Christian Counseling is a valuable type of counseling that is for those who understand the basics of Christianity. The aim of using this therapy is to provide the patient with help when things get tough, but they will get guidance and help through their Christian faith. You can receive this therapy from a Christian counselor, or someone who uses religious practices in their mental health profession. But understanding the four types of Christian counseling can help you figure out if this is right for you.
The four main types of Christian counseling that you can use include Christian psychology, pastoral counseling, Bible counseling, and Christian counseling with psychotherapy. The method that you choose to use will depend on the unique challenge you come into the office with and what type of professional you use explains my Christian therapist nearby, Clark Christian Counseling. You may find that one form of Christian counseling will seem more comfortable and familiar for you.
Each of the types of Christian counseling can give you some of the relief that you need when things don’t seem to go that well. Let’s dive into each one a bit more so that you can learn about them and pick one that will help you feel better.
The Main Types of Christian Counseling
When you first take a look at Christian counseling to see if it is right for you, you may be surprised that there are so many options out there to choose from. However, they can usually be divided into four main types and each one will focus on a different factor for your overall health. Some of the main types you can choose from include:
Christian Psychology
When you choose to work with Christian psychology, you will work with a Christian counselor who will work to add in some psychology to the Christian skills they are doing in the office. This makes it a bit more scientific, though it still relies heavily on theology to help as well. This therapist is going to work on a basis of psychological theories and theological approaches. This is going to be a therapy option that will focus on the grace of God and how God will forgive sins while always offering His love.
Pastoral Counseling
Pastoral counseling is going to be a type of Christian counseling that is offered by a pastor or another individual who has experience in both ministry and counseling. If you go and receive some type of counseling from your pastor at some point, whether it is grief counseling or premarital counseling, you have gone through with pastoral counseling.
Pastoral counseling is usually the same as what we discussed above with the psychotherapy. The biggest difference is that it is offered at a religious facility by a pastor instead of a mental health professional and it will focus on spirituality with a bit of psychology added into it.
Bible Counseling
The next option on the list that you can choose is known as Bible counseling. This is a form of counseling that will be based on the guidance of the Bible to help the patient work through the issue. There are often other psychological theories that are used in this therapy option too, but it will still have a big focus around the Bible and will use stories and verses from there to help.
The counselor who uses this is often going to try to connect some of the meaning that is found in the Bible back to the present world. This helps us to see some more of the value of the Bible in our daily lives so we get more out of it.
Christian Counseling with Psychotherapy
And finally, we come to the fourth option of Christian counseling with some psychotherapy. This is a form of counseling that will use some of the techniques from above, but bring sin psychotherapy if the patient needs it. The therapist will need to have experience working with Christianity and some of the Bible options above, but they can bring in some of the scientific stuff from psychotherapy to provide even more assistance to the patient when needed.
All of these will allow the patient to feel better and get some of the help they need. They can focus on the religious aspect of it in many cases, but it is not uncommon for scientific methods and therapies to be used as well.
Choosing Christian Counseling for Your Needs
There are a lot of benefits when it comes to choosing Christian counseling, no matter the condition you are going through at the time. Whether you are looking to get someone to help you when you lose a loved one or you are dealing with a mental health condition, you will find that Christian counseling can help you get through the issue and feel so much better.