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.