It depends on what kind of affirmations you're using. For instance, affirmation therapy is used by Christian psychiatrists for people who have been deprived of human love (which results in stunted emotional growth). According to the website of one of the pioneers of this therapy, Dr. Conrad Baars, "Affirmation therapy can be formally described as a way of being affectively present to another human person in a therapeutic relationship in which the therapist reveals to the client his or her intrinsic goodness and worth."

As the site explains, it's a three-step process of healing the unaffirmed by helping them to open up to the knowledge of their own lovableness, and eventually being able to act up on this in relationship with others.

Dr. Baars co-authored a book on the subject, Healing the Unaffirmed, with Dr. Anna Terruwe whose work was based on Thomas Aquinas' understanding of the "nature of man."

However, there is an entirely different kind of affirmation in use that is completely New Age and is based on the practice of positive thinking - a belief that just by thinking positive thoughts you will attract all kinds of positive outcomes, people, etc. This is otherwise known as the Law of Attraction which is a belief that the mind is a kind of god that can create reality. By thinking a certain way, you can attract either negative or positive experiences into your life. This is based on the belief that thoughts are made from “pure energy” and that like energy attracts like energy from the Universe.

Typical New Age practices of affirmation involve the constant repetition of positive statements, writing them down frequently, etc. They're often used in conjunction with visualization techniques (imagining or visualizing the positive outcome) or with Cosmic Ordering (announcing what you want and when you want it to the entire universe with which we are all supposedly connected).

The problem with New Age-style affirmations is that they are based on a human-centered psychology that believes a person is in complete control of their destiny. If this is true, and our lives are truly in our own hands, doesn't that make God irrelevant?

There are numerous popular practices today that are steeped in New Age affirmation techniques such as brain rewiring, manifesting, and certain thought control techniques that claim to be based in neuroscience.

In Christian vs. New Age Thought Control, I delve into other aspects of this subject and give important pointers on how to affirm yourself in a truly Christ-centered way. It'll change your life - forever!