The Cross and the Couch

Mark McMinn and James Foster suggest it is important to compare carefully a psychotherapy under consideration with Christian theology. In what follows, educational psychologist Bonnidell Clouse compares the original psychotherapy, Freudian psychoanalysis, with Christian conversion. Her article is an example of how similar investigations may be made of various other psychotherapies.

Sigmund Freud is one of those few pioneers whose ideas have significantly changed the way in which we view ourselves, our families, our friends, and our world. Although not many people would be able to articulate what he actually said, Freud’s conclusions have permeated our culture and given us a vocabulary for discussing and interpreting human behavior.

When we read a novel and agree with the author that a character’s strange behavior is really an expression of an inner, unconscious need, we acknowledge the insights of Freud. If we forget an appointment and wonder if perhaps we may have wanted to forget, we are reflecting post-Freudian thought. When we awaken and wonder what our dream really meant, we are recognizing Freud’s findings that what is dreamed is only a surface manifestation of hidden urges and desires. Regression, compensation, sublimation, and rationalization are all concepts common to our vocabulary, made so by Freud.

As historian Peter Gay puts it, “Freud’s ideas … have entered the collective consciousness and become part of what most of us regard as ‘common sense.’ ” Clearly, we all owe much to Freud and his ideas. But the Christian considering psychoanalysis, a form of psychotherapy based on Freud’s theories, needs to examine Freud’s ideas more closely. Christians undergoing psychoanalysis should know realistically what to expect of it, and how its benefits compare to those of the Christian faith.

Conversion And Psychoanalysis

Those of us who have experienced the redeeming love of God know what it means to be converted. We say we have been born again, or have passed from darkness into light, or have become a new creation in Christ Jesus. Our life is changed, and everything is different than it was before. Whether our conversion was sudden and dramatic like that of the apostle Paul, or slower and deliberate like that of Nicodemus, we know that a remarkable, even exhilarating, event has taken place.

Would it have been the same had we engaged the services of a psychoanalyst? Would we have completed therapy with the same emotions, the same thoughts, the same purpose we now have as children of God?

There are several differences between psychoanalysis and Christian conversion. Psychoanalysis brings unconscious processes into consciousness, where they can be dealt with by the ego. Christian conversion brings both the unconscious and the conscious into the light of God’s Word, where they can be dealt with by an omniscient God. Psychoanalysis uses the method of free association (in which the relaxed client spontaneously says whatever comes to mind); Christian conversion uses the method of confession.

One deals with guilt feelings, the other with guilt. One provides a release from emotional tension enabling the person to come to terms with himself and with the society; the other provides a release from the power of sin enabling the person to come to terms with a holy and righteous God. One brings a cathartic release; the other brings atonement. One puts the ego in charge; the other puts Christ in charge.

Freudian Grace?

Freudian psychology and Christian theology do agree on a basic premise. Both believe the condition of the human race is one of depravity. Each person comes into the world imperfect and in need of salvation.

The concept of sin in Christian theology resembles the psychoanalytic view of irrational passions and instincts insofar as sin is caring for self more than for others. But the Christian understanding of sin goes beyond the psychoanalytic understanding of depravity. Sin is missing God’s standard of perfection as well as failing to meet society’s expectations of good conduct. The Christian knows that the purpose of life is more than learning to cope with a real world, for one can gain the whole world and lose his own soul (Matt. 16:26). The purpose of life is to have a meaningful relationship with the Creator and Redeemer, and this is possible only by salvation in Christ Jesus.

Freudian psychoanalysis condemns more than it forgives; it restricts more than it liberates. Psychoanalyst Erich Fromm put it succinctly when he wrote, “Freud’s therapeutic aim was control of instinctual drives through the strengthening of the ego … there is no place for grace” (italics added).

But without grace, where would we be? Without grace the apostle Paul could not have said of his moral and spiritual struggle, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:1–2, NIV).

Neuroses And Sin

In psychoanalysis the person comes to know the self better, and is aided in the search for better mental health. In Christian conversion the person, through Christ, comes to see the self as God would see it and is aided in the quest for spiritual well-being. Both mental health and spiritual health are preceded by anguish of the soul. Conflict occurs when people see what they are really like in comparison with what they should be and would like to be. It is conflict that brings one to the psychoanalytic couch, and it is conflict that brings one to Christ.

But in psychoanalysis the conflict is between the natural desires one is heir to and the cultural restrictions needed to assure the survival of the society. In Christian theology, the conflict is between the old nature that is sinful and the new nature that is righteous.

Both neuroses and sin produce inner turmoil, and both neuroses and sin render the person an unfinished product crying out for completion. But in psychoanalytic therapy the benefits extend only to this life, whereas in the redemption that is in Christ Jesus the benefits extend throughout eternity. An important ingredient of the Christian hope is knowing that our salvation will last forever (1 Cor. 15:19).

What Psychoanalysis Can Do

This does not mean that a person cannot benefit from psychoanalytic therapy. Psychoanalysis is especially effective with long-standing mental disorders. Unlike other treatment procedures—such as behavior modification, short-term counseling, or drug therapy—psychoanalysis is an in-depth probing of personal experiences that have rendered the person anxious, fearful, or depressed. By going to the root of the problem, as psychoanalysis does, fundamental changes in the personality can occur.

Someone who has been reared in an authoritarian home may use psychoanalysis to lighten the burden of an over-condemning conscience. And the benefits that accrue may be indirectly spiritual: One cannot be a useful servant of God or appreciate the freedoms we have in Christ while feeling apprehensive and guilty. (Younger adults, more apt to have been permissively reared, may suffer from narcissistic disorders. Psychoanalysts are adjusting their techniques to meet the needs of these more recent patients.)

Psychoanalysis is both time-consuming and expensive. Several sessions a week for three to five years is not uncommon. The cost alone may be prohibitive, so some people who would profit from analysis must resort to less costly forms of treatment. But compared to therapies that deal only with surface manifestations of long-term neuroses or promise a “quick fix,” psychoanalysis provides more lasting remediation.

Psychoanalysis, then, may help the Christian in the same ways it may help any other person. The Christian should simply recognize the limitations of psychoanalysis and not confuse its methods or results with Christian salvation.

Psychoanalysis saves people from the evil of neuroses; Christianity saves people from the evil of enmity against God. Well-being in psychoanalysis is a state of normalcy in which the unconscious, the conscious, and the conscience are all in the right relationship to each other. Well-being in Christianity is more than a regrouping of forces already present within the personality. It is being made a new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:17).

Bonnidell Clouse is professor of educational and school psychology at Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana. She discusses psychoanalysis and other psychotherapies at greater length in her Moral Development: Perspectives in Psychology and Christian Belief (Baker, 1985).

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