I teach meditation as an adjunct therapy for mood disorders, and I get a surprising amount of pushback from a sizeable group of people. Many of these people have a strong faith in God and are skeptical of therapies that we in mental health see as only helpful.

At the root of this tuning out from much of what psychology simply assumes is that too many in the field look for causes of mental stress in family relationships. They also come very close to pathologizing those whose lives are guided by their faith.

Yet for many in the group turned off from the more secular take on therapy, family and faith are sources of real strength and positive mental health, and any attempt to cast them as negative rightly falls on deaf ears.

The result is that many turn away from both traditional talk therapy and more recently promoted therapies like meditation.

Consider psychotherapy. Since Freud, a dysfunctional family has been assumed, and therapists spend countless hours digging for demons that for many just don’t exist. Freudian psychotherapy has fallen from favor, replaced by things like cognitive-based therapy, but too many therapists still begin with the premise that the development of mental illness must be forged in a poor family dynamic. This flies in the face of psychiatry’s assumptions that mental illness is biologically based and best treated through medication.

I’ve had several hospitalizations for bipolar disorder and every time I’ve sat with a new psychologist they’ve immediately began digging around for developmental problems between me and my parents. I’ve always refused to participate in this excavation because my childhood was near idyllic and my parents have always been a supportive and positive influence. But most of the time the therapist kept at me searching for something that just wasn’t there.

I finally found a doctor who dropped this nonsense and finally healing began.

Of course some people suffer terrible abuse in their families, and this abuse must be carefully considered and addressed. But for most, family is an important uplifting support without whom life would be untenable.

The point of view of many therapists when it comes to faith is even more dire.

I know a lot of people in the field of mental health, and almost all of them scoff at the idea of a life of prayer in which the adherent to a creed is guided not only by their faith, but by God Himself, and forgiveness and community rank high on the list of requirements for a healthy life. Priests and pastors are tremendous sources of healing, and the Word sets the standards for behavior and expectations.

The irony is that the meditation taught as a purely secular therapy for mood disorders is borne of exactly these ideas. It comes from ancient monastic traditions. Religious ones. Unfortunately these ideas have been jettisoned by many who promote mindfulness-based therapies.

I’ve written here that there is a deep tradition of Christian meditation that has been set aside or ignored by many secular meditation teachers. In fact, most secular meditation is heavily influenced by Buddhist theology, all too often misinterpreted or misunderstood by modern teachers who oversimplify quite complicated ethical principles.

What we’re left with are ideas like moral relativism, the discounting of the concept of sin, and the insistence that poor mental health is the result of our inner dialogue about past experience, even trauma, more than the experience itself. The very idea of a discernable self morally equivalent to other individuals is questioned, and the focus on the transience of life that is merely a thought construct negates common experience and community.

This is not the message of all Eastern philosophy, but it has been adopted by many Western secular meditation teachers. Needless to say, such ideas are anathema to biblical literalists, Augustine philosophy, and most of the presuppositions of the Judeo-Christian faith.

To reach a more traditional Christian audience we should emphasize techniques of silent prayer and the contemplation of the Psalms. The rosary can be a sure path to wellness, and by meditating in ways that reinforce and strengthen one’s faith the benefits of meditation on stress and mood will be gained by many more people.

I remember leading a guided meditation for a group of homeless men at a church shelter. One man objected that what we were doing was akin to devil worship. Sitting there in silence we were open to the temptations of Satan. We talked about the need for silence to hear what God may be saying to us, too. Still, he was troubled by voices. I directed him and the group to a few readings from the Gospel. The secular meditation I was teaching was inappropriate at that time.

But faith is never inappropriate. As mental health workers we must remember to draw on the strengths of faith and family, for in a greater community, inspired by purpose, it is much easier to heal than in a lonely place that questions these life-giving supports.

George Hofmann is the author of Practicing Mental Illness – Meditation, Movement and Meaningful Work to Manage Challenging Moods. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with his wife, their daughter and two poorly behaved dogs.