PSYCHOTHERAPY: WHAT WE SEE WHEN WE LOOK BEHIND THE CURTAIN

Why do most people speak highly of their psychotherapist and their healing process? In an article entitled “Freud is a Fraud,” Chris Noble, MD, had written:

• Speculation was and is at the heart of psychoanalytic theory and practice. However, unlike scientific speculation, which leads to testable hypotheses and controlled experiments, psychoanalysis was developed mainly by unscientific, if not anti-scientific, minds. One searches in vain among the analysts for any semblance of the typical concerns and attitudes of scientists. There is no concern for testing their claims, which are put forth dogmatically rather than tentatively. Skepticism about their work is rare; bravado and bold assertions are common.

Psychotherapists now widely accept the many findings that the relief that their clients derive is not the result of their theoretical approach or even of their particular practices, but of the empathetic relationship they form with their clients.

Some practices are even widely regarded as arrogant:

• Freud's theories and practice can be attacked not only for his ideas and methods, but for his arrogance and contempt for his patients and colleagues. (Noble)

Freud had even stated:

• "I can't help being convinced that my dear fellow men, with few exceptions, are worthless." http://somniloquy.online.fr/TSI3/freud.html

The real Freud wasn’t the one that his patients had been seeing. In the midst of the Vietnam War, I had asked my psychiatrist to write a letter claiming that I was unfit for military service. He gave a copy to me. I was glad to read that the letter made an excellent case for my psychological unfitness. During our next meeting, I thanked him for his convincing letter. He answered, “I meant every word of it.”

The curtain had been pulled back, and I was devastated to discover what he really thought about me. He saw me as Freud had seen his clients—as “worthless.”

I too saw myself as worthless—as irreparably damaged, despite his positive affirmations of me during our counseling sessions.

Years later, after I had a life changing encounter with Jesus, I returned to college and obtained a degree in social work and did my fieldwork in a community mental health center. I would sit in as the psychotherapists would share their cases and receive feedback.

The mask was put aside, and they condescendingly joked about their clients. I was surprised by the contrast between what I was seeing in these meetings and the face they wore with their clients.

However, there is a place for criticism, as long as it is cradled in God’s love. He painfully humbles us so that we can accept our inescapable awareness of our unworthiness without flinching. This requires the assurance of His love and acceptance. This enables us to pass on His consolations to others:

• Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (II Corinthians 1:3-4 NKJV)

To receive these comforts, we need to recognize that we desperately need them. However, when we experience this, we come to understand that we cannot look down on others because everything good we possess comes as God’s gift (James 1:17).