Friday, August 19, 2022

BOOK SUMMARY: COUNSELING THE HARD CASES - CHAPTER 7 - BIPOLAR DISORDER


NOTEWORTHY QUOTES: 

A careful assessment allows us to connect with one another in a loving relationship, get accurate data, and begin to develop a clear direction for counseling. We cannot begin to reframe symptoms, behavior, heart issues, motives, and the formative influences into biblical categories if we do not know what they are.

It was not our place to undermine the medical regime he was placed on or to overstep our role as pastoral counselors.

A large part of good counseling is helping counselees see that at the root of psychological problems are theological problems. No one can have a proper view of self without a proper view of God.

Proverbs 20:5

We often waste energy on rabbit trails, focusing on problems that are not at the core of transformation and heart change.

One’s past, although influential—it is not determinative.

While sin is clearly involved and at the core of any problem, legitimate suffering needs a compassionate ear.

Our goal is counseling is threefold: (1). To get the counselee to see God’s character and compassion through the lens of Scripture; (2) to get the counselee to see himself and his problems as God does; (3) to get the counselee to feel God’s conviction and comfort as he peers intensely into the mirror of His Word.

It’s hypocritical to tell a counselee to trust God while you lean on your own skills, effort and rehearsed Bible knowledge. Sometimes more Bible knowledge only beads up on the hard heart, and prayer is often the only way to furrow the soil so the Word can take root.

Proverbs 28:13

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