Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 23, 1994 TAG: 9408230062
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The father of psychoanalysis - who concluded that belief in God was an impediment to good mental health - now has professional offspring who are incorporating treatment of the spirit with that of the mind and body in mental-health care.
While there has been a "traditional animosity" between psychiatry and religion, says licensed professional counselor Ken Stifler, that is no longer necessarily the case.
In fact, "one of the positive attributes of psychiatry is that it is easier to try innovative approaches" to treatment - such as the integration of faith - than in some other branches of medical science, said John P. Todd, a licensed clinical psychologist and director of clinical services at Lewis-Gale Psychiatric Center.
There is still a recognition that it can be mentally unhealthy to be "too dependent" on religion, but the American Psychiatric Association accepts the validity of religion-based therapy.
And today, Todd, Stifler and the rest of the staff of the New Hope Christian Therapy program at Lewis-Gale Psychiatric Center are part of a growing cadre of self-professed Christians who are dedicated to using their professional skills in a religious atmosphere.
James Sholes, chief executive officer of Lewis-Gale Hospital, brought the idea of a Christian-based therapy program with him when he came to Salem from a similar post in West Virginia. While acknowledging it fills a niche in a comprehensive marketing program, staff members insist the creation of New Hope is not just a route to more profits for the center but a much-needed alternative method of treatment.
Though Christian-based mental-health therapy isn't new to the Roanoke Valley, the New Hope program is the only one to have in-patient hospitalization facilities. Participants stay in segregated living quarters, but share the gymnasium, weight room, therapy rooms and cafeteria with those in secular care.
Less than six months old, New Hope can accommodate up to 18 in-patients at a time. The program already is drawing referrals from other professional counseling organizations and some area pastors.
One such referral was "Heather," a 30-year-old former day-care worker who was being treated at Associates in Cognitive Therapy Services.
Heather, whose therapists insisted she not use her real name for this interview, had just begun therapy for depression when she was fired from her job at a Christian day-care center. Her boss was unsympathetic to her pleas for time to improve her job performance as she was receiving treatment, she said, and Heather began to "think suicidal thoughts."
Her counselor urged her to go from his office straight into the in-patient program at Lewis-Gale, but Heather wanted to wait long enough to return home to pack and tell her husband.
"I was a little nervous about how my parents would react to what they would call a `nervous breakdown.' ... There is a stigma of what other people will think. They say, `Why not just give it over to the Lord?' I just told them I had been praying every day for three years for the Lord to help me through this. I was sure he was listening, but I needed something concrete, something structural. I finally realized praying may have led me to this [program]. God may have been telling me, `you need help. These are people who can help.'''
Heather chose to participate in the New Hope program rather than secular treatment once her husband drove her to Lewis-Gale.
Heather is now in the process of getting a divorce. She believes her husband's manipulative, controlling and abusive behavior contributed to her suicidal condition. Though she admits three miscarriages, the death of a sibling and other factors contributed to her state of mind, she says her marriage was the most significant single factor.
"It's tough, while you're recuperating, to go through a separation, too," Heather said. "I'm on a roller coaster. Yesterday I was down, today I'm fine."
Divorce was contrary to her upbringing and the teachings of the church she then belonged to. "I always thought it was a sin and I had to deal with that. ... [but] I knew I couldn't go back into that relationship and stay alive."
She said her husband had an affair while she was hospitalized that cemented her resolve to divorce. "One of the things I was taught here was to look into Jesus' eyes and see what he'd do. He would not want me to be abused or possessed. He wants to love me with the kind of love I had never experienced before I came in here."
Some of that Christian instruction came from Carol Penick, the program's coordinator of pastoral care activities and a licensed Southern Baptist minister.
Penick, who has master's degrees in divinity and educational psychology, leads twice-weekly worship services and daily Bible study sessions for the program's patients. The program is nondenominational, and staff members represent a range of other Christian churches including Methodist, Presbyterian and Disciples of Christ.
Other staff include psychiatrists Dr. Richard P. Leggett and Dr. John S. Deverter, co-medical directors, as well as registered nurse Gail C. Minter, who serves as program coordinator.
Patients often don't know each others' religious preferences, Penick said, and she tries to avoid getting into discussions of the doctrines that separate churches and focuses on central, basic Christian beliefs. For the most part, that means keeping the group religious experience concentrated on the Gospels, she said.
A recent Bible study, for instance, asked patients to consider the story in Luke about the "sinful woman" who anointed Jesus' feet with her tears and perfume while he was visiting a rich man's house. After reading the passage, Penick asked the group participants - five women and one man - to answer a series of questions about the woman: What risks did she take for her faith? How did others feel about her? Where did her courage come from?
Bible study is designed, Penick explained, to fit into the overall scheme of psychological education the patients are getting during their stay at the center. Similar themes are explored in a daily radio program Penick produces with therapist Ken Stifler. It is aired at 10 a.m. Monday through Friday on Christian radio station WWWR (910-AM).
None of the religious instruction is intended to get patients to change their religious beliefs or affiliations, staff members said, so long as that affiliation is not seen as contributing to the patients' psychological problems. An exception, for instance, would come in a case where a patient was the subject of sexual or other abuse from a pastor.
Patients' pastors are encouraged to come and learn about the program and participate in it, Todd said. Some are happy to do that, while others are less sure, he admitted.
In Heather's case, while she says she was never encouraged to change church or beliefs, she did come to a new understanding of Christianity that led her to leave her former congregation. Her previous pastor, Heather said, spent most of his visitation time warning about the dangers of listening to the advice of a woman minister - Penick. "That was pure hogwash. She did a lot more for me than he ever did."
One former patient complained that the religious approach at New Hope "tends to be real `holy roller.' Nothing is provided for Christians of calmer persuasions."
Todd said he believes that is "a misinterpretation of what the program is really about. People who tune into the radio program can get an example of the kind of work done in the New Hope program. I think it's anything but `holy roller.'''
Heather said she was encouraged to revisit her church, to search the Scriptures and her own heart to discover the truth. "I did change some of my beliefs," she said, "but that was OK with me. I like this belief better. There is more comfort, more compassion, more love."
After experiencing panic attacks during services at her church, Heather said, she decided to visit other congregations. She later joined the church where Penick's husband is pastor.
Now she's telling anyone she thinks might benefit from the program about New Hope.
"This is the best thing that ever happened to me, other than accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as my savior."
(Information on the New Hope Christian Therapy Program is available by calling 776-1100 or 1-800-541-9992. An open house for clinicians and ministers will be held Sept. 27 from 9-11 a.m. and 2-4 p.m.)
by CNB