Please read Nancy Bicknells comment to the last post. 

Nancy’s response explains very well why it is damaging to a sexual assault survivor to blame the survivor for the crime against them.  Chuckles would like to add that what Nancy is referring to actually has a official name.

It’s called Secondary Wounding. Secondary Wounding  occurs when people respond to a person who has been sexually assaulted by either making the victim feel ashamed or blaming for the sexual assault. Secondary Wounding is often done by caregivers, family members, agencies, and society, the media, clergy, law enforcement, friends, etc. It is often due to the lack of understanding about the recovery process.”Secondary Wounding” can be either intentional or non-intentional.  According to numerous studies, most victims of the crime of a sexual assault reported that their secondary wounding experiences were more painful and devastating than the original assault.  Victims who are part of the IFB, who begin having flashbacks, which throws the survivors life into turmoil and makes the survivor feel as if the crime is happening over and over again. The survivor may suffer from clinical major depression, or other emotional or psychological problems as a result of the crime committed against them. The widepread IFB belief that has been long held belief the victim is sinning when the victim becomes depressed and/or has symptoms of PTSD. Much of the secondary wounding, in Chuckles opinion, done by IFB pastors, is because of Nouthetic Counseling.   Nouthetic Counseling was developed by Jay Adams. In 1970,  Jay Adams published his book, ”Competent to Counsel”. 

 All major Fundamentalist Colleges and University’s teach principals of Nouthetic Counseling to their pastoral studies students, and counseling majors as the way to deal with any problem a person who comes to them. It may, or may not be called Nouthetic Counseling, per se, in recent years fundamentalists leaders have called it “Biblical Counseling.”  The premise and way of counseling is the same. In my experience,  nouthetic counselors tend to have an unsympathetic and legalistic confrontational method of “biblical counsel.” Jay Adams Adams believes that depression is never a cause, but an effect. If this were always the case, the confrontational method of counseling would suffice. But for someone who truly suffers from clinical depression and/or PTSD as a result of the crime of sexual assault, telling them “just to get over it and get back to work” or “you are responsible for your part in this assault,” is like telling someone who is hemorrhaging to death to just quit bleeding. It isn’t helpful, it’s cruel, and it could be deadly.

This Bob Newhart skit is not too far off as to what Nouthetic Counselors are taught and practice on those who go to them for counseling.

What I am going to write next may seem  heretical to the IFB.

The Bible Does not Provide the Answer to every question or problem! GASP

Here are just a few examples of questions that cannot be answered in the Bible:

-What is the best course of treatment for childhood leukemia?

-Explanation of Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery (“Open Heart Surgery”)

-How many planets are in our solar system?

-What makes up our body chemistry?

-How should we maintain excellent dental health?

-What is a healthy body mass index

-What Diabetes is and it’s treatment.

You get the general idea?

Perhaps in another post the damaging results of Nouthetic Counseling and it’s deconstruction will be written by Chuckles.

If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual crime, it’s not your fault. You are not alone. Help is available 24/7 through the National Sexual Assault Hotlines (800.656.HOPE and online.rainn.org).