@article{ART003228037},
author={Ko, Kwang Je},
title={Psychological Reactance and Free Will in Christian Counseling},
journal={Journal of Counseling and Gospel },
issn={1739-0745},
year={2025},
volume={33},
number={2},
pages={5-30}
TY - JOUR
AU - Ko, Kwang Je
TI - Psychological Reactance and Free Will in Christian Counseling
JO - Journal of Counseling and Gospel
PY - 2025
VL - 33
IS - 2
PB - Korean Evangelical Counseling Society
SP - 5
EP - 30
SN - 1739-0745
AB - This study examines client resistance and free will in Christian counseling. Although obedience is a spiritual virtue, clients may view such expectations as autonomy threats that trigger reactance. Drawing on Brehm’s reactance theory, Deci and Ryan’s self-determination theory, and Gross’s emotion-regulation model, the paper frames resistance not as rebellion but as a protective response to perceived autonomy loss and emotional vulnerability.
Theologically, the study engages Reformed voices—Luther, Calvin, and Jonathan Edwards—to explore human will in relation to sin, grace, and obedience. Free will is framed not as autonomous capacity but as a grace-enabled response to God. Christian counseling theorists Crabb and Adams show resistance can function both as a symptom of spiritual tension and a starting point for redemptive change.
This study recasts reactance as a cue to restore autonomy and identity, and views obedience as grace-enabled, voluntary growth, not coerced duty. Counselors should meet the reactance–obedience tension with listening, empathy, and reinterpretation rather than censure. As literature-based, it could not empirically test counselor reactance or guilt-shame dynamics beneath resistance. Future qualitative work tracing “reactance–acceptance–response” dialogues can validate the model. Reactance thus opens a path to obedience, and accompaniment fosters free-will recovery and growth.
KW - psychological reactance;free will;Christian counseling;autonomy;spiritual obedience
DO -
UR -
ER -
Ko, Kwang Je. (2025). Psychological Reactance and Free Will in Christian Counseling. Journal of Counseling and Gospel , 33(2), 5-30.
Ko, Kwang Je. 2025, "Psychological Reactance and Free Will in Christian Counseling", Journal of Counseling and Gospel , vol.33, no.2 pp.5-30.
Ko, Kwang Je "Psychological Reactance and Free Will in Christian Counseling" Journal of Counseling and Gospel 33.2 pp.5-30 (2025) : 5.
Ko, Kwang Je. Psychological Reactance and Free Will in Christian Counseling. 2025; 33(2), 5-30.
Ko, Kwang Je. "Psychological Reactance and Free Will in Christian Counseling" Journal of Counseling and Gospel 33, no.2 (2025) : 5-30.
Ko, Kwang Je. Psychological Reactance and Free Will in Christian Counseling. Journal of Counseling and Gospel , 33(2), 5-30.
Ko, Kwang Je. Psychological Reactance and Free Will in Christian Counseling. Journal of Counseling and Gospel . 2025; 33(2) 5-30.
Ko, Kwang Je. Psychological Reactance and Free Will in Christian Counseling. 2025; 33(2), 5-30.
Ko, Kwang Je. "Psychological Reactance and Free Will in Christian Counseling" Journal of Counseling and Gospel 33, no.2 (2025) : 5-30.
