Why Catholic Therapy?

It seems that therapy has become the new vogue activity for our day and age. The American Psychiatric Association states that nearly half of American households have had at least one member seek mental health resources in the past decade, and that number is only increasing. But what exactly is therapy? Part of the answer to that question lies in better understanding what a person’s intention is when seeking out therapy in the first place. In a society that is becoming increasingly isolated, people are yearning for a space to share themselves and seek to be understood. Therapy provides a human connection that we are starving for in a day of digital relationships where we can share ourselves to the masses on social media platforms yet struggle to ever feel truly and intimately known.

Therapy is a space to vulnerably bring forth the wounds and brokenness that we all acquire as a result of our lived experiences and seek healing to live a happier and flourishing life. An analogy we can use to better grasp mental health is to relate it to the spectrum of physical health. To define a person as either healthy or not would be a limited understanding of health itself. We all fall somewhere on a continuum, and though we may not be bedridden or visibly sick, it’s likely that each one of us could have more optimal health. Moreover, if small things go untreated, they have the potential to become big things. The same is true of our mental health. You may not have a serious diagnosis such as bipolar or a personality disorder, but the average person is familiar with variations of depression, anxiety, and even past experiences of different types of trauma that color their daily lives. Left to themselves, these things affect how we view ourselves, how we interact with others – especially those closest to us, and ultimately the way that we live day-to-day which becomes the trajectory for the rest of our lives. Mental health issues, regardless of how big or small, can be addressed and improved and move us further on the continuum towards health. Therapy seeks to do just that.  

But why seek a Catholic therapist in particular? Is there a difference that is significant enough to warrant seeking it out specifically? I would argue that therapy approached through the Catholic understanding is so much more than preferential, but is in fact a game-changer. It’s not simply a matter of being drawn to a certain modality of therapy over another. Rather, it is a worldview that completely changes one’s understanding of therapy, the process, and the outcome. The Catholic therapist recognizes and addresses the tension of seemingly opposing forces - we live in the material world yet are created for eternity, we are both body and mind, seek the good yet face evil externally as well as in our own internal distortions. By recognizing that these realities co-exist, the Catholic therapist can address both and wed them together instead of reducing the client to one or the other - seeking neither to deny our humanity and over-spiritualize our struggles or, conversely, deny our spirit and seek finite solutions.  

The Catholic approach believes that Christ can enter into our brokenness and transform it. By first addressing the practical reality that our struggles are very real and affect us in various ways, we can then expand that to invite the light of Christ to enter in. Along with it can follow clarity, peace, and grace. The struggle may still exist, but one is no longer shackled by it. A person can begin to make sense of it as it relates to their life in the here and now as well as their eternal salvation. God can redeem our suffering. With this fundamental truth in mind, a Catholic therapist works to aid this process and in doing so allows for true healing. By fully integrating a person body and spirit, freedom follows.

The Catholic therapist understands that we have a Creator. By seeking His wisdom and guidance, we work in accordance with the way He designed us, namely by recognizing that each person is made for relationship. Instead of viewing suffering as an evil to be avoided and working to immediately placate it by reducing symptoms, the Catholic therapist gets to the heart of the matter. By providing a safe relationship, the Catholic therapist can boldly enter into the suffering with a Client. In doing so, their suffering unites that person closer to Christ and, though painful, gives themselves and Christ the time and space to understand and heal their wounds. By leading the Client with knowledge of the human person and psychology, but also informed by the wisdom of the faith, the Catholic therapist can treat the root rather than just the symptoms, and in doing so, help the person to be made new.