, connections among the phenomena one seeks to understand.

The Inner Healing Movement refers to a grassroots lay counseling movement among Christians of various denominations.

Person-centered therapy (PCT), also known as person-centered psychotherapy, person-centered counseling, client-centered therapy and Rogerian psychotherapy, is a form of psychotherapy developed by psychologist Carl Rogers and colleagues beginning in the 1940s and extending into the 1980s. Person-centered therapy seeks to facilitate a client's actualizing tendency, "an inbuilt proclivity toward growth and fulfillment", via acceptance, therapist congruence (genuineness), and empathic understanding.

The Hakomi Method is a form of mindfulness-centered somatic psychotherapy developed by Ron Kurtz in the 1970s.

Past life regression (PLR), Past life therapy (PLT), regression or memory regression is a method that uses hypnosis to recover what practitioners believe are memories of past lives or incarnations. The practice is widely considered discredited and unscientific by medical practitioners, and experts generally regard claims of recovered memories of past lives as fantasies or delusions or a type of confabulation. Past-life regression is typically undertaken either in pursuit of a spiritual experience, or in a psychotherapeutic setting. Most advocates loosely adhere to beliefs about reincarnation, though religious traditions that incorporate reincarnation generally do not include the idea of repressed memories of past lives.

Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a form of alternative therapy aimed at treating trauma and stress-related disorders, such as PTSD. The primary goal of SE is to modify the trauma-related stress response through bottom-up processing. The client's attention is directed toward internal sensations,, rather than to cognitive or emotional experiences. The method was developed by Peter A. Levine.

Recovered-memory therapy (RMT) is a catch-all term for a controversial and scientifically discredited form of psychotherapy that critics say utilizes one or more unproven therapeutic techniques to purportedly help patients recall previously forgotten memories. Proponents of recovered memory therapy claim, contrary to evidence, that traumatic memories can be buried in the subconscious and thereby affect current behavior, and that these memories can be recovered through the use of RMT techniques. RMT is not recommended by professional mental health associations. RMT can result in patients developing false memories of sexual abuse from their childhood and events such as alien abduction which had not actually occurred.

Pastoral care, or cure of souls, refers to emotional, social and spiritual support. The term is considered inclusive of distinctly religious and non-religious forms of support, including atheist and religious communities. It is also an important form of support found in many spiritual and religious traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Crabb</span> American psychologist and author (1944–2021)

Lawrence J. Crabb, Jr. was an American Christian counselor, author, Bible teacher, spiritual director, and seminar speaker. Crabb wrote several best-selling books and was the founder and director of New Way Ministries and co-founder of his legacy ministry, Larger Story. He served as a Spiritual Director for the American Association of Christian Counselors and taught at several different Christian colleges, including Colorado Christian University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of psychotherapy</span>

Although modern, scientific psychology is often dated from the 1879 opening of the first psychological clinic by Wilhelm Wundt, attempts to create methods for assessing and treating mental distress existed long before. The earliest recorded approaches were a combination of religious, magical and/or medical perspectives. Early examples of such psychological thinkers included Patañjali, Padmasambhava, Rhazes, Avicenna and Rumi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grief counseling</span> Therapy for responses to loss

Grief counseling is a form of psychotherapy that aims to help people cope with the physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and cognitive responses to loss. These experiences are commonly thought to be brought on by a loved person's death, but may more broadly be understood as shaped by any significant life-altering loss.

Common factors theory, a theory guiding some research in clinical psychology and counseling psychology, proposes that different approaches and evidence-based practices in psychotherapy and counseling share common factors that account for much of the effectiveness of a psychological treatment. This is in contrast to the view that the effectiveness of psychotherapy and counseling is best explained by specific or unique factors that are suited to treatment of particular problems.

Reality testing is the psychotherapeutic function by which the objective or real world and one's relationship to it are reflected on and evaluated by the observer. This process of distinguishing the internal world of thoughts and feelings from the external world is a technique commonly used in psychoanalysis and behavior therapy, and was originally devised by Sigmund Freud.

Christian psychology is a merger of theology and psychology. It is an aspect of psychology adhering to the religion of Christianity and its teachings of Jesus Christ to explain the human mind and behavior. Christian psychology is a term typically used in reference to Protestant Christian psychotherapists who strive to fully embrace both their religious beliefs and their psychological training in their professional practice. However, a practitioner in Christian psychology would not accept all psychological ideas, especially those that contradicted or defied the existence of God and the scriptures of the Bible.

Audio therapy is the clinical use of recorded sound, music, or spoken words, or a combination thereof, recorded on a physical medium such as a compact disc (CD), or a digital file, including those formatted as MP3, which patients or participants play on a suitable device, and to which they listen with intent to experience a subsequent beneficial physiological, psychological, or social effect.

References

  1. ↑ "Theophostic Prayer Ministry (Part One) – Christian Prayer, Occult Visualization, or Secular Psychotherapy?", Christian Research Journal, volume 29, number 3 (2006)
  2. ↑ , "Christian Research Institute" Position Paper: PST001, p. 8
  3. ↑ Business Information paragraph on About Us page of www.theophostic.com
  4. ↑ "Christianity Today, February 5, 2001". Christianitytoday.com. February 5, 2001. Retrieved April 18, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Cognitive restructuring through contemplative inner healing prayer. VISTAS: Perspectives on Counseling American Counseling Association Press, Garzon, F. (2004).]
  6. 1 2 Smith, Ed M. Freedom from Performance-based Spirituality, DVD, Theophostic Prayer Ministry (2004)
  7. ↑ Smith 2007, pp. 82, 202.
  8. ↑ Garzon, Fernando, Psy.D., Editor (2008). Pursuing Peace – Case Studies Exploring the Effectiveness of Theophostic Prayer Ministry, p. 59. Xulon Press. ISBN   978-1-60647-202-6.
  9. ↑ Smith 2007, p. 88
  10. ↑ Smith 2007, p. 93, 225
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Theophostic Prayer Ministry (Part One) – Christian Prayer, Occult Visualization, or Secular Psychotherapy?", Christian Research Journal, volume 29, number 3 (2006).
  12. ↑ Smith, Edward M. (2007). Theophostic Prayer Ministry, Basic Training Seminar 2007, DVD Sessions, Disk 1, New Creation Publishing.
  13. ↑ Smith, Edward M. Healing Life's Hurts through Theophostic Prayer, Theophostic Prayer Ministry Guidelines, p. 256, New Creation Publishing (2002, 2005)
  14. ↑ Smith, Edward M. Healing Life's Hurts through Theophostic Prayer, p. 145, New Creation Publishing (2002, 2005)
  15. ↑ Smith 2007, p. 19
  16. ↑ Smith 2007, p. 23
  17. ↑ Garzon 2008, p. 77
  18. ↑ Garzon 2008
  19. ↑ Garzon 2008, p. 94
  20. 1 2 Garzon 2008, p. 93
  21. ↑ Garzon, Fernando; Poloma, Margaret (2005). "Theophostic Ministry: Preliminary Practitioner Survey – Pastoral Psychology, Volume 53 Number May 5, 2005, Fernando Garzon and Margaret Poloma". Pastoral Psychology. 53 (5): 387–396. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.543.6291 . doi:10.1007/s11089-005-2582-1. ISSN   0031-2789. S2CID   51799341.
  22. ↑ Brandon, S.; Boakes, J.; Glaser, D.; Green, R.; MacKeith, J.; Whewell, P. (1997). "Reported recovered memories of child sexual abuse: Recommendations for good practice and implications for training, continuing professional development and research". Psychiatric Bulletin. 21 (10): 663–665. doi: 10.1192/pb.21.10.663 .
  23. ↑ "Controversial international ministry operates from Campbellsville" – Central Kentucky News Journal, July 2, 2003 by Jan Fletcher
  24. ↑ "Menu: Theophostic Counseling". Religioustolerance.org. Retrieved April 18, 2011. TPM appears to have many factors in common with Recovered Memory Therapy (RMT).
  25. ↑ "Theophostic Counseling (TPM) TPM counseling: the process and reaction". Religioustolerance.org. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  26. ↑ Smith 2007, p. 215
  27. ↑ Smith 2007, pp. 124–126
  28. ↑ Smith 2007, pp. 129–133
  29. ↑ Smith 2007, pp. 215–218
  30. ↑ Smith 2007, p. 106
  31. ↑ David N. Entwistle (Spring 2004). "Shedding light on Theophostic Ministry 1: practice issues". Journal of Psychology and Theology. Retrieved April 18, 2011– via Findarticles.com.
  32. ↑ David N. Entwistle (Spring 2004). "Shedding light on Theophostic Ministry 2: ethical and legal issues". Journal of Psychology and Theology. Retrieved April 18, 2011– via Findarticles.com.
  33. ↑ AAP General News (Australia), October 25, 2006
  34. ↑ "Lay Christian Counseling and Client Expectations for Integration in Therapy", Journal of Psychology and Christianity (in press) Garzon et al, Liberty University
  35. ↑ Maier, Bryan N. (Fall 2003). "A Theological Analysis Of Theophostic Ministry". Trinity Journal . 24 (2): 169–188. ISSN   0360-3032. OCLC   2243858.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.