Reviews for PsychoBabble: The Failure of Modern Psychology - And the Biblical Alternative

The average rating for PsychoBabble: The Failure of Modern Psychology - And the Biblical Alternative based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2021-01-08 00:00:00 Jeff Goodwin A brief, useful, and sound piece of work on biblical counseling. In counseling, there are methodological topics like how to organize and plan a session, and there are practical topics like how to help someone with anxiety or depression. Furthermore, there are other discussions that go about a more apologetic work in order to establish biblical counseling as its own distinct practice, markedly different from the dozens of secular therapies on the shelves today. Ganz's book mostly falls into this third category. I think these distinctions are helpful to think about before picking up a counseling book so as to gain maximal profit and understand what's in view and to be gained from reading. Specifically in this book, Ganz contrasts the dominant modern psychological movement with a biblical alternative. It was published in 1993 and since then there have been, in my opinion, a few better and more recent books and essays on this topic. Though it should be noted there is nothing off base in Ganz's work. He is refreshingly biblical throughout. The heavy lifting apologetic task of demarcating biblical counseling boundaries has, for the most part, been accomplished by earlier (and some later) works, but nonetheless this work is always ongoing. Ganz does a good job in a couple of specific areas worth noting: 1) He clearly sets out the basic tenets of the major psychological thinkers of the last century, going all the way back to Freud and Jung. For a very short introduction to their work with a brief biblical critique, Ganz delivers. Different answers abound for critical questions like who/what is man, what is the definition of normal, where should people go for help, and what does that help consist of. It is a therapy roulette with such a diversity of opinions! Each proponent has his own spin on these questions. Counseling is derived from a worldview; one with distinct views about man, truth, God, and redemption. Help in the counseling room proposes a truth, a truth that can either be in accordance with what God has revealed or out of step. 2) Ganz does a good job incorporating the role of the church in the discussion. Biblical counseling ought to be nestled inside a larger vibrant local church life. Believers practicing the one anothers, confronting, encouraging, gently probing, and always being patient towards each other is part and parcel to the process. Every church member has not only the ability, but also the responsibility to minister to one another, he says (86). Ganz himself was a former practicing psychotherapist and rightly notes how many of the so called best practices in psychotherapy are fundamentally opposed to the word of God. In his day, self-esteem was in its heyday, but even close to thirty years later it has by no means gone completely away. Modern therapies are still awash with feel good, do what makes you happy rhetoric. Counseling is heavily anchored in a person centered approach, whereas biblical counseling is truth centered, scripture aligned, with the glory of God at the center. Persons are not neglected, but if someone is passionate and desirous to sin, that simply cannot be affirmed. Ganz says, "the sinful nature of man is far more ready to be coddled than confronted" (69). I appreciated Ganz's clarity and experience in counseling and the unique voice he brings coming from the psychotherapeutic background.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-09-11 00:00:00 Kate Sweeney Some time ago, I received and read the Master's Seminary manual for counseling. This led me to reading Jay Adam's "Competent to Counsel" which the Master's book is based off of. The view these two books espouse is often a contentious debate in modern Evangelicalism. Both books intend to look at counseling from a biblical perspective. What does the Bible say we should do about counseling people? What are the answers that the Bible gives us to answer some of the questions we might have on people's problems? The opposite side of the spectrum utilizes research and what could be considered "secular" methods of psychology and psychoanalysis to aid in counseling. The Bible itself is not enough they might say; the ingenuity and advances in psychology in the last 100 years have given us great insight into the human condition that is really useful alongside the Bible. There probably won't be an end to this debate. But that is what this book is all about. Richard Ganz was a psychologist who was not a Christian. After his conversion, he continued to work in psychology until he was fired from his job because he told a patient they needed to repent of their sin and become a Christian. From that point on, he quit the business entirely and went to seminary where he was trained in the Bible. This book talks about his experiences as a Biblical counselor where he practiced the kind of counseling Jay Adams advocates. It's called nouthetic counseling and it only uses the Bible to counsel people. The point he makes is this: psychology is the study of the soul, and there is no better book that tells you the condition of a man's soul than the Bible. You start from the presuppositions about man that the Bible tells us about. That is, that we are sinful and we need a savior. Having this right anthropology, one is able to counsel more effectively. He cites that psychology will try to shift the blame and utilizes an anthropology where man is essentially good. Psychology also borrows heavily from an Freudian worldview, one that is antithetical to the Christian worldview. There's lots more to the debate, but I'll let you pick up the book. But honestly, if you want a right treatment of these issues, I'd recommend the Master's Seminary Counseling book. It is really interesting. This book was more of a brief, brief overview instead of a detailed look. Something to whet your palate.