Understanding Spiritual Evil in the Context of Psychotherapy

Some time ago, my wife and I attended a dinner that was hosted by the Association of Mormon Counselors and Psychotherapists (AMCAP) in connection with its semi-annual conference. We were seated with a psychiatrist, three clinical psychologists and a social worker. We shared several minutes of conversation getting to know one another. It was evident that they all loved their profession. They practiced it in a manner that was informed by their belief in God and energized by their testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Several expressed gratitude for AMCAP and the values espoused by the Association. As the spouse of an AMCAP member I was glad to be with so many professionals and to have the opportunity to ask them a question that had been on my mind for some time, knowing that I would not have to worry whether they were listed as preferred providers with my health insurance company.

At what I thought was an appropriate time I asked my question, “How do you deal with the problem of unclean spirits in your practices?” Quiet came to the table almost immediately. One of the psychologists looked puzzled and asked me to say more. When it became clear to them that they had not misunderstood my question, their responses came quickly. The overarching conclusion common to all the responses was that this was a subject outside the domain of their common discourse and professional worldview. It held no prominent place within their practices. I was surprised by their resolute opinions that there was no such problem.

My understanding of LDS doctrine has led me to believe that this problem is near the core of many issues addressed by counselors and therapists. I believe all counselors and therapists are familiar with the effects wrought by evil spirits, but they have failed to attribute those effects to their actual sources, which are the activities of such spirits in the lives of their clients. This failure may be caused either by an incomplete understanding of doctrine or by a failure to notice and respond in a manner that would confirm the doctrine to them. In the first section I will set out their responses to my question and put them in the context of the scriptures and the teachings of Brigham Young, a prophet who was raised near the roots of Mormonism, and grounded upon those roots, vigorously taught the saints on this subject in the isolated, but religiously open environment of nineteenth century Utah Territory. Then in the second section I will address what I believe are some of the implications of this material for LDS therapists and counselors.

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Folders tend to grow deeper and deeper. As soon as we have more than a handful of notions, or (beware!) more than one hierarchical level of notions, it gets hard for most brains to build a mental model of that information architecture. While it is common to have several hierarchy levels in applications and file systems, they actually don’t work very well. We are just not smart enough to deal with notional pyramids. Trying to picture notional systems with several levels is like thinking three moves ahead in chess. Everybody believes that they can, but only a few skilled people really can do it. If you doubt this, prove me wrong by telling me what is in each file menu in your browser…

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