Skip to main content

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Christian Clients with Depression Book Review



Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
 for Christian Clients
 with Depression:
A Practical, Tool-Based Primer



By Michelle Pearce, Ph.D.

Reviewed By

   Geoffrey W. Sutton

I received Pearce’s book from the Templeton Press for the purposes of review. I submitted the review manuscript in 2016 to the Journal of Psychology and Theology, which was then reviewed and subsequently accepted for publication, March 1, 2017. I will provide links to the academic review below.

Michelle Pearce, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and assistant professor at the University of Maryland. Her book provides a useful summary of cognitive-behavioral therapy and shows how it may be adapted to help Christian clients draw upon Bible practices and teachings to cope with depression.

I graduated from a school (University of Missouri-Columbia) where cognitive behavioral psychotherapy was the mainstay of treatment. But, like others from my era, we found our own way when it came to helping religious and spiritual clients with mental health concerns, including depression. Experienced clinicians will not find much that is new in the book, but they will find an organized set of strategies and links to recent research that can help ensure a best practices approach.


The book will be most useful to students in counseling programs as a supplement to various courses and supervised experiences focused on treating people with depression. I think the book can be helpful to pastors as well as they will no doubt encounter many people in their congregations who struggle with some form of depression.


I note a few suggestions for an improvement in my review. These are not concerns that would limit the value of the book, but rather ideas for a future edition. Here’s a quote from my academic review:

Pearce acknowledges the forgiveness work of Christian scholars like Worthington and Enright but does not offer specific guidance as do Enright and Fitzgibbons (2015) in their chapter devoted to forgiveness therapy for depressed clients. Two, Pearce identifies the term spiritual struggles in the chapter about suffering (6) but does not include the extensive research by Exline and her colleagues (e.g., Exline & Rose, 2013), which has helped clarify many of the distressing beliefs held by Christians when they experience such struggles. And three, although she briefly mentions hope in the conclusion, the topic deserves a greater role in the treatment of depression especially given its critical role in psychotherapy and its prominence in Christian theology (e.g., Edwards & Jovanovski, 2016).


Review reference and document links

Pearce, M. (2016). Cognitive behavioral therapy for Christian clients with depression: A practical, tool-based primer. Conshohocken, PA: Templeton.    Available on  AMAZON


Sutton, G. W. (2017). Seven strategies for treating Christians with depression. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 45, 69-70. https://doi.org/10.1177/009164711704500106  Accepted 11/19/2016, Published March 1, 2017. 

DOWNLOAD REVIEW     ResearchGate Link    Academia Link   Kudos Link


Read more about Christian Cultures  AMAZON







Connections and Links to Resources

My Page    www.suttong.com

My Books   AMAZON

FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton

TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton

LinkedIN Geoffrey Sutton  PhD

Publications (many free downloads)
     
  Academia   Geoff W Sutton   (PhD)
    
  ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton   (PhD)





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Changing Our Mind by D. Gushee - Review

Changing Our Mind   by David P. Gushee    Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton Changing Our Mind by David P. Gushee is a transformative book that explores the author's evolving views on LGBTQ inclusion within Christianity. Gushee, a prominent Christian ethicist, shares his journey from holding traditional evangelical views to advocating for full acceptance of LGBTQ Christians in the church. He examines biblical texts and theological positions, encouraging readers to reconsider their beliefs in light of new understandings and the lived experiences of LGBTQ individuals. The book is a call for empathy, inclusivity, and a more loving faith community. ***** I read the Kindle version of the third edition of Changing Our Mind as part of my research into Christian worldviews focused on Christian moral perspectives toward people who identify as LGBTQ. I had previously addressed the topic from the perspective of moral psychology in A House Divided (2016) and in a few research studies co...

Elizabeth and Hazel Two Women of Little Rock

  Trauma, Hate, and Barriers to Reconciliation   Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock by David Margolick Reviewed by    Geoffrey W. Sutton Elizabeth Ann Eckford is 15 in the classic photo of her silently walking toward Little Rock’s Central High School in 1957. But she’s not alone. A loud white mob screams hate. With an unforgettable open mouth, Hazel Massey appears over Elizabeth’s right shoulder and comes to represent the hot white objection to desegregating the all-white High School.   The story of Elizabeth and Hazel is painful to read. David Margolick makes the black and white images come alive as much as possible for those of us at a distance in time and place from the lived events. In addition to the stories recalled by each woman, we gain additional insights from school records and the way various reporters retold the stories over several decades.   Margolick offers insight into human emotion and personality traits as well as the toll on m...

Denial of Death and the Meaningful Life- Book Review

  The Denial of Death   by Ernest Becker A Review by Geoffrey W. Sutton The prospect of death, Dr. Johnson said, wonderfully concentrates the mind. The main thesis of this book is that it does much more than that: the idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else; it is a mainspring of human activity—activity designed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny for man.  — Ernest Becker, xvii I completed a recent reading of this old classic yesterday (13 December, 2015) because I was interested in Becker’s contribution to Terror Management Theory, which I find so helpful in understanding the ways U.S. leaders are publicly responding to terrorist activities. Becker’s ideas are more than forty years old and many have not withstood the test of time. However, his basic premise that we deny the reality of death in many ways...