PTC 394 Course at a Glance (2025)

Complex Problems in Counseling

Lectures By: Darby Strickland

3 Credits

Course Description

This course will bring the lens of Scripture and hope of God’s redemptive perspective to complex problems of human suffering and sin. We will explore topics with a careful nuance that seeks to truly understand the experience of what it is like to live as an embodied soul who wrestles with deep distress, profound brokenness, or an entrenched sin pattern with the hope of meeting strugglers with compassion, grace, and biblical truth.

Books to Purchase

The books listed below are required readings which students should acquire by the start of the term. Additional required readings will be listed in the course syllabus and available electronically in Canvas.

Help! I’ve Been Diagnosed with a Mental Disorder
by Christine Chappell
Shepherd Press, 2021
ISBN: 9781633422582
I Just Want to Die: Replacing Suicidal Thoughts with Hope
by David Powlison
New Growth Press, 2010
ISBN: 9781935273707
A Still and Quiet Mind: Twelve Strategies for Changing Unwanted Thoughts
by E. Smith
P&R, 2022
ISBN: 9781629959214
I Have a Psychiatric Diagnosis: What Does the Bible Say?
by Ed Welch
New Growth Press, 2022
ISBN: 9781645072805
Depression: Finding Christ in the Darkness
by Edward T. Welch
P&R Publishing, 2024
ISBN: 9781629959641
Choose one (1) 31-Day Devotionals for Life from P&R Publishing from the following:
Addictive Habits, Anxiety, Assurance, A Painful Past, Chronic Illness, Doubt, Grief, Hope, Patience, Pornography, Shame, Toxic Relationships, and Wayward Children

Estimated Workload

Lectures Readings Assignments
3.5 90 5
Hours Per Week Pages Per Week Hours Per Week

Course Assignments

The assignments listed below are provided for general guidance for students to reference as they plan and register. Please reach out to support@wts.edu if you have any questions.

  • Response Paper #1 (1.5 pages)
  • Response Paper #2 (2 pages)
  • Response Paper #3 (2 pages)
  • 8 Part Complex Problem Project:
    • Part 1 Pick A Complex Problem (1pg)
    • Part 2 Fact Sheet (1pg)
    • Part 3 Knowing the Person (5 min video response)
    • Part 4 Knowing Scripture I (1-2pgs)
    • Part 5 Liturgy for a Struggler (1 pg)
    • Part 6 Knowing Scripture II (2 pgs)
    • Part 7 Speaking to the Struggle Two (1-2 min videos)
    • Part 8 Speaking to the Struggler (4 short videos)