Part 4: Diagnosing A Problem Series

The first step to solving any problem is, of course, identifying what the problem is. This is one of the most difficult and most important aspects of counseling and must be given careful attention. Failure to understand the real problem will lead to frustration for both the counselor and the counselee.

Labels

The label one uses to describe a problem is more important than one might naturally assume. Accurate names point to proper solutions. When a person has a dangerously low body temperature we call it hypothermia (hypo – “low” thermia – “temperature”). The label makes the solution obvious (raise the person’s temperature). Applying an accurate label to the problem provides insight into the solution.

One of the most damaging effects of Freudian psychological jargon is the fact that most of the labels cloud, rather than clarify both the nature of the problem and the solution. Sigmund Freud wanted people to think of their non-physical problems as diseases of the unconscious mind, and so the labels he invented were calculated to sound scientific and clinical. And that approach to labeling the struggles of the soul has caught on in modern psychology.

Even our secular culture has begun to realize how unhelpful many of these terms are (note the popularity of the term “psychobabble”). Nevertheless, psychological terminology has had a profound effect on the way our culture tends to think about spiritual problems. Those who have been diagnosed with a psychological “disease” will often identify themselves with the label they have been given to the degree that they feel it is part of who they are. And as a result, any attempt to apply biblical terms to the particular issues at hand is considered simplistic or shallow, because it ignores the scientific-sounding disorder or “disease.”

The biblical terminology, however, is anything but shallow. It reflects divine truth and sheds light on the nature of the problem. When a person’s struggle can be stated in biblical terms, discovering the solution becomes much easier. In fact, in many cases the person will be able to find the solution by himself once a wise counselor has helped pinpoint the correct biblical terminology. The world’s labels obscure; God’s labels enlighten.

There are at least two important ways the psychological terminology tends to obscure:

Euphemism – Exchanging vocabulary that indicates evil, sin, or culpability for vocabulary

that recasts sin in medical-sounding terms.

Category Confusion – Mixing unrelated categories together under one label.

Euphemisms for sin

In chapter two (under the heading “Destruction of the Conscience”) we found that psychological jargon is calculated to eliminate guilt. An important step in diagnosis is to translate the problem back into biblical categories.

Grumbling, not venting

Lack of self-control or being controlled by the flesh, not compulsive

Worry, fretting, and anxiety, not stressed

Cowardice or fear, not insecurity

Discontent, not coping

Selfishness or pride, not self-esteem

Enslavement, not addiction

Fornicating, not living together

Prideful, arrogant self-centered hard heartedness against God, not independent or self-reliant

Idolatrous, not eclectic

Lacking conviction, not open-minded

Bitter, angry, resentful, or self-pitying; not wounded

Won’t, not can’t

Hard-heartedness, not emotional issues

Covetousness or greed, not emotional needs

Fear of man, not co-dependence

Selfish demands, not rights

Revenge, not defense mechanisms

Prideful self-absorption, not inferiority complex

Drunkenness, not alcoholism

Sin, not disease

Ignorantly, not subconsciously

Unrepentant or hard-hearted, not in denial

Double-mindedness, not rapid cycling

Category Confusion

Another way psychological jargon obscures the truth is by mixing unrelated characteristics—some good and some bad—together in one label. For example, consider the following is a list of characteristics of codependency.[1]

My good feelings about who I am stem from receiving approval from you

My mental attention is focused on manipulating you to do it my way

My fear of rejection determines what I say or do

My fear of your anger determines what I say or do

I put my values aside in order to connect with you

Your struggle affects my serenity.

My mental attention is focused on solving your problems or relieving your pain.

My mental attention is focused on you.

My mental attention is focused on protecting you.

My own hobbies or interests are put to one side.

The first five are symptoms of selfishness, pride and fear of man, and the solution is humility, love, and fear of God. The last five are symptoms of godly, selfless love and they do not need a solution.

One person labeled “bipolar” may have a problem with an unwillingness to accept suffering from God, which leads to depression. Another person with that same label may have made an idol out of pleasure. Two very different problems with different solutions – both given the same label by the world.

Setting the problem in biblical terms can be a great encouragement to the counselee because it shows him that his problem is not a complex mental disease, but rather a list of traits, some of which are actually virtues. For example, an anorexic must have extraordinary self-discipline to make herself exercise and resist food. Sometimes even biblical counselors will insist that is a bad thing in the case of anorexia. It is not. Self control is part of the fruit of the Spirit and should be encouraged. The sin is not her self-control; it is her self-destruction (and the attitudes and affections that drive that self-destruction). Where there are wrong desires, motives, thoughts, or affections behind the behavior, those sins must be corrected. But the self-control itself is a virtue that should be encouraged.