Guarding our minds

In Resisting Therapy Culture (IVP, 224 pp.), physician and writer Matthew Loftus tackles a subject close to his heart: how the phenomenon of therapy culture is creeping from the margins into the mainstream of church life, and what can be done about it. This isn’t a book denigrating good therapy but rather about safeguarding the integrity of the gospel and reminding believers of the church’s mission to those who suffer, both inside and outside the church. It’s about looking at what happens when clinically therapeutic endeavors escape reasonable boundaries and become “a lens by which we view everything around us.”

Loftus lays the groundwork for his concerns about the dangers of pop psychology (therapy culture), focusing on its key aspects and impact on the church. Influencers and social media users throw around psychological terms without a clinical understanding of illnesses, medicalizing normal emotions and feelings and leading to a person’s identity becoming entangled with perceived symptoms and self-diagnosis. There’s a loss of agency, of control, and a learned helplessness that compounds suffering. Therapy culture contributes to the faulty perception “this is who I am, and will always be,” leaving little space for a theological understanding of suffering, biblical principles, and hope of healing. Throughout the book, Loftus makes the case that when the church does what it is called to do—administering the sacraments, proclaiming the gospel, worshipping and communing with Christ—people flourish.

Loftus draws parallels between ­mental health and physical health. Psychology may be an imprecise science with subjective measures of improvement, but mental illnesses are real, deserving the same compassion as physical ailments. As someone who’s been a patient himself and benefited from healthy therapy and psychiatry, he notes the importance of placing hope in Christ, taking responsibility, and seeking social connection and support. He discusses what works effectively, and doesn’t, for treating mental illness, and continues to emphasize individual agency while acknowledging the complex array of factors that contribute to illness. Each chapter ends with a summary of salient points, helpful for reference and for jump-starting meaningful conversations about the subject matter.

This book is worth a spot on the shelf for several reasons: for its honesty about trending therapy culture and its lies, for the education on mental health and wellness from a biblical worldview, and maybe especially for the emphasis Loftus puts on the importance of what he calls the “good enough church.” The insights into mental health and overall flourishing hopefully encourage readers to be that church—a place and people of hope, accountability, safety, and so many other things. As Loftus points out, therapeutic techniques and medication may be helpful, but they can’t do what God’s grace can—make a person whole.