Therapy for Adultery or Text Flirtation?

I've seen posts about this sort of thing. The husband commits adultery or texts another woman... and now he's in therapy.

I mean I understand there are people who do both, but it seemed like 'therapy' was supposed to have something to do with the adultery.

Does anyone thing that therapy helps people overcome sin or helps them get out of sin? I mean, there are plenty of psychologists, even state governments, that have lobbied to prevent therapists from advising individuals away from certain sins, a battle fought in the courts.

I get if the story were the man had texted women online and now he's meeting with a pastor, or he joined a men's accountability prayer group, or something like that.

Is going to therapy even supposed to help people overcome sin? Now, there is something called Nouthetic Counseling where the counselor gives advice out of the Bible. That's not your typical 'therapy' and I don't think it follows the licensing.

I have seen a big cultural shift in my lifetime toward the idea of regular people who are not mentally ill going to psychologists and psychologists. There has a push for higher education with many multiplied millions getting degrees, funded with student loans (driving up education costs). Psychology is an option, and you can't do much that is specifically, unless you get a specialization. We end up with lots of counselors, therapists, etc.

At the same time, going to psychologists and therapists is more mainstream. I'm thinking human kind went for thousands of years without psychologists before Freud. I've also seen the attitude online that it's okay to leave a spouse who won't go to counseling. But some people don't really believe in it.

There are also counselors whose values do not align with Christianity. There are therapists and counselors who do not see keeping the marriage together as the goal, but rather some other vision of human well-being or human flourishing. One married couple I know went to see a psychologist, and fulfilled a husband's fear and said, "You two do not need to be together."

A cross-cultural psychologist once pointed out that there were much fewer psychologists doing counseling in other parts of the world that had collectivist cultures. People are more interconnected with their families. You go home and the house is full of extended family, uncles who give you advice whether you want it or not, and you never lack someone to talk to. Counselors like this are popular in cities where people work long hours, there is a culture of not being too close with people at work, then people go home to empty apartments, then hire someone to talk to about their problems.

I suppose there could be some Biblical counseling that might help someone who fell into sin. And maybe the therapy might help with managing anger, communication issues, and other niches where there is some specialized training. Some ideas I've heard of from the psychological counseling sound rather damaging. They have gotten away from telling people to express anger by hitting a pillow, but the idea that it is normal to fantasize, sexually, about people who are not your partner seems rather damaging.

I've come across the idea of 'boundaries' being used to argue for not doing as one should as a marriage partner or an employee. Psychology, and pop-psychology, can be treated like a religion, like a guide for life.

The 'Christian Counselor' could also be drawing from some methods that aren't particularly Christian. Now, there may be niches in therapy and Christian Counseling that are designed to help with sin issues, like porn addiction.

I also heard a 'Christian counseling' show on the radio, just a bit of it, while driving, a couple of times. There was a caller who had a marital issue. The counselor didn't have a lot of info, and I remember him saying something like, "But if your husband is saying XZY, that's verbal abuse, and you need to separate from him and..." He hadn't talked to the husband. The wife hadn't said her husband had done whatever the counselor on the radio had said. Even if he had, the Bible says 'Let not the wife depart from her husband.' Getting a separate residence could bankrupt a lot of people in the city where he said this. And he was planting the idea of a low bar for separation in the caller's head and in the minds of lots of listeners, and presenting it as 'Christian' counseling. Twice, I heard the show and he said something like that.

I've not delved into the world of going to therapy. I'm sitting on the sidelines seeing the culture change as I age.

Is there any reason to think that going to therapy is going to help someone who committed adultery or sent flirtatious texts? Does therapy help people overcome sin?