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Questions & Answers

Counseling

Faith Q&A › Metropolitan Youssef › Spiritual Life › Counseling

The question

I am having trouble making my therapist understand certain things. She thinks that I'm being too hard on myself, but she doesn't understand that I'm trying to do what's right according to our Orthodox doctrines, beliefs and morals, and that I'm not actually being too hard on myself. She says it will be hard to overcome my problems if I don't do what I want. She says I need to be my own person and I'm not a kid anymore, so there shouldn't be so many rules, imposed by parents, and even the church, especially since she thinks our Church is too unnecessarily strict. She might think that I'm not progressing. What do I do?

The answer

Many Coptic Orthodox members have admitted that their therapists are unfamiliar, and therefore intolerant with the faith and belief system of the Copts. Yet, spirituality is a predominantly essential part in life.

The Church as well as the Holy Bible teach us to be careful with emotions, senses, and thinking. Dressing modestly, obeying Christian parents in the Lord and Listening to the church’s teachings should not halt progression in therapy; nor should the therapist take the liberty to voice her opinion on the church’s practices without fully understanding its teachings. What is happening here; I do not quite understand.

We are made up of body, soul and spirit. Food sustains the body, Moral and spiritual teachings sustain the spirit and the soul. The latter are delivered by the church based on the Holy Word of God. Obedience to God’s Word is the foundation of life and all therapy. You may want to enlighten your therapist to the importance of that in the next therapy session. The therapist should accept and readily understand the importance of spirituality and incorporate that into your treatment goals and objectives. Without the understanding of spirituality in your life, the therapy treatment plan may be unrealistic for you.

We all strive to attain the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, and peace (Galatians 5:25).

Answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab)

Related questions

Questions answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab) of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Question 86 on the Diocese’s Q&A site. Questions and answers © Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. All rights reserved.