Given the variety of ways that scriptures can be integrated into counseling, the author concludes that Word can be a for Christian counselors. God’s “powerful resource” Reflection The article by Garzon (2005) captured my attention because I have been utilizing scriptures in counseling for over twenty years. To some extent, I was drawn to the paper because of my personal desire to validate the way I have been counseling people over the past two decades. In addition, I wanted to read the article to see if it was going to be necessary to what I feel is an essential feature that distinguishes Christian “defend” counseling from other traditional psychotherapies—namely, the use of scriptures in counseling. At first glance, I was looking for scientific evidence to support and validate my strong and heartfelt position concerning the importance of scriptures in counseling. Having originally trained in experimental psychology, I had hoped to find solid empirical research that to defend my To some extent, I was yielded “hard data” “cause.” disappointed to find that (2005) article consisted entirely of a hypothetical case Garzon’s study of a man named However, as I carefully read the article, I was “George.” pleasantly surprised by the ways that the author used to illustrate how “George” scriptures can be utilized effectively in counseling, while at the same time being sensitive to the client-specific factors—such as unique history, and his religious training George’s and experiences. After I finished the article and to think about it, I wondered whether it “sat back” would be possible to actually conduct experimental research on the use of scriptures in counseling. I tried to imagine what such research would in terms of “look like,” experimental design and other research-based considerations. After a bit of reflection, I decided that I would do a literature review and see if there is any extant, solid, scientific
Given the variety of ways that scriptures can be integrated into counseling, the author concludes that God’s Word can be a “powerful resource” for Christian counselors. Reflection The article by Garzon (2005) captured my attention because I have been utilizing scriptures in counseling for over twenty years. To some extent, I was drawn to the paper because of my personal desire to validate the way I have been counseling people over the past two decades. In addition, I wanted to read the article to see if it was going to be necessary to “defend” what I feel is an essential feature that distinguishes Christian counseling from other traditional psychotherapies—namely, the use of scriptures in counseling. At first glance, I was looking for scientific evidence to support and validate my strong and heartfelt position concerning the importance of scriptures in counseling. Having originally trained in experimental psychology, I had hoped to find solid empirical research that yielded “hard data” to defend my “cause.” To some extent, I was disappointed to find that Garzon’s (2005) article consisted entirely of a hypothetical case study of a man named “George.” However, as I carefully read the article, I was pleasantly surprised by the ways that the author used “George” to illustrate how scriptures can be utilized effectively in counseling, while at the same time being sensitive to the client-specific factors—such as George’s unique history, and his religious training and experiences. After I finished the article and “sat back” to think about it, I wondered whether it would be possible to actually conduct experimental research on the use of scriptures in counseling. I tried to imagine what such research would “look like,” in terms of experimental design and other research-based considerations. After a bit of reflection, I decided that I would do a literature review and see if there is any extant, solid, scientific
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