Are self help books dangerous?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mary15
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
The one that changed my life was Anne Katherine’s Boundaries. Henry Cloud writes a well-recommended book by the same title and on the same topic, but I haven’t read it yet. The whole concept of setting healthy boundaries - knowing where I end and others begin - is what officially made me an adult. 🙂
 
Last edited:
fide said:
Yes, the best person one can find, in my experience, to help untangling and healing the heart and soul of the deep wounds of walking for years in this very broken world, is a holy man
Click to expand...
And in the meantime, a priest suggests a therapist to address someone’s psychological problems.

In the same way that God gives us doctors, so we shouldn’t rely on miracles but be grateful we live in a time of great medical knowledge, so He has given us psychologists… the fact that you don’t need one doesn’t mean no one does.
 
You shouldn’t presume to know what I have or have not experienced in my life.
 
understanding psychology doesnt mean a person is qualified to help you with spiritual guidance, and most psychological problems are spiritually based problems. People are wounded from other peoples sins, or from their own disobediences against God. Youre not going to hear that , youre going to spend a fortune analyzing your parents and childhood and taking meds.
 
i was a charge nurse for a clinic of young adult schizophrenic patients and yes, they had chemical imbalances but that is unique and rare…
 
@TK421 I would like to read these two books. I ask you if you think it would be detrimental in any way, such as being written by someone who is not teaching Catholic Doctrine in their original works here.

All I want is Jesus really…but I get torn up by the directives of professionals to read certain books.

Here is my heart:

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

Is he not enough?
 
@fide Thank you. I really just want only Him. However, esteemed people in my life seem to earnestly be wanting me to help myself even more than just by God, but I think it really does lead oneself into promoting the self whether consciously or unconsciously, over devotion to God alone.

I think God Alone will suffice, but its so tempting to listen to their advice
 
i think fulton sheen spoke and wrote a lot about the substitution of confession being psychotherapy.
 
@mary77 Thank you Mary, I have not heard of this yet. Working on one’s sins and gaining absolution and praying for virtues, while deeply and meditatively praying the rosary and focusing on the mysteries is helping me a lot so far.

I am being nudged into thinking I have to read certain books to correct my brain, yet just today, in the rosary we had to reflect upon being transformed like Christ, did we not?

Did you or anyone else here spend extra time praying then for the Holy Spirit to come and to be transformed?

I put in these extra, extra, prayers for myself and for others, during the rosary.

Won’t we Win Friends and Influence people by simply being charitable?

Do we really need gimmicks or techniques?

I simply don’t yet know.

So listening for His voice is the way then, right? to discern on what to do next?
 
mary77 said:
most psychological problems are spiritually based problems. People are wounded from other peoples sins, or from their own disobediences against God
Click to expand...
Then that would be where you and I disagree. If somebody is suffering from depression, anxiety, an eating disorder, OCD, PTSD, a personality disorder, etc., they require psychological treatment. Spiritual guidance alone is not going to help somebody with these kinds of problems. Indeed, telling somebody who has mental health issues that they are suffering because of sin/disobedience to God and that their problems are spiritual in origin is likely to make things a whole lot worse for them.
 
There’s a sizable body of research validating those therapists who encourage people of faith to integrate their beliefs and practices into their recovery. I don’t see mental health treatment and spiritual growth as mutually exclusive; I personally wouldn’t venture to separate them.

(I’m agreeing with you, in case that wasn’t clear. 🙂 )
 
Annie said:
All I have to go on is what you write here…
Click to expand...
I don’t want to push this dialog any further - it’s already gotten too personal - but I’ll close with this: you have come to false conclusions. More importantly. I’ve failed to help you see something that I wanted you to see, and for that I am very sorry.
 
mary15 said:
@fide Thank you. I really just want only Him. However, esteemed people in my life seem to earnestly be wanting me to help myself even more than just by God, but I think it really does lead oneself into promoting the self whether consciously or unconsciously, over devotion to God alone.

I think God Alone will suffice, but its so tempting to listen to their advice
Click to expand...
It can get confusing, I know. It’s important to note that God does want to work through other persons, in many situations. God wants to share His life in a community of faith, among members having differing gifts, all for the good of one another. In that sense, “God Alone” can be a misleading way to put what God wants. On the opposite side of the matter, God must not be excluded! That is the sin of modernism, of scientism, of sola-secularism of many sorts.

Years ago, some troubled priests and troubled consecrated religious (monks, nuns, etc.) were sent by their superiors and by their spiritual directors to secular and non-Christian “experts” in psychology and psychiatry! That’s how confused people can be in this hyper-“scientized” culture. Even leaders in the Church went overboard in their trust in the “wisdom” of this world.

A humble, truly faith-filled and spiritually wise Catholic psychologist could be a trustworthy person to listen to. Such an advisor would be very open to listing for the voice of God before opening his mouth to advise a patient, and he would have a background of knowledge in mental difficulties and wounds that could help form his judgment as well.
 
fide said:
Years ago, some troubled priests and troubled consecrated religious (monks, nuns, etc.) were sent by their superiors and by their spiritual directors to secular and non-Christian “experts” in psychology and psychiatry!
Click to expand...
I’m curious - what specific anti-Christian things were they exposed to during this process? I don’t think that the word secular always means antithetical to our Catholic faith.
 
blackforest said:
I’m curious - what specific anti-Christian things were they exposed to during this process? I don’t think that the word secular always means antithetical to our Catholic faith.
Click to expand...
The most significant “anti-Christian thing” presented is the absence - the presumed irrelevance - of the Triune God in the matter at hand. God exists, and is Present in the life of every human being, whether or not the person is conscious of Him, is in harmony with Him or not. Godlessness is antithetical to humanity and to every human person.

More specifically, Catholic moral truth is true for every human being, and a human life in violation of Catholic moral truth will effect the person - his happiness or lack of it, his state of inner peace or inner turmoil, his relations with other people … A secular [godless] counselor, trained in secular [godless] psychology, who believes and practices as he was taught, will try to aim and guide his client toward the wrong target, so to speak.

Now I must say that every counselor/psychologist/analyst/psychiatrist who is a “registered” and selfless-described “Catholic” is not necessarily better than every non-Catholic one. Catholics have access to Catholic moral teachings if they seek them - concerning some very relevant contemporary moral issues, some Catholic parishes are embarrassingly silent. Catholics in them may conclude moral questions erroneously, by the silence. But if they seek, they can find the Catholic and true teachings of the Church.
 
Last edited:
mary77 said:
its a waste of money if its not going to be advice from roman catholic viewpoint. Its the only way to make sense of the world.
Click to expand...
Only Catholics can potentially have anything interesting or insightful to say?

That seems kinda silly, no?
 
Not all psychology is godless or leads to godlessness. I see a psychologist who was recommended to me by a priest.
 
Last edited:
A priest I have great respect for is Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR. He was a professor of pastoral psychology at St. Joseph’s Seminary in New York and an adjunct professor at the Institute for Psychological Sciences in Arlington, Virginia. He counseled and directed many priests in his long work in the Church. He has now (2014) passed away, but I would have seen any psychologist he had recommended to me. I have known other priests whose advice I would be very cautious about.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top