Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex

Zenit ran an article recently, interviewing a psychologist from the Institute for the Psychological Sciences (IPS). William Nordling discusses some important factors which a Catholic really needs to consider in deciding about professional psychological help. This actually applies well beyond just marital counseling, the focus of the interview.

He identifies at least three critical areas in which a secular psychologist falls short: world view, anthropology, and his understanding of marriage.
As far as world view goes, secular professionals generally will treat the individual, rather than seeing the individual as also a person in relationship with others:

A Catholic psychology acknowledges the importance of the interiority of the individual and the reality of psychopathology, but also gives significant attention to the relational nature of the person and how the client can grow in virtue and flourish. So the Catholic psychologist does not just see an individual, but sees an individual in the context of vocation as a spouse and as a parent. In addition, the focus of a Catholic psychology is not just to alleviate symptoms or psychopathology but assist the client in flourishing as an individual, as a spouse, and as a parent. To a broader extent, it focuses on the relationship to society, and ultimately the relationship to God.

In terms of anthropology, many psychologists take a reductionist view of the human person, reducing him to a biological entity. With such an erroneous anthropology one should be surprised if the heuristic method of treatment comes anywhere close to helping someone in their particular circumstances. Can you imagine a computer technician trying to fix your computer understanding the hardware pretty well, but having only a trial and error method for diagnosing and resolving problems that might be beyond hardware issues? A therapist having only a partial picture of his subject should not instill confidence in the patient.

This leads to other problems, such as failure to recognize disorders that are in fact disorders (e.g. same-sex attraction disorder). When it comes to marriage, the secular world view does not understand it in terms of its vocational and sacramental nature. While the therapist may have strategies to improve communication, Nordling suggests that he would see this improved communication as an end rather than a means. Christian anthropology indicates that self-sacrificing gifts of self are the ways to healthy self-fulfillment and sacramental efficacy can heal spiritual wounds. Only a solid Catholic therapist would have this complete understanding of the person and marriage, and be able to identify problems which distort the authentic meaning of marriage (a secular psychologist would have a hard time even coming up with a definition of marriage, much less know how to diagnose marital problems beyond the inability to communicate).

For more insights and strategies for healthy marriages, I recommend reading the whole article.