Ever since the beginning of time, men have been employed in some kind of psychological study.  From the Greek philosophers to the monks in the Middle Ages to the founders of the world’s religions, men have spent their time analyzing and pondering what makes up the hidden part of us.  But, in recent years, psychology has taken on a whole new meaning as it has begun to separate itself from God and force its secular ideas on society.  This separation has led to some bizarre notions.

Consider the victimization mentality that is now so prevalent in our culture.  In his book, Nation of Victims, Charles J. Sykes describes this phenomenon with the following stories:

An FBI agent embezzles two thousand dollars from the government and then loses all of it in an afternoon of gambling in Atlantic City. He is fired but wins reinstatement after a court rules that his affinity for gambling with other people’s money is a “handicap” and thus protected under federal law . . .

Fired for consistently showing up late at work, a former school district employee sues his former employers, arguing that he is a victim of what his lawyer calls “chronic lateness syndrome.” In Framingham, Massachusetts, a young man steals a car from a parking lot and is killed while driving it. His family then sues the proprietor of the parking lot for failing to take steps to prevent such thefts.2

Where did those ideas come from?  How did man get from taking responsibility for his actions to claiming that he is handicapped because he is addicted to gambling and being late for work?

Consider how this victim mentality has now taken over the field of medicine by casting itself as an illness and a disease.  To quote from Nation of Victims again:

As it becomes increasingly clear that misbehavior can be redefined as disease, growing numbers of the newly diseased have flocked to groups like Gamblers Anonymous, Pill Addicts Anonymous, S-Anon (“relatives and friends of sex addicts”), Nicotine Anonymous, Youth Emotions Anonymous, Unwed Parents Anonymous, Emotional Health Anonymous, Debtors Anonymous, Workaholics Anonymous, Dual Disorders Anonymous, Batterers Anonymous, Victims Anonymous, and Families of Sex Offenders Anonymous.3

What evidence is there that it is a disease to be a workaholic or enslaved to nicotine?  What good do anonymous groups do for those who attend them?  Do they stop the problem or do they simply perpetuate it?  And where did all of these groups originate?

Consider how all of this has now gotten to the point where people are casting off the notion of “sin” and “wickedness” altogether.  In the words of Karl Menninger, author of Whatever Became of Sin?:

The very word “sin,” which seems to have disappeared, was a proud word. It was once a strong word, an ominous and serious word. It described a central point in every civilized human being’s life plan and life style. But the word went away. It has almost disappeared – the word, along with the notion. Why? Doesn’t anyone sin anymore? Doesn’t anyone believe in sin? . . . As a nation, we officially ceased “sinning” some twenty years ago.4

Menninger wrote that in 1973 but it is obvious that the moral climate in America has not improved.  How did the study of the soul migrate from the Bible to Greek philosophers to ideas like these?  When did the word “sin” disappear from our vocabulary?  When did it become popular to redefine misbehavior as an illness?  Richard Ganz attempts to answer these and other related questions in his short 1993 book, Psychobabble: The Failure of Modern Psychology and the Biblical Alternative.5

Ganz is a former licensed psychotherapist6 who now serves as a Pastor and Biblical Counselor in Ontario, Canada.  He is also the Founder and President of Ottawa Theological Hall where he teaches courses on psychology and counseling.7  On page 27 of Psychobabble, he describes his goal in writing this book:

My goal in this book is to help readers understand that the counseling concepts woven into psychoanalysis (and its secular psychotherapeutic offshoots) are inherently opposed to the Word of God. My approach will be to reveal the direct conflict between secular philosophies and Biblical principles and to strip back to its ugly roots the psychotherapy that the church has baptized and embraced. My hope is that the church will stop shuffling her hurting and broken members to the “experts” who lack the power and perspective of the Word of God, that pastors will instead seize the opportunities to reach, teach, rebuke, correct, and train in righteousness a people fit for service to King Jesus.8

How close did Ganz come to achieving his goal?  Judging by the recommendations of such well-respected scholars as Jay Adams, John MacArthur, and J. I. Packer,9 he must have come very close.  John MacArthur, who wrote the foreword for the book, went so far as to say:

Nowhere else have I seen a resource this rich or a study this helpful in sorting out and answering the Biblical questions regarding counseling and modern psychotherapy.10

It would be helpful to take a few moments to review this book and to interact with the issues that it raises.  How did we get to the place where we abandoned all moral responsibility along with the notion of sin?  Who came up with the idea that you can study the soul apart from God?  When did therapy and anonymous groups begin to replace Bible study and the role of the local church?  And how is the Christian supposed to respond to all of this?

It is the purpose of this review to address these issues.

CONTENT 

Psychobabble contains 15 chapters, covering everything from “The Psychological Views of Man” to “Man as God Sees Him” to “The Myth of Integration” to “The Healing Power in the Church.”  It discusses the issue of “psychobabble” from the beginning of secular psychology to the current phenomenon of Integrationism (integrating secular psychology with the Bible) to how the church is to respond.

Ganz introduces the book by giving his own personal testimony on this subject.  In his own words,

“Get it out Immanuel!” The group looked on in astonished shock as Immanuel writhed in agony. What had begun as anxious deep breathing had progressed to violent spasms and hyperventilation. “Get it out!” I cried.

Finally he screamed, “I am God!”

I whipped out a small New Testament I had been carrying in my pocket. Just that morning I had read from the twenty-fourth chapter of Mathew’s Gospel. I quoted it to him: “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect . . . For just as the lightning comes from the east, and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be’” (Matt. 24:23, 24, 27).

Abruptly, Immanuel’s writhing, spasms, and hyperventilation ceased. He calmly asked, “Where did you read that from?” I told him, tossing the Bible across the room and telling him to check it out for himself. There was not another sound or another word from Immanuel for one solid month.

Four weeks later; I was sitting in my office during lunch hour reading from the Bible and praying . . . There was a knock at my door. It was Immanuel. I invited him in and asked, “What brings you to my office?”

This man had spoken only a few words in several years. He looked at me now and clearly and calmly said, “I want to become a Christian . . .” Trembling, I asked Immanuel, “When do you want to become a Christian?”

“Right now,” he responded. I sat down with Immanuel and showed him the plan of salvation, to which he heartily assented. Together we got down on our knees, and Immanuel prayed, repenting of his sin and asking Christ into his life. The years the locusts had stripped away were restored in an instant. As tears streamed down Immanuel’s cheeks, the Holy Spirit gave him a new birth, and he believed God and received Christ.

The next morning the director called me into his office as soon as I arrived at work. As I sat down, he said to me, “Rich, I’ve just heard the craziest story in the thirty-one years I’ve been here . . .”

“Rich,” he said, “Immanuel’s ‘saved,’ and he’s telling everyone on the ward about it. He wants to get everyone, patients and staff, to become Christians . . . What do you say, Rich?” he asked me. “Is it true that you are speaking these things on the ward, as Immanuel says?”

All I could sputter was, “It’s true.”

The director looked at me and explained that he didn’t want to get rid of me, after having selected me over many other able psychologists just a short while earlier. He urged me to give up this “nonsense.” He encouraged me to be a great Christian after work but to promise to leave my Christianity out of my psychotherapy . . .

The director informed me that if I agreed to leave Christianity out of my work, he would forget about this incident. He would be happy to transfer Immanuel to a “chronic” hospital. After a few rounds of shock treatments, all this would be forgotten! . . .

The next morning I explained to my director that I must speak at all times of Christ and His salvation and restoration, because those who needed Christ were individuals just like Immanuel . . . As far as he was concerned, I was through – immediately. He gave me thirty days’ notice.11

Richard Ganz provides a wonderful introduction to this book in showing how psychotherapy cannot change people, how the psychological world is anti-Christian to the core, and how Biblical Christianity does have answers to people’s problems.  The rest of the chapters in Psychobabble seek to flesh all this out.

For instance, Chapter 2 is entitled, “The Psychological Views of Man” and discusses the teachings of various secular psychologists throughout history.  Of these psychologists, the author mentions Sigmund Freud, Carl Gustav Jung, B. F. Skinner, Carl Rogers, and Werner Erhard by name.  While it is not the purpose of this book review to go into tremendous detail regarding these men’s views, here is a quick synopsis of some of them.

Sigmund Freud “saw man as an instinct-ruled beast dominated primarily by the drives of sex and aggression.”12  He believed that the goal of counseling was “to uncover the patient’s unconscious motivations.”13  Carl Jung believed that “all human beings possess in their unconscious a deeply buried collective history of the [human] race”14 and that the goal of therapy was to bring the patient into contact with this collective history.

B. F. Skinner “saw the mind as a black box, a series of circuits, a collection of stimulus response connections.  He rejected the idea that a person has meaning or significance.”15  In Skinner’s counseling, he sought to “have clients manipulate their emotional and physical circumstances in such a way as to avoid pain and promote pleasure.”16  Carl Rogers saw human beings as good and capable of achieving perfection.  “He believed they needed only the guidance that was already within themselves, just waiting to be vitalized by using nondirective techniques.”17  To Rogers, counseling meant affirming everything counselees said until they achieved UPR (unconditional positive regard) for themselves.

It does not take long to see how subjective all of these approaches are or how confusing it would be to find a psychologist who embraced more than one view at a time.  How could anyone unite the views of Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers?  Freud saw man as nothing more than an animal and Rogers saw him as nothing less then perfect.  What sense would it make to combine the views of Carl Jung and B. F. Skinner?  Jung thought that human beings possessed a collective unconscious and Skinner thought that they have no significance at all.

Richard Ganz sums up the problem by pointing out that secular psychologists are not unified on anything except their disbelief in God.

Clinical psychology comes to no consensus in its view of human beings – with one critical exception. It is unified in its belief that people are free from God. Aside from that exception, there are as many theories regarding human nature as there are counseling practitioners.18

Before describing the Biblical alternative to this approach to counseling, Psychobabble provides a helpful example of the differences between the two.  In Chapter 6, entitled “Caring to Confront,” there is the following hypothetical conversation between a psychotherapist and a counselee:

R.G.: Tell me about it.

JANE: I’m pregnant.

R.G.: Oh?

JANE: Yes, I just found out.

R.G.: Umhmm.

JANE: I can’t stand it.  I feel like I’m going crazy.

R.G.: You’re feeling very upset.

JANE: I guess I have no choice but to get an abortion.

R.G.:  Tell me about that.

JANE: What else can I do? I have to finish school; I have no other choice.

R.G.: [Nothing positive to say.]19

The author then gives the same scenario from the viewpoint of a Biblical counselor.  Notice the difference.

SALLY: Dr. Ganz, Fred and I never meant for anything like this to happen, but I’m pregnant.

R.G.: Have you discussed what you are going to do about it?

SALLY: Of course, this hasn’t been easy, but we know we’re not ready for a family, so the only thing we can think of doing is to have an abortion.

R.G.: Both of you consider yourselves Christians, don’t you?

SALLY: Yes, of course, but we don’t see what that has to do with it.

R.G.: Wouldn’t it be important to know what God has to say about this?

SALLY: Of course, but certainly God knows how we feel and can understand that we have no choice.

R.G.: It is absolutely correct that God knows you see this as impossible. What’s important is what God says about this. Does God approve of abortion, even in such difficult strains as you seem to think you are in? God says, “You shall not murder.”  Sally, that is a child in your womb . . . a growing child. If you have this child aborted, that is murder, and that’s what you will be responsible for, for the rest of your life.

SALLY: But we don’t have a job or the right place to life. There’s so many things.

R.G.: We’ll work together with your congregation. I’m sure they’ll want to help you find work and a good place to live.

SALLY: Oh, I could never tell them. They would judge me and treat me like a prostitute.

R.G.: Sally, you and Fred have to show them that you know what you did was wrong and that you’ve asked God’s forgiveness. God’s people know that they are no more perfect than you are, even if they haven’t committed the same sin. Furthermore, your struggles are not just yours. God says in His Word that “no temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13). That’s right, Sally. Nothing has happened to you except what is common to man. You are not alone.20

From this point on, the rest of Psychobabble is designed to explain what this Biblical alternative looks like.  Not only does Ganz seek to show that secular psychology has the wrong approach to people’s problems, but he also seeks to show how the Word of God has the right approach.

Chapter 6, entitled “Caring to Confront,” talks about how the most caring thing a Christian counselor can do is confront a counselee who is in sin.  If someone is running towards a cliff, the most loving thing we can do is shout “STOP!”  In a similar way, a person’s sin separates him from God and, if he is in a tough spot, that needs to be dealt with first and foremost before moving on to other things.  It is vital and an act of love for a counselor to show a counselee where his sin is and how he can repent and make it right with the Lord.

Chapters 7-10 discuss the role of the church in the counseling process.  Counselees are not alone.  As the discussion between R.G. and Sally demonstrates, the church is there to help those who are hurting.  The church can provide spiritual and physical helps when a fellow believer is in need.  It can come alongside and build up those who come for counsel.

Chapter 10 addresses the issue of the new birth and how it relates to counseling.  It bears the title “Becoming New Creatures,” and that is what it is about.  Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”  This has great bearing on what the counselor is asking the counselee to do in Biblical Counseling.  He is not asking the counselee to live in such a way that he ignores temptation and difficulty.  He is asking him to live a Godly life in the midst of temptation and difficulty.

Yet God never says He will take away bad feelings or temptations. He says instead that “with the temptation, [He] will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13). The glory of God is not that you are never again tempted, but that in the midst of your trials, instead of giving in to sin, you flee to Him and do what’s right. To the glory of God you learn to say no to sin and yes to God and to His standard of righteousness.21

EVALUATION OF CONTENT 

The content of Psychobabble is excellent.  It is concise, easy to read, and well put together.  Along with what is mentioned above, Chapter 5 on “The Myth of Integration” is particularly helpful.  In the last half century or so, a movement has begun in the church to mix or integrate secular psychology with the Bible.  It is known today as “Integrationism.”  One proponent of the movement defines it as

A recognition of the ultimate authority of the Bible, a willingness to learn what God has allowed humans to discover through psychology and other fields of knowledge, and a desire to determine how both scriptural truths and psychological data can enable us to better understand and help people.22

However, as Richard Ganz points out, secular psychology and Scripture really have nothing in common.  In fact, the only thing that secular psychology agrees on is that people are free from their accountability to God, which is exactly the opposite of what the Bible teaches.23  To try and combine the two systems of thought is to try and mix two different religions, as Martin and Deidre Bobgan point out in their book, PsychoHeresy:

Because psychotherapy deals with meaning in life, values, and behavior, it is religion in theory and in practice. Every branch of psychotherapy is religious. Therefore, combining Christianity with psychotherapy is joining two or more religious systems.24

Attempting to sanctify psychotherapy by adding Bible verses only secularizes Scripture.25

Ganz agrees, and he demonstrates it by evaluating some of the views of the Integrationists.  For instance, he shows how they redefine Biblical terms to bring them into harmony with psychology.

Gary Sweeten redefines the theological term sanctification to mean “mortifying the flesh and developing our new (emphasis his) self or our personal self” . . . Meier and Minirth equate the unconscious and the heart. They believe that Jeremiah 17:9 is the key to Christian psychiatry . . . Gary Sweeten also uses the unbiblical concept of the unconscious. He focuses on the unconscious of a believer as the seat of the “residue” (whatever that is) of our Adamic nature and the location of our rebellion, guilt, and shame.26

The book further demonstrates how Integrationists misunderstand the nature of Godly change.  They misconstrue what the new birth in Christ is all about by seeking to couch it in psychological jargon.  Larry Crabb demonstrates this when he writes,

Change as our Lord describes it involves more than cleaning up our visible acts. He intends us to climb down into the sewers and do something about the filth beneath the concrete. He directs us to enter the dark regions of our soul to find light.27

Is this what true Godly change looks like?  To crawl into the “dark regions of our soul to find light?”  Of course not.  In the words of Psychobabble,

What will we find in a prolonged inner search? A desperately sick and deceitful heart, which God alone can search (Jer. 17:9, 10). Rather than calling us inward, the Bible is calling us away from self. The idea that a deeper analysis will bring healing is fallacious. Deeper analysis will bring deeper (ungodly) introspection and deeper self-absorption, both of which are to be deplored.28

Integrationism is probably best seen in its attempt to find a Biblical basis for self-esteem.  In the writings of many Integrationists, self-esteem is seen as the ultimate goal for the Christian.  If we can esteem our selves, have a higher view of our selves, and come to appreciate our selves, then we have reached the pinnacle of Christianity.

Robert Schuller puts it this way:

I don’t think anything has been done in the name of Christ and under the banner of Christianity that has proven more destructive to human personality and, hence, counterproductive to the evangelism enterprise, than the often crude, uncouth, and unchristian strategy of attempting to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition.29

Why?  Because it hurts people’s self-esteem.

James Dobson says this a little more eloquently and without the offense of words like “crude, uncouth, and unchristian.”

In a real sense, the health of an entire society depends on the ease with which the individual members gain personal acceptance. Thus, whenever the keys to self-esteem are seemingly out of reach for a large percentage of the people, as in twentieth-century America, then widespread mental illness, neuroticism, hatred, alcoholism, drug abuse, violence, and social disorder will certainly occur.30

While that coincides with much that is taught in the public schools, where is it found in Scripture?  Where does the Bible say that the health of an entire society is built upon their personal acceptance?  Where does it say that a lack of self-esteem is the cause of mental illness and hatred and alcoholism?  What is a mental illness?  Where is a person’s “mental” located and how can it be ill?  We all know what a brain illness is but no one has yet to pinpoint where the mental part of man is located and how it can get sick.31

The Bible says that we should deny our selves32 and control our selves33 and examine our selves,34 not esteem our selves.  Ganz is correct when he says that the Bible calls us away from our selves and not to our selves.

With all of the Biblical material against Integrationist Counseling, the question remains: Why is it so popular?  Why do so many churches and Christians buy into it?  Why are men like Gary Sweeten and Larry Crabb and James Dobson allowed to sell millions of books?  Psychobabble has an answer for this as well:

Applying psychology is much easier because the sinful nature of man is far more ready to be coddled than confronted.35

It takes no effort at all for a hurting person to love himself.  He already does that.  It takes no real work to encourage a sinner in need to esteem himself and to work on looking into his own soul rather than up and out to God for the solution to his problem. He naturally responds that way.  We all do.

However, it takes tremendous effort to confront and be confronted with the reality that you are sinning against a holy God Who will punish you eternally in Hell if you do not repent.36  It takes tremendous effort to be selfless and strive to love the Lord and others more than you love your own person.37  Because of this, Integrationist Counselors have sold countless books and taught in packed out seminars and invaded churches at a staggering rate.  They are popular because they teach people what they already believe.

This should be sobering when we remember the words of the Apostle Paul in Second Timothy 3:1-5.38  Notice that the first sign of the last days is that men will be “lovers of self” and that another sign is that they will be “without self-control.”

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power . . .39

BIBLICAL ACCURACY

Psychobabble does a good job where Biblical accuracy is concerned.  For instance, Chapter 4 discusses “Man as God Sees Him” and explains how the Bible’s view of man is different from that of secular psychology.  After referencing several passages on man’s sin nature (Rom 1:32; Jer 17:9; Isa 59:7), Ganz gives these helpful words:

In fact, every part of us has been touched by our fall into sin. The theologians call this total depravity. They don’t mean that we are absolutely as bad as we can be. Total depravity means that there is no part of us that has not been corrupted and touched by sin.40

Just as a sponge that is dropped in a bucket of water is soaked through and through, so the first man, Adam, sinned and now we are all soaked through and through with the disposition to sin.  It goes down to our very nature.

Psalm 51:5 says it this way:

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.

Psalm 58:3 adds:

The wicked are estranged from the womb;
These who speak lies go astray from birth.

Those who counsel according to the guidelines of Scripture recognize this, and they help their counselees accordingly.  They do not encourage them to look inward for help because they will only find a sinful nature with sinful thoughts.  Instead, they encourage them to look to the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and the power of the Holy Spirit for genuine life change.

Man in his guilt and corruption was spared, not by self-revelation, but by the revelation of God. Man as a sinner found hope not in self-knowledge, but in the mercy and grace of Almighty God. We are not self-enclosed, isolated beings. Man can only change in relationship to himself as he changes in relationship to God . . .41

In other words, when a man sees his true nature, he is able to acknowledge his sin-filled nature that needs a restored relationship with God through Christ. That is the starting point for Biblical counseling. Those searching for a Biblical approach to counseling need to understand that it is not possible to understand or deal with man’s nature apart from his relationship to God.42

Therein lies the difference between secular psychology (i.e. Integrationism) and true Biblical Counseling.  Biblical Counseling is ultimately interested in the counselee’s relationship with God.  Everything starts from there.  If that is wrong, then the counselee’s life is wrong.  If that is right, then the counselee’s life is right.  As Jay Adams puts it,

Jesus Christ is at the center of all true Christian counseling. Any counseling which moves Christ from that position of centrality has to the extent that it has done so ceased to be Christian. We know of Christ and his will in the Word. Let us turn to Scripture, therefore, to discover what directions Christ, the King and Head of the Church, has given concerning the counseling of people with personal problems. The Scriptures have much to say concerning the matter.43

The Bible is from cover to cover a book about man’s relationship to God.  From the first pages when God created man44 to the last pages when God will punish evil men45 and reward those who have trusted in His Son,46 the Bible is about the creation relating to the Creator.  Counseling must take this into consideration.  It must start with who man is (a sinner) and Who God is (the One Who has been sinned against).

Then the counselor can offer the hope that has been given through the sinless life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God.47  He can inform the counselee about the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit48 and how the Bible49 and the church50 can be used to enact change.

All of this is covered to one degree or another in Psychobabble thereby showing the book to be Biblically accurate.

CONSISTENCY 

Psychobabble is a consistent book.  It begins by focusing on the sufficiency of Scripture in counseling and ends the same way.  All throughout, it holds God’s Word in high regard and maintains that it and it alone is able to minister to the nonorganic problems that men face.51

For example, Chapter 9 is entitled “Building Up the Body” and shows how the church can help counselees deal with their problems.

The primary purpose of “coming together” [as a church] is to worship God, but this group structure serves many other purposes as well – providing encouragement, support, accountability, and a physical confirmation of belonging to God’s Kingdom . . . The counselor must direct his counselee to seek out a good, solid, Biblical church . . . We shouldn’t always think that we have to send our people to one of the “anonymous” groups. We have everything they have and more. We can keep people and do so on the basis of the Word of God.52 

In writing this, Richard Ganz upholds the teaching of Scripture.  The Bible shows that Christians are not to be helped in isolation from other Christians.  It teaches that our growth in Godliness is to occur in the church.  One of the resources that the Lord has given to the hurting is the local assembly of believers.

Romans 12:15 says,

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

Galatians 6:1-3 says,

Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

Hebrews 10:24-25 says,

And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Hebrews 13:17 says,

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.

In relaying all of this in his book, the author maintains what he has held along: that the way to help people is not to look for a solution apart from God.  Rather, it is to submit to God’s Word and to use the means that God has ordained for life change.

SCHOLARSHIP

As a former psychotherapist and practicing Pastor / Biblical Counselor, Richard Ganz is aptly qualified to write a book like this one.  His chapters on “The Psychological Views of Man” and “The Myth of Integration” demonstrate this superbly.  He also writes in a manner that everyone can understand, and this makes Psychobabble a highly recommended book.

The only criticism I would have is that his chapters on the role of the church in counseling (Chapters 7-9) need to be clearer.  The author makes several excellent points in this regard, such as this one from page 92:

Clichés won’t work with such wounded people. Only the Word of God applied to the hurt and pain of [a person’s] life, through the Holy Spirit by the body of believers ministering compassionately could heal him. It is not enough for a counselor to speak about a person’s wrecked past and offer hope; the whole congregation must accept the one who is scarred, marred, and torn.53

While that is well said, the chapters on the church do not put together a practical strategy for how churches can aid in the restoration of sinning members.  That is not a glaring weakness or any reason not to read this book, but it would be a helpful addition to it.

CONCLUSION

The methods of secular psychology are very common nowadays and very destructive to those who are seeking help for their problems.  Even secular scholars have begun to realize this.  In their book, One Nation Under Therapy, Christina Hoff Sommers and Sally Satel write:

In 2000, five Canadian psychologists published a satirical article about Winnie the Pooh entitled “Pathology in the Hundred Acre Wood.” At first glance, say the authors, the hero of A. A. Milne’s 1926 children’s classic appears to be a healthy, well-adjusted bear; but on closer and more expert examination, Pooh turns out to suffer from attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, binge eating, and borderline cognitive functioning to name just a few of his infirmities. Pooh’s friends are similarly afflicted: Rabbit fits the profile of narcissistic personality syndrome; Owl is emotionally disturbed, which renders him dyslexic; and Piglet displays classic symptoms of generalized anxiety. Eeyore the donkey has low self-esteem and an inability to enjoy himself, a condition known as anhedonia – which the authors refer to as anhe(haw)donia.

The Canadian spoof makes a serious point: the propensity of experts to pathologize and medicalize healthy children en masse has gotten way out of hand. The past decade has seen a cascade of books and articles promoting the idea that seemingly content and well-adjusted Americans – adults as well as children – are emotionally damaged.54

When characters like Winnie the Pooh and Piglet need to be treated for “mental illness,” things have indeed gotten way out of hand.

But what can we do about it?  The answer is not found in saying that God does not exist and that we are not responsible for our actions.  The answer is not to claim that we are all one big “Nation of Victims.”  The answer is to acknowledge who we are in light of who God is and to respond accordingly.

There is a God who has created heaven and earth and mankind.55  He has created us with a moral code to live by56 and there are consequences when we fail to do so.57  Yet, in His love for mankind, this God came to live as one of us in the Person of Jesus Christ.58  He bore His own wrath on the cross for our sins59 and offers us the reward of His sinless life if we would believe in Him.60  Part of that belief is turning from our life of sin61 and living a life of submission to His commands.62  When we do so, life will not get easier in every regard, but it will certainly get easier on our conscience.  It will certainly get easier on our soul.

Failing to believe all of this and thinking that our problems will be solved by ignoring God is to live in insanity.  It is to believe a bunch of “psychobabble.”

 

 

1. Erich Fromm, Psychoanalysis and Religion (New Heaven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1950) 7. Fromm originally used this definition to refer to “psychoanalsys,” not “psychology.” But, for the purposes of this article, both words refer to the same concept. [↩]
2. Nation of Victims: The Decay of the American Character (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992) 3. [↩]
3. Ibid., 9. [↩]
4. Whatever Became of Sin? (New York: Hawthorne Books, Inc., 1973) 14-15. [↩]
5. Psychobabble: The Failure of Modern Psychology and the Biblical Alternative (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1993. The book is actually 167 pages but the print is large and it makes for a quick read. [↩]
6. Ibid., 13-28. [↩]
7. Ibid., Back Cover. [↩]
8. Ibid., 27. [↩]
9. Ibid., Back Cover. [↩]
10. Ibid., xii. [↩]
11. Ibid., 13-17. [↩]
12. Ibid., 31. [↩]
13. Ibid. [↩]
14. Ibid., 34. [↩]
15. Ibid., 36. [↩]
16. Ibid., 37. [↩]
17. Ibid., 38. [↩]
18. Ibid., 30. [↩]
19. Ibid., 74. [↩]
20. Ibid., 74-76. [↩]
21. Psychobabble, 113. [↩]
22. Gary Collins, Can You Trust Psychology? (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press,
    1988) 127. [↩]
23. Numerous passages teach that God will hold man accountable for his actions. See Deut 28; Matt 12:36; Rom 14:12; Rev 20:11-15. [↩]
24. PsychoHeresy: The Psychological Seduction of Christianity (Santa Barbara, Cal.: EastGate Publishers, 1987) 23. [↩]
25. Ibid., 97. [↩]
26. Psychobabble, 62-63. [↩]
27. Quoted in Psychobabble, 65. [↩]
28. Psychobabble, 67. [↩]
29. Quoted in Psychobabble, 68. [↩]
30. Quoted in Psychobabble, 68. [↩]
31. For more information on this, see Edward T. Welch’s Blame It on the Brain?: Distinguishing Chemical Imbalances, Brain Disorders, and Disobedience (Philipsburg, N.J.: P & R Publishing, 1998). [↩]
32. Lk 9:23. [↩]
33. Gal 5:22-23. [↩]
34. 2 Cor 13:5. [↩]
35. Psychobabble, 69. [↩]
36. Ps 125:5; Jer 15:7; 18:11; Ez 18:23; 33:11; Lk 13:3. [↩]
37. Matt 22:34-40. [↩]
38. I am indebted to Richard Ganz for this passage. He quotes from it on page 70 of Psychobabble to warn believers of the dangers of adopting the teachings of Integrationism. [↩]
39. Italics mine. [↩]
40. Psychobabble, 54. [↩]
41. Ibid., 55. [↩]
42. Ibid., 57. [↩]
43. Competent to Counsel (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1970) 41. [↩]
44. Gen 1-2. [↩]
45. Rev 20. [↩]
46. Rev 21-22. [↩]
47. The Apostle Paul writes about this hope when he says in 1 Corinthians 15:56-57, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” A few verses earlier, he writes: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (vv. 54-55). If Jesus Christ has achieved victory over sin and death, He can be victorious over any problems that a counselee may face. [↩]
48. Jn 3:5; Rom 8:11; 2 Cor 3:6; Gal 6:8. [↩]
49. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” [↩]
50. See the section entitled “Consistency” below for a discussion of how the church can help a counselee with his problems. [↩]
51. An organic problem is a problem that is physically caused. Nowhere does the Bible claim to be sufficient to fix someone’s cancer or low blood pressure without the assistance of medicine. The Bible only claims to be sufficient in regards to problems related to man’s soul. This can be a confusing issue for many proponents of psychology as they confuse physical causation with physical symptoms. In the words of Jay Adams, “A certain amount of confusion has been occasioned by the fact that physical illnesses may have non-organic causes. For example, worry may cause ulcers; fear may lead to paralysis. These resultant disabilities are ordinarily called psychosomatic illnesses. Psychosomatic illnesses are genuine somatic (bodily) problems which are the direct result of inner psychological difficulty. But illness caused by psychological stress must be distinguished from illness as the cause of psychological stress (Competent to Counsel, 29).” [↩]
52. Psychobabble, 104-105. [↩]
53. Ibid., 92. [↩]
54. One Nation Under Therapy: How the Helping Culture is Eroding Self-Reliance (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2005) 1. [↩]
55. Gen 1-2. [↩]
56. That code was given in the Law to the Jews in the Old Testament and repeated to the Christians in the New Testament. Deuteronomy 5:1-21 summarizes that Law into Ten Commandments, each of which are repeated in the New Testament except Commandment Number 4: “Obey the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” Colossians 2:16 says, “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day . . .” indicating that Christians are no longer bound to observe this particular commandment. [↩]
57. The ultimate consequence for our sin is an eternity in Hell. See 1 Cor 6:9-10; Rev 21:22-27. [↩]
58. Jn 1:1-5, 14-18. [↩]
59. 1 Pet 2:21-25. [↩]
60. Jn 3:36. [↩]
61. Acts 26:15-18; Rom 10:5; Js 5:20. [↩]
62. Galatians 5:19-24 shows the importance of this submission when it describes the deeds of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. Second Thessalonians 1:8 says that God will deal out retribution “to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” James 4:7 says, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” [↩]