The Failure of Evangelical Mental Health Care : Treatments That Harm Women, LGBT Persons and the Mentally Ill

In the evangelical community, a variety of alternative mental health treatments--deliverance/exorcism, biblical counseling, reparative therapy and many others--have been proposed for the treatment of mentally ill, female and LGBT evangelicals. This book traces the history of these methods, focusing on the major proponents of each therapeutic system while also examining mainstream evangelical psychology. The author concludes that in the majority of cases mental disorders are blamed on two main issues--sin and demonic possession/oppression--and that as a result some communities have become a mental health underclass who are ill-served or oppressed by both alternative and mainstream evangelical therapeutic systems. He argues that the only recourse left for mentally ill, female and LGBT evangelicals is to rally for reform and increased accountability for both professional and alternative evangelical practitioners. In the evangelical community, a variety of alternative mental health treatments--deliverance/exorcism, biblical counseling, reparative therapy and many others--have been proposed for the treatment of mentally ill, female and LGBT evangelicals. This book traces the history of these methods, focusing on the major proponents of each therapeutic system while also examining mainstream evangelical psychology-- Deliverance movement: history and foundational assumptions -- The complementary mental health care of charismatics: from the Sandfords to Sozo -- Mission without mercy: mercy ministries and deliverance -- Jay Adams: the beginnings of evangelical anti-psychiatry and the demonization of the mentally ill -- Biblical counseling: the second and third generations -- Patriarchal counseling -- Evangelicals and ex-gays: the failure of praying the gay away -- Integrationism and the popularizers -- Conclusion: Evangelicals and mental illness. John Weaver. Includes bibliographical references and index.