Integration of psychology and Christianity: 2022.
Ripley, Jennifer S.
This paper forecasts changes to the integration of Psychology and
Christianity for the next decade. The focus of the paper is on proposals
to address six trends that are seen as hope for the future of the
integrationist movement: the healthcare crisis, education, research,
application, global networks and technology.
The Attire belongs to those who give the next generation reason for
hope.
-- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
I believe there are good reasons for hope for the near and distant
future of Christian integration. It won't be the same as it has
been. Good things from the past may be lost but new good things will be
gained in the coming decade. My personal hope is that the community of
clinicians and scholars that make up Christian integration are not a
ship that is tossed on the sea, but that we set our sail for a set of
goals that will enliven us towards the mission to fully integrate
Christianity and Psychology. There are 6 areas of work that I think
those that are involved in the Integration of Psychology and
Christianity need to address for the field to remain relevant and move
towards leadership in Christendom and psychology: the healthcare crisis,
education, research, application, global networks and technology.
Christian Psychology Solves the Healthcare Crisis
I know, you are smirking at this comment. How could the tiny field
of Christians in Psychology and Mental health possibly make even a dent
in the global healthcare crisis? There was a health crisis in the world
in the 1800s that was met with Christian healthcare providers starting
hospitals, many of which provide the highest quality healthcare even
today. That healthcare initiative began out of a sense of Christian
mission. Today's healthcare crisis could be addressed through local
free or low-cost clinics in churches that sit mostly empty all week
around the country. Even offering half a day a week to a mission like
this can revitalize a tired Christian psychologist, dentist, nurse or
doctor, give a new sense of mission to a local church in doing outreach
that is desperately needed, and provide care for the poor and needy.
Christian health professionals do not have to go to Haiti or a location
of a recent earthquake to make a difference. They can do it in their own
community on a regular basis. I propose that Christian integrationists
need to move beyond academic and cognitively addressing differences
between psychology and Christianity and do something practical for the
world.
There are amazing opportunities to meet needs from the health care
crisis through ministry organizations and churches. The primary care
psychology field is one area that is certain to be the future of
psychology. Primary care psychology provides health and mental health
services within a primary care setting to prevent disease and promote
healthy behaviors in individuals, families and communities (definition
from www.primarycarepsychology.com). Christian psychologists could be
the organizers, administrators, and mental healthcare providers while
medical professionals provide further medical care.
Many of the healthcare problems that are most difficult and costly
for society involve poor self-care such as with diabetes patients,
obesity or dementia. Healthcare problems have spiritual implications for
people's lives and communities as well. If the primary care
psychology movement could be applied to local clinics within churches
and Christian ministries this lowers the barriers for care even further,
as well as employing an important local partner in care with those in
ministry. Christian psychology is uniquely positioned to create these
partnerships with knowledge of the settings in communities most
conducive for a clinic. Practicing Christian psychologists also have an
incentive of growing the practice of mental healthcare in their local
community in order to grow their own practice more than general
healthcare providers.
Bachelors and masters-trained mental health specialists could
provide essential case management to patients who are non-compliant with
healthcare recommendations. Partnering with local churches provides a
spiritual resource for those willing to receive prayer and pastoral care
for their problems. This model of service could take the lead in Western
culture and be readily adapted to developing countries as well. So much
of the outreach available to a community is piecemeal, or specific to a
particular discipline such as nurses doing health screenings. The church
could be relevant as a permanent resource for the community.
To put "feet" on this idea I propose that there be a
joint conference between Christian mental healthcare (CAPS, AACC),
Christian social workers, Christian dentists, and Christian doctors and
nurses to address the healthcare crisis from a Christian perspective.
The Christian Medical and Dental Association could be a key partner. The
ideas from a conference like that could germinate to create models and
mechanisms for local application, and the all-important relationships
between professionals needed to turn the ideas of outreach and solving
healthcare problems to practical solutions tailored to the local
community.
Christian Integration in Education
The best psychology education available should be found at
Christian academic institutions. When education can be embedded in a
larger understanding of God's working in humanity, then psychology
is even richer a field of study. Christian students are looking for a
way to understand who they are as a Christian in an environment where
they will be supported and encouraged to address issues of faith in
self-exploration, training, clinical work and research. Established
programs in Clinical Psychology have achieved indicators of success in
the field that help to legitimize their standing in the larger field
with younger programs working hard and achieving good early indicators
such as accreditation. Several undergraduate Christian Universities have
been ranked high in academics as well. Yet there are still areas of
education that need attention.
For Christian integration to move forward the "seedbeds"
for Christian integration in the educational environments must
continually strive for high quality students and faculty, conduct
relevant research and engage in service projects.
With the resource strains on Universities this may be difficult.
The CCCU and local institutions have worked hard to keep high quality,
train new faculty in the field and retain the best and the brightest
students and faculty. There is sometimes a cost for those faculty or
students who could be accepted into high quality "Research
One" institutions where grants, accolades and opportunities are
more plentiful.
In the next decade I propose the following:
1. I propose several Christian undergraduate programs partnering
with graduate programs to create an environment of opportunity for
research and community projects that would rival the best state schools.
This would require leadership of a team of faculty to design research
projects, and some investment on the part of institutions. Yet there are
practical rewards too of shepherding promising undergraduates into
graduate level study and providing opportunities to undergraduate
programs beyond their current capacity.
2. I propose more cooperation between faculty in the Christian
doctoral programs in collaboration with faculty from state schools for
collaborative lines of research that can have an impact on the larger
field.
3. I propose focused efforts at Christian psychology conferences on
excellence in the teaching of psychology and training of Christian
psychologists at all levels with a focus on Christian institutions but
attention to the Christian professor at a state/ non-Christian school as
well.
Integrative Research Agenda
While empirical research relevant to Christian integration exists,
there is a relatively small pool of people around the country who are
regularly engaged in programs of high quality empirical or qualitative
research on integrative issues. Many of these people are late in their
careers. In a scientific field, such as psychology, research is the
basis of legitimacy. There are many barriers to this including Christian
programs that primarily train clinicians, Christian professors who are
heavily tasked in teaching and service to meet pragmatic demands of a
University, and few funding opportunities for integrative research. Yet
I think there is hope that a focus on the future would be worth an
investment.
1. I propose that Christian Universities invest in small but high
quality Ph.D. programs aimed at producing academics who can contribute
significantly to the scientific literature on Christianity and
Psychology. Even a dozen good researchers a year would revolutionize the
field.
2. I propose Christian Universities select a few promising early
career researchers and protect them from tasking so that they can
contribute to the field.
i. I propose there would be communication with applied settings
(Christian practices, churches open to psychological research) to
provide relevant research resources to the applied setting and create
opportunities for researchers to access participants. The "old
fashioned" listserv could be an excellent resource for this.
4. Research funding opportunities will have to be creative for
Christian integrative areas of research. Yet there are grass-roots
opportunities, church-based, and large donors very interested in the
things that many Christian psychologists study: children and faith,
forgiveness, parenting and marriage, healthy sexuality, community-based
missions work, church-based interventions, humility, Christian virtues,
and more. There is the potential of creating a funding source for both
research and community action projects in Christian psychology through a
donors source. This would require a small team of people willing to
invest in creating this resource
Make Christian Psychology Applied
Christian integration needs to be more applied. A student of mine
recently stated that Christian psychology organizations are comprised
largely of older Caucasian men discussing issues no one else cares about
but them. There is a threat that Christian psychology becomes an
irrelevant odd society of people who only serve each other. The history
of Christian integration has largely focused on philosophical and
theological issues that are most relevant to their own subculture to try
and create a kind of "systematic theology" for psychology.
This is not the future.
While philosophy and theology will always be an important minor
note in the field, the major melody needs to focus on things relevant to
the field of psychology, Christendom and society. Students and early
career practitioners are interested in doing acts of great service,
addressing important cultural problems, and pushing the envelope of
change in the world. If Christian professional organizations would
instead organize opportunities for service such as international mental
health mission trips to serve mental health or training needs, bring
groups together to develop important resources for communities in need,
and connecting those in need with those who have resources they would
become more relevant than their secular counterparts. I propose a
reversal of priorities in all of the Christian professional
organizations.
The first priority should be acts of service to people and
communities in need facilitated through the organization. This can be as
diverse as the needs and resources of the organization but could involve
partnerships with developing psychology internationally, creating
effective resources for churches and communities, networks of believers
in prayer and Christian discipline for the needs of mental health
providers and practices, developing primary healthcare clinics within
churches, and providing case management for people in communities that
fall through the cracks of the mental healthcare system. I believe this
would gain the attention of the larger mental healthcare and psychology
profession and Christian psychology could be a leader in the field in
service. This could be a non-profit outreach type of entity.
The second priority would be continuing education to equip
Christian mental health professionals and professionals in life-long
training for excellence. There is a place for journal articles,
conferences and local continuing education events to equip
professionals. I believe there are two areas of focus for continuing
education that would be further the field in the next decade. First,
there are thousands of Christians who have no training whatsoever in
Christian integration. They did not attend Christian colleges and
haven't read the literature. Or they haven't kept up with the
current literature and are vulnerable to mistakes especially in high
risk situations like treating people who struggle with their faith and
same sex attraction. I suggest that Christian psychologists organize an
online (easily accessed) "mini-Christian integration" course
for professionals in the field already to give them the essentials of
the field that have developed in the last half-century. Second, the
mental health fields need to have ready and high quality continuing
education in addressing important issues relevant to integration. All
mental health providers need to be well-versed in addressing diversity
with clients. All educators need to understand the needs of students of
various faith traditions, and train their students in issues of faith.
Researchers need to be trained in assessing and studying religious
variables. The Christian integration community has much to offer here
and can create continuing education for clinicians, academics or
researchers of any faith that need this training.
The third priority would be to continue to provide a network of
professionals who support one another and organically create
professional works through their association. The warmth of the
relationships that people experience through professional associations
translates into the society through which other priorities are met.
Christian Psychology Goes Global
Partnerships between American and International Christian
psychologists are crucial. Some forward-thinking leaders have been
involved in creating and maintaining relationships with leaders in
international settings in psychology. The rise of the middle class in
developing countries indicates that there will be increased need for
psychologists to address needs around the world. Even countries that are
not Christian often have more in common with Christian psychology than
secular psychology due to values similarities rooted in religious
orthodoxy. I believe there is a one-decade opportunity to position
Christian psychologists as consultants in the development of
international psychology. After that time most international academic
programs and clinicians will become true professional
"siblings" in most areas. Western psychologists should not
plan for the current state of psychology to continue indefinitely with
Western ideas and values leading. I believe within a decade there will
be leading centers of research in psychology based in countries that are
just beginning to develop psychology today like Brazil, China, the
Middle Eastern countries, and India. Before I retire I suspect that the
theories, research and ideas in psychology from these countries will
become main-stream in American psychology as well.
I propose that all Christian psychologists should network with
similar professionals from another country and create online social
network forums to exchange ideas, whether academic ideas, research ideas
or clinical ideas. These forums can become the basis for clinical,
outreach, or academic projects. Wouldn't it be great to have an
international guest speaker in a class on Skype? I believe clinicians
would highly value consulting with a professional from another culture
when a clinical situation arises and help clinicians think "outside
the box" on client problems, as well as the obvious consultation
when working with immigrants in psychotherapy. To adjust to various
technology issues around the world I suggest that the "tried and
true" listserv concept would be the place to start with, as well as
forums like Facebook. This can take some time to develop and be
perceived as worthwhile. Yet psychologists and mental healthcare
providers who are ahead of the curve on this will find themselves
well-adjusted as the globalization of psychology and the mental health
professions arrives by 2022.
Technology 2022
Technology brings opportunity. As I surfed websites from the last
couple of years with experts on the future of technology I am struck by
how biology, environment and healthcare are the focus of the future. If
psychology is not seen as relevant to these areas of living then the
entire field of psychology, much less integration, will have a difficult
time remaining relevant. Those areas are not areas that have been a
focus for Christian integrationists in the past. It's time to catch
on. One exception is Nootropics (using medication like Ritalin for
enhancement, not treatment), an area that Christian psychologists need
to be ready to address in terms of ethics and practicalities.
There are high school students who are using technology to invent,
creating truly cutting edge medical breakthroughs, and creating simple
DNA testing laboratories (see Google Lab Science Fair for high school
students). Other sciences are moving ahead because the youngest
generation can access it. Psychology and mental health research is not
easily accessed by young geniuses. The "smartest kids" are
drawn into medical research, astronomy or physics. For psychology, and
especially integration of psychology and Christianity, to advance there
is a severe need for projects that young "whippersnappers" can
engage in of interest to them to solve problems they understand. There
are problems relevant to our field that need to be well-defined by
Christian psychologists. They include just a few of my own ideas, some
of which have a good research "start" and some are unstudied:
1) Addressing problems of morality and sexuality. Can morality have
a place in a society in terms of sexual constraints? What are the
psychological, health and spiritual effects of "hooking up"
casual sexual relationships on individuals and society? What factors
predict young people gaining perspective of their lives a decade in the
future and delayed gratification for the sake of their future family?
How does attachment play 'a role in premarital sexuality?
2) Addressing diversity issues around religion. What religious
ideas relate to bigotry, racism and hatred? What religious ideas relate
to a healthy multi-religious society? Are there education and persuasion
interventions that religious groups can take to prevent cross-religious
violence or other problems ?
3.) The biological bases of religiosity. Is there a lack of a
"level playing field" in terms of religiosity? What biological
factors seem to predict the ability to understand, engage in, and
practice a religion? How does religion work in the minds of young
children and the elderly or brain-disordered ?
4) What are the effects of religion on healthcare and prevention?
The very beginning of research on religion and healthcare indicates that
in general religious people are more healthy. But why? This leads to
many questions about the mechanisms, practices, beliefs, social factors
and other unknown factors that predict better health in people who are
religious. In a global society with sky-rocketing healthcare costs,
prevention and management of health problems through natural mechanisms
such as religious ideas and organizations could be a true solution to a
global problem. I believe young people could be equipped to answer this
question.
5) What are the effects of religion on marriages and families?
While young researchers may not be able to easily engage in studying
psychotherapy, they can study people and religion in marriages, families
and other contexts. There are few researchers who examine religion and
parenting, marriage, remarriage, or families helping dependent elderly
family members. There is considerable pressure on families as they are
increasingly smaller in most societies but still have to care for one
another throughout the lifecycle. Christian psychologists and young
researchers can tackle these questions and capture some of the brightest
minds in America to study psychology.
I propose that Christian psychologists partner with business
entities to encourage promising young high school and college students
to study psychology and religion with awards in forums such as the
Google Science Fair.
Psychology has tended to be technophobic, avoiding risk, and
lacking foresight in entrepreneurial opportunities with technology.
While the business fields have been on the cutting edge of technology,
mental health practice has lagged behind ... even more behind than
general health practice in most settings. Within 10 years everyone under
40 will have grown up with a constant presence of the web, cell phones,
texting, blogs and wireless access in their lives. The entire field of
psychology can become irrelevant to half of the world without full
technological revolution. This is a threat to the very concept of mental
health practice if psychologists and. mental health practitioners insist
on maintaining the 50 minute meeting in an office as the primary applied
setting for mental health practice. Practicing psychologists should be
ready for the online patient. Even popular magazines (Woman's Day
July 2011) are recommending getting some "coaching" For
life's problems through online contact with a mental health
provider. While ethics are important, irrelevance is a serious threat to
psychology in general. Christian integrationists can take the lead on
these issues in professional forums, staying on the edge of what is
coming in the future or be left behind.
In conclusion, I believe there is hope for the future of Christian
integration. There are many opportunities and people with great minds
and willing hearts to take this community into the next decade and
beyond. I hope that this special issue will be a starting point for the
ideas that will translate into action and steer the ship of Christian
integration forward towards a new decade of solving problems, educating
well, excellent application for global change with the seamless use of
technology as a tool.
Correspondence concerning this article should he addressed to
Jennifer S. Ripley, Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.),
Regent University, 1000 Regent University Dr., CRB 161, Virginia Beach,
VA 23161. E-mail: jennrip@regent.edu
Jennifer S. Ripley
Regent University
Author Information
RIPLEY, JENNIFER, S. Address: Regent University, 1000 Regent
University Dr, Virginia Beach VA 23464. Title: Professor of Psychology.
Degree: Ph.D. Areas of Marriage and religion. forgiveness.