truthseaker

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Everything posted by truthseaker

  1. I said it was unethical for a bishop to counsel couples about their marriage, which I stand by. I said it was unethical for a Bishop to counsel members about problems in their lives, which I stand by. Its fine for a bishop to tell a church member to pray about their problems, but anything above that, in my opinion is unethical.
  2. Thanks, you must understand that is a very fine line to walk, and a bishop is not trained to see the signs of someone who needs professional help, not everyone who needs counselling comes out and asks for it.
  3. If that is your viewpoint on that comment then I find that extremely sad and very unethical.
  4. I'd really like it if you would define it for me, the LDS view of what counselling means.
  5. A joke is very well welcomed at this point in the current discussion!
  6. Exactly, bishops should not counsel their members, they are not qualified to do so. A counsellor, a psychologist a psychiatrist is. Or at the very least in an emergency situation a doctor.
  7. I was responding to Just A Guy who said It’s interesting to me how many therapists decry the power LDS clergy hold over the lives of their congregants, but then demand the right to exercise that exact same power over their clients, and with far less oversight. This is not what therapy is about at all. Therapy is about giving the client the power to make their own decisions and choose what is best for them. I nor any therapist I know 'exercises hold power' over their clients. I have however, counselled many clients who are taking their power back from a religious organisation which has had a very negative detrimental effect on their lives and mental and emotional well being. The Bottom line is: A bishop is not a medical health professional. He has no real training in marriage counselling, trauma counselling, suicide counselling, depression counselling, crisis counselling, sexual abuse counselling, physical abuse counselling etc etc. He should therefore make NO recommendations whatsoever on how anyone should receive treatment. Its unethical
  8. This sounds nice in the abstract, except that other posts suggest you take a very expansive definition of “counseling”. I stand by everything I have said. I don't suggest any underlying agenda in anything I have said. “my clients have to quit listening to their bishops, quit listening to their parents, quit listening to their closest friends and listen exclusively to ME” I have never met a qualified therapist who has that attitude, to do so would be highly unethical. Wise mental health professionals realize that healing isn’t a one-man show. My clients support structure is of great value to their recovery. A bishop is not however a mental health professional and should never act or behave as such. It’s interesting to me how many therapists decry the power LDS clergy hold over the lives of their congregants, but then demand the right to exercise that exact same power over their clients, and with far less oversight. This is not what therapy is about at all. Therapy is about giving the client the power to make their own decisions and choose what is best for them. I nor any therapist I know 'exercises hold power' over their clients. I have however, counselled many clients who are taking their power back from a religious organisation which has had a very negative detrimental effect on their lives and mental and emotional well being.
  9. This is the kind of unethical repercussions of bishops making referrals that I'm concerned about. I don't know what the policy is in your country, but in Australia if you get a referral from your doctor every Australian is entitled to 10 free sessions with a medical health professional per year. With these clients I always give them an extra 2 sessions at my cost so they can come and see me once a month.
  10. There is no problem with someones church paying for counselling sessions, but ethically the referral needs to come from a doctor, to make sure everything is above board and non biased.
  11. This situation is more about getting financial help to pay for counselling, they have already decided that they need the counselling. Asking your church for financial help is fine, but I strongly believe the referral should be coming from a doctor, then the church can pay for those sessions if they want to help the member. The bigger issue is with the bishop doing the counselling himself.
  12. Exactly you should not go to your spiritual leader for a referral for a mental health professional, they are not qualified to make that referral, you should go to a doctor.
  13. I'm saying they should not abuse that authority, and offering counselling when you are not qualified to do so is just that, abusing your spiritual authority over another.
  14. Thank you, I'm actually a psychologist with an active counselling practice so I do have a very strong opinion on this issue.
  15. But a bishop is in a position of spiritual authority over these people, it is unethical to offer advice on their personal lives (marriage or otherwise) from a counselling perspective, its very different than talking to a friend about your problems. I understand that is your culture but it invites a lot of problems, problems that could be avoided.
  16. I understand, I think you are missing my point. The point is no one should be going for counselling or referrals for counselling to someone not qualified to make that judgement. A Bishop is not qualified to counsel people or refer people for further counselling to anyone else. He shouldn't be involved in it at all.
  17. That is counselling though (bolded section above), and potentially very damaging to the people involved if not done by a trained professional. Very unethical
  18. I must be reading this wrong, surely bishops (who from what I understand are just members in good standing with the church and have a bishop 'calling', certainly not qualified counsellors) are not counselling sexual abuse/assault victims. These people need specialised counselling. Actually anyone who needs counselling for anything needs a professional (be it marriage issues/personal issues/depression etc), not an 'bank manager or similar' with a 'calling'. Im horrified if this is the case.
  19. Just realised how old this thread is, sorry to post on here, I didn't mean to, have deleted my comment as I don't think its appropriate
  20. Thanks, everything does seem to be coming back to that. Who the LDS church thinks holds the authority to act for Jesus Christ on earth (obviously they think. its them). Its very interesting. I dare you to go into an evangelical church on a Sunday morning and say that they don't have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion because they aren't LDS, you'd get lynched!
  21. I'm a psychologist so I look at this differently from you. But I think its totally cool that's how you make it work for you! I personally don't think feelings are not a good indicator of truth and I doubt God is going to show up on my door and say 'yep this is all true' lol. The human mind can see truth where is thinks it should be, where it wants it to be. In short its not recommended to trust your feelings alone when trying to ascertain truth, because if you want it to be true, you brain/emotional response, signs you think you see or do not see, will tell you it is.
  22. But many churches believe the holy spirt is a full time companion of the member once they have received it. So LDS don't believe members from those other churches have the Holy Spirit as a constant companion. You need to be a member of the LDS church to have the holy spirit as a constant companion?
  23. Isn't all Devine revelation written down by men in the end. For example, weather or not you agree with the outcomes of the early church council meetings, they can claim the same thing, divine revelation, then they wrote it down. The Koran claims the same thing, the OT and NT of the Bible claims the same thing, the Book of Mormon claims the same thing. Divine revelation can be whatever anyone says it is, no one can prove otherwise so it doesn't really speak concrete authority to me. They can't all be right so using Devine Revelation as evidence of truth is not really enough for me. I need something else to back it up, like prophesies that came true etc
  24. @Sunday21 @bytebear @Vort @DoctorLemon @Jane_Doe One more question if I may bother you all again please. If the LDS church believe they are the only true church on the earth, and only LDS baptism is legitimate in the eyes of God, does that mean they also believe no members from other church's can have the gift of the Holy Spirit? I mean does the LDS church teach that only LDS members can have the gift of the holy spirit/ghost