Interdisciplinary Book and Film Reviews

Evidence-Based Practices  for Christian Counseling  and Psychotherapy Edited by      Everett L. Worthington Jr.,          Eric L. Johnson,       Joshua N. Hook &      Jamie D. Aten Reviewed by       Geoffrey W. Sutton The editors are Christians with a strong research record. They have assembled a collection of chapters by clinicians and psychological scientists to offer a state of the practice review of the scientific evidence for Christian counseling or psychotherapy. This book will be useful in Christian counseling programs and will help referral sources understand important differences among the various services available. The two-fold goal aims to inform clinicians about Christian practice and the nature of the supporting evidence. After establishing the notion of what constitutes scientific evidence in the Introduction (Chapter 1), the editors present 13 chapters focused on interventions, which are organized into three parts. The fourth part offers t

LIVING WELL AND  DYING FAITHFULLY:  CHRISTIAN PRACTICES FOR     END-OF-LIFE CARE   Edited By      John Swinton       & Richard Payne    Reviewed by       Geoffrey W. Sutton “Dying is a spiritual event with medical implications,” opined Gwen London, the former director of the Institute on Care at the End of Life at Duke University (xv).  I am reminded of a story about a Christian health care professional who was glad to be assigned to a pediatric ward from a geriatric ward where elderly patients were dying without having faith in Christ. She believed that God would save children from eternal damnation were they to die. Clearly, religious faith is a significant part of the identity of many people on earth. Most, if not all, religions imbue life and death with meaning. The brute fact of death has been widely studied in psychological science--especially in the context of T error Management Theory where terror refers to the awareness of one's own death. 

COUNSELING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY:        A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE      By  Siang-Yang Tan      Reviewed by  Geoffrey W. Sutton In Counseling and Psychotherapy, Tan offers an evaluative review of leading theories and techniques from a Christian perspective. In addition, he describes key features of a Christian approach to counseling and psychotherapy. Having accomplished these two purposes, his book serves as a unique and helpful companion to other recent efforts to integrate the Christian faith and psychological science with the practice of counseling and psychotherapy (e.g.,  Integrative Psychotherapy by McMinn & Campbell  ). Tan organized 17 chapters into three distinct parts. Part one consists of three chapters, which cover basic issues in counseling and psychotherapy. Part two provides an overview of ten major theories and techniques of counseling and psychotherapy. Part three includes four chapters that offer a framework for Christian counseling and p

Lay Counseling is a handbook for paraprofessional services. Although the focus is on Christian counseling, the book is important for all clinicians. In this post I review some key features of the book. Lay Counseling is the kind of book that anyone who works in the field of mental health should consider because it provides current information about the counselors, programs, and services that are part of a support network beyond the world of licensed providers. The book offers an explicitly Christian approach to mental health services. The reason it should be read by those outside the Christian community is because Christianity is the world's largest religion and many Christians who seek counseling wish to see a Christian provider. Since many providers are not licensed mental health providers, it is important to understand who is doing what when it comes to this large informal network of paraprofessionals. _______________________________________________ LAY COUNSELING

A Christmas Carol By Charles Dickens A Review by Geoffrey W. Sutton My copy of A Christmas Carol was a gift on Christmas day, 1963. Two Christmases before I had walked the cold, fog-laden, smog drenched streets of Old London with my dad whilst my mother visited with her family. It was a grey day and a grey week. We took turns warming parts of our body by fireplaces here and there. After five years in the U.S. we had returned home to London on the occasion of my maternal grandmother’s death.  Dickens’ story paints a familiar tale textured by my early memories and enriched today by having watched my favourite rendition of A Christmas Carol ( 1984 ) with my wife on Christmas eve. My interest in reviewing the book is not just for a pleasant walk about the old streets of London but I'm motivated by a sense of appreciation for the poetic and colourful artistry with which Dickens plumbs the hopes and fears of humanity. So, follow