"I've been to see counsellors, dug up all my issues, talked about them, and then at the end of the session, I've been left not knowing what to do with them (the issues raised during the session)....

I've then had to spend weeks burying them again, and I'm still no better off for seeing the therapist in the first place. I wish I'd found you sooner!", said one client.

Here at Christian Counselling and Therapy, the people who come to see us, tell us about their experiences.

Obviously we cannot and do not discuss names and details of clients.

What we can tell you, is that the creator of Christ-Mediated Integrative Therapy, heard the same stories over and over again.

"I'm sick of going to see a counsellor or a therapist, and coming out of the session, feeling worse than when I went in!", said another client.

"I don't want to take drugs that have vicious side effects. Yes, I want to get better, but I don't want to get fat or have my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, because my mouth is so dry!"*

"I know I've got an eating disorder, but I'm not stupid, I know what is going on! I just cannot control what is happening to me. The problem is the drugs aren't working, and I've tried all of them!...

What's worse than this, is that nobody seems to be able to tell me, just what exactly I need to do, to get better!"*

"I've been in here for 5 weeks and you're the first person, who has given me any explanation of what is going on or any suggestions that work, of how to get out of this situation. They just give me drugs to knock me out and constantly watch me to stop me killing myself!"*

*(Patients in various Mental Health Hospitals)

Sound familiar?

There are some golden rules that some professionals are following, that are creating a problem:

"Never believe what a patient says", seems to be the unwritten law in the NHS

"You are not allowed to tell the client how to solve their problem", is a rule, or should we say, a commandment, in the counselling profession

We at Christian Counselling and Therapy do not agree with those laws.

We have recently heard of a lady who has been in weekly psychotherapy for fifteen, yes 15 years, and she is still not better! We are sure that the Therapist likes driving round in their new Mercedes!

In psycho-analytical psychotherapy, the counsellor will not even speak to you! You are the one who is supposed to do ALL of the talking!

Now we, at Christian Counselling and Therapy, believe that all of this is not right.

We believe that there is a very quick AND very effective way to get better.

Let us begin by telling you how it all started:

Shortly after  graduating as a State-Registered Dietitian, Nigel Waite worked in an Eating Disorder Unit in Surrey. Here Patients with an Eating Disorder, such as Anorexia, Bulimia or Body Image  Disorder, were admitted to the hospital under a Consultant Psychiatrist, for treatment to help them get better.

What he saw amazed him. The Eating Disorder patients generally refused to eat.

"Duh!", you may say. "It's an Eating disorder unit! That's why they are there!"

All true dear friends, but they continued to do so for days, even weeks, despite the painful consequences of not eating, such as hunger, weakness, feeling cold, having no energy, no patience, no ability to concentrate or to think straight, and so on.

Often this starvation, was combined with  laxatives and / or vomiting and / or excessive exercise, until they became so dangerously ill, that the Medical Staff intervened.

At this point the Eating disorder patient was detained, (and sometimes restrained), under section 3 of  the Mental Health Act. This means that an eating disorder patient, at this point, could be force-fed (i.e. made to eat).

So they were fed by a Naso-gastric tube, (a tube through the nose to the tummy), until they gained sufficient weight.

During their stay in Hospital, most of the Eating Disorder patients would  receive such help as Art Therapy, Counselling, Dietetic Advice, Drama Therapy, Music Therapy and Psycho-therapy.

When the Consultant Psychiatrist deemed it appropriate, the eating disorder patients  were then discharged from hospital.

Great sigh of relief. "Phew! Thank Goodness that's over!", you say.

Sorry. No!

And this is the part that Nigel found amazing and unbelievable.

When the Eating Disorder patients were discharged, they then lost weight again and were admittted to Hospital again!

What?!!

But they were "treated" by highly qualified, highly trained and you might add, highly paid staff!

Yep!

"But they're not better!", you say.

Nope!

Now weight loss applies to Annorexic patients, but the same was true for those patients with Bulimia, Compulsive Eating, Binge Eating Disorder, Body Image Disorder. They were readmitted to hospital time and time again! Even those that managed to stay out of hospital were not truly better. They were just not unwell enought to merit them going into hospital. It was a real canundrum.

"Yes, so what you say?!", "They've all got mental health problems! They're all hopeless cases!"

That's one answer that some people believe.

We don't.

 

Listen to these quotes from Nigel Waite himself:

"One person can't make a difference!", said a respected Consultant Psychiatrist. "I don't believe you!", I said to myself.

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"These people are mentally unwell, they are never going to get better!", said another psychiatrist to me.

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"The last Consultant (Psychiatrist) I worked with, believed that people with mental health problems were aliens!", said one trainee Psychiatrist to me...

"You are joking, of course, aren't you?", I replied.  "No! He was deadly serious when he told me that!", replied the doctor to me.

Medical Science has progressed far.

We have marvellous treatments to help us to get better, faster than perhaps ever before.

Consultant Psychiatrists do a very good job seeing the work load that they have. They have a rigorous 14 years of training to help them perform the job they do.

Psychologists also have a very good training and help a lot of people. We understand that they have to get a degree in psychology and then do 3-4 years more training on top of that to be a psychologist. Again, not an easy task.

Despite all of the training that highly qualified experts have received,  the experts are only as good as their training.

Sometimes Scientists becomes unscientific and slip into a "point of view". If the work that you do fits in to that framework, then it is accepted and everybody is happy.

However sometimes someone comes along that throws that viewpoint into confusion, until it is realised that these 'renegades' are right.

Remember how the world has treated some of them? Galileo & Socrates, for example.

Remember how the world has been changed by the thoughts of  great thinkers like Isaac Newton, Michael Farraday, Albert Einstein, Nils Bohr, and so forth?