It's been well established the benefits of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). The way we self- talk influences our reactions to life events and our feeling about them. I have long believed that we can't control the onset of unwanted feelings, even if we are completely rational, but can modulate the length we experience these undesired feelings by CBT. If someone suddenly walked over to you at the mall, and said you look ugly, it would still briefly hurt most of our feelings, until you quickly were able to perhaps reason..."they don't know what they are talking about....who are they...they are just being mean etc."
Doesn't Christianity provide a set of self-statements, which provide beneficial CBT? In my practice, I've noticed that if people believe certain tenets of Christianity, their outlook appears more optimistic. Others can get to the same place, but the journey can be more laborious. I have observed the following.
1) Christians believe God is Sovereign and because He is, He is able to predict the future. He knows the future. In other word, you don't. Trying to predict the future often causes anxiety. It can create needless worry and often is not constructive problem solving. Anticipating and working on what you truly have control over is beneficial. Is assuming potency where, in fact, you're impotent constructive?
2) The Bible's Book of Romans promises because we live in a fallen world and because of the nature of man there will be many trials and tribulations during your life's span. Few would dispute this. It gives a person the perspective, and the self-talk to reason that suffering is to be expected and can even provide an opportunity. This is similar to the Chinese word crisis, which also means opportunity. Those with a sense of entitlement to feel good most of the time and who regard unpleasantness as unacceptable are less likely to tolerate or accept feeling badly.
3) The overriding guilt we all can feel because none of us is perfect is handled again in Romans, which tells believers, that there is no condemnation for those who believe. The believer gets the greatest gift of all a Christian can argue, the gift of grace, which is undeserved mercy. Many have difficulty truly experiencing this at an affective level, and it remains something, I observe, that's often intellectualized. If it's experienced, it gives a person the ability to better make peace with the past because helps them attenuate their guilt feelings.
4) Though life can be very hard, at the end of days a Christian can believe they will spend eternity in heaven because there will be salvation. This provides the great self- statement..."why sweat the candy bar, when at the end of days, you get the candy factory." There are few statements that can attenuate anxiety as well as that, again if you believe it. It gives a person a perspective that life will throw them curveballs, but no matter how painful it becomes, there is an unimaginable promise that awaits them.
5) Those who have established a vertical relationship with God can feel a constant source of support and love. Those who don't have this relationship wonder how anyone could derive support from something they can't see, touch, feel or smell. Of course, a Christian might point to all the beauty in nature, which surrounds them, and say, " there's God." These people have the self-verbalization even when they feel alienated by peers, that there is a constant source of unconditional love for them. Is this a beneficial delusion and can there be such a thing? Having this support system also enables them to be less desperate and needy. They don't rely only on their ever-changing peer relationships (horizontal relationships) for support.
Many have trouble answering the" why am I here," and the "what's my life's purpose" question. The Christian can say I was created to be in relationship with God, and my purpose is to love God and my neighbor. My goal in life is to do God honoring work that reflects a heart for God. Again, non-Christians can reach another answer, but have to get there a different way. For example, for years I was influenced by existentialist who thought the purpose in life was to achieve dignity by making an attempt to alleviate human suffering.
Being able to have cognitions which keep you from feeling empty and confused is helpful, wouldn't you agree?
