Today we are going to continue our look at fear, worry and anxiety. However, this time we will examine the unbiblical ways to deal with these issues.
From the world’s perspective these are psychological issues and must be treated by a professional therapist or psychiatrist. Their way to deal with these issues is by medication and therapy.
All psychological treatment for these issues is man-centered. It focuses on figuring out a way that you can gain control over some aspect your life. The idea is that since you cant control the big things, you must develop something that you can control to increase your sense of well being.
Freud believed and today’s Freudian therapists believe that man is driven (controlled by instincts-developed by evolution) fight or flight- survival of the fittest, seek food and gratification -just trying to satisfy my instincts!
The counselor is to search for what “caused” the problem in the counselee’s past.
What guys like Freud, Skinner, and Rogers have in common is that their understanding and approach to fixing the problem is humanistic.
Many therapists use a combination of cognitive and behavior therapies in therapeutic treatment. They focus on identifying, understanding, and modifying thinking and problematic behavior patterns. Their goal is to change unwanted and disturbing thought patterns. The individual examines his or her feelings and learns to separate realistic from unrealistic thoughts. This sounds pretty good, right?
The problem is that all of the common methods prescribed by today’s therapists and psychologists are based on the humanistic and godless foundations. While their methods might be pragmatic, there is nothing godly about any of them. Should we use it just because it seems to work?
With this in mind, if you were to go for therapy because you struggle with fear, your therapist might suggest you take the time to identify your fears on paper, and then make a plan with some small steps you can take to gradually lessen your discomfort about the situation.
Your plan might include things like:
- Replace your negative thoughts - because they create negative feelings – with clear, positive thoughts about things.
- Write down all the wonderful ways you can come up with how making these changes will improve your life.
- If you fear failure or rejection, learn to not think of it as something incredibly negative that might end your life if it happens. Redefine it in your mind to lessen the negative emotional impact and the fear. See failure simply as feedback on what you need to improve on. Listen to the advice the failure gives you and you will improve.
- If you fear what other may think about you if you fail, try to understand why validation from others is so important to you, and then learn to not let it matter to you.
- Determine to keep yourself steadily in the now. Don’t let your thoughts and emotions run away to the future or the past.
(Here is my favorite) - Accept your feelings of fear. Don’t try to fight it or to keep it out (like many of us have learned throughout life). Say yes to it. Surrender and let it in.
- Observe the feeling in your mind and body without labeling or judging it.
- Be prepared and willing to redefine yourself. *
We are in a building phase in this series, and tomorrow we will look at the world's way of dealing with worry.
*http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2007/02/22/5-life-changing-keys-to-overcoming-your-fear/