This week, Ben Holman is stepping in as our host at the 2024 ACBC Conference on the campus of Southwestern Theological Seminary.
Over the past couple of episodes, we have been discussing the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). If you haven’t had a chance to hear them, you can go back to listen here.
All of that has been a primer for today’s conversation. We are joined by Jenn Chen who has quite literally written the book on analyzing the DSM from a Biblical counseling standpoint. She is an ACBC Certified Counselor and the author of Biblical Counseling and Mental Disorder Diagnosis.
In this episode, Jenn helps us look closer at what some have incorrectly labeled “the bible” of mental health, the limitations of the DSM, how to guide ministry leaders on how to transform the culture of your church, and more.
Listen in!
Resources:
- (BOOK) Biblical Counseling and Mental Disorder Diagnosis
- Learn more about our 5-Project Biblical Counseling Blueprint Model™
- Explore the rest of our website – bcmnational.org
Key Takeaways
- Secular psychiatry treats symptoms. They don’t often take the time to go much deeper than getting a list of your symptoms and prescribing a medication for it. To find true healing, we have to find someone or something that will address the root cause of the issue.
- A DSM diagnosis is different from a medical condition. The DSM has many overlapping symptoms and three different clinicians may say you have three different disorders. It doesn’t differentiate between shyness and social anxiety nor does it differentiate between what is considered normal and abnormal.
- We need to ask good questions when using SoulCare. We may talk a lot about the DSM and how inaccurate it can be, but in a counseling setting it’s important that we don’t focus on putting down the DSM. Instead, we need to ask good questions about what someone has tried in the past and point them to a better way. Focus on clearly defining their issue and then direct them to a way that will address both their symptoms and the root cause.
Meet Jenn
Dr. Jenn Chen is a veteran psychologist turned biblical counselor. She is an ACBC certified counselor as well as the author of Biblical Counseling and Mental Disorder Diagnosis. Jenn has a Psy.D in Clinical Psychology and an MA in Marriage and Family Therapy. She was formally trained in psychotherapeutic evidence-based practices and held a faculty appointment as a clinical instructor at UCLA. After a life-changing encounter with biblical counseling, she returned to school for her MABC and now practices biblical counseling. She has been married to her husband, Peter, since 1996, and they cherish their son, Garret.
Meet Ben
Ben Holman is a Physician Assistant in Orthopedic Surgery, the Supervising and Lead Counselor at Biblical Counseling Ministries, and the Director of Biblical Counseling at New Castle Bible Church. Ben holds a Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling and ACBC certification. He attends New Castle Bible Church in Mackinaw, Illinois with his wife, Ailey, and their six children.
