What is the difference between psychotherapy and Christian counseling?
Pastoral Christian counselors, as opposed to psychotherapists, see the Bible as a source of comprehensive and detailed approach to understanding and counseling people. Psychotherapy and much Christian counseling is needs-based. The needs for self-esteem, for love and acceptance, and for significance tend to dominate. According to psychotherapy, if these needs are met, it is believed, people will be happy, kind and moral; if not met, people will be miserable, hateful, and immoral. Scripture teaches that it is God, not ourselves, who changes our desires and that true happiness can only be found in the desire for God and godliness. While secular psychotherapists attempt to help the client find the power to meet their own needs from within, for most Christian counselors, Jesus Christ is accessible as the healer of needs and of the wounds of the psyche. However, at Sonlife Christian Counseling, we do believe in traditional counseling techniques and will recommend medical assistance with iss
