ANXIOUS CHRISTIANS:
Psychological problems and Christian faith
By Kenneth Redgrave . SPCK. 179 pages
ISBN 0 281 05507 6
Many people, including Christians, have serious doubts about counselling. I welcome this book and recommend it warmly because it is so readable, and so wise and gentle in treating all the topics it covers.
Mr. Redgrave has worked as a counsellor in many settings and points out how important training and knowledge is: but he wears his own learning lightly. He is evidently Bible-based, while at the same time explaining the best practice of today without any psychobabble or the bullying which seems to creep in to many Christian books on anxiety. He takes 'cases' - making the point that these are composites, and rendered unrecognisable for good professional reasons, and through them covers many vital topics such as attachment, eating distress and panic attacks. He covers many important matters in this way - shyness and inferiority; obsessions and indecisiveness; problems with children and adolescents and family issues.
He shows awareness on issues such as physical illness like thyroid or PMT symptoms.
His great achievement - while being balanced both as a Christian teacher and as one who believes that learning is what the experience of counselling is about - is to make this an easy read. It is a special skill to get through to the reader without raising his hackles or being obscure and over-complicated. His aim is to show how help can be found for anxious Christians, which will enable them to have what he calls a training in godliness, referring to Paul's advice to Timothy. I think he has succeeded well in making help more welcome from well-trained counsellors, and removed many layers of prejudice.
Gaius Davies,
retired consultant psychiatrist,
Beckenham
