Christian Mental Health

[jcrawford]

As a Christian Mental Health practitioner, I sometimes wonder who gets to define and set the standards by which the state measures and determines the mental health of its citizens and schoolchildren.

Obviously, the ready answer on the lips of non-Christians is that state certified psychologists and psychiatrists alone should define and set the standards governing the mental health of all of its citizens. But this raises a problem for Christians who practice their own religious form of mental health therapy since secularists in government are opposed to any competition in the mental health fields from Christians who claim that the many psychological abuses of mental health treatments in US public schools constitute a violation of their civil right to choice in therapeutic treatments of their minds and souls.

Question for discussion and debate: Should Christian mental health be used as a standard for systems of comparitive mental health? If not, why not, and what justification is there for secular humanists in government judging the mental health of Christians if a Christian Mental Health system is superior to any other.

[Confused]

jcrawford:

ADHD is considered a psychiatric disorder but is also established as a chemical imbalance and in some cases nutritional deficiencies.

So-called chemical imbalances need to be verified by a competent neurologist.

Nutritional deficiencies may be corrected with a better diet.

There is massive date about it, just look at the Foundation for ADHD research.

A thriving industry with massive psychopropaganda output.

You seem to think that religion can override medicine. It can't.

Mental problems should not be treated with brain damaging drugs.

You seek spiritual equilibrium as a treatment for emotional/mental disorders. The problem is you have no model in which to use to provide clinical data as to the efficacy and safety of such treatments.

Christians should avoid psychosecular mental health clinics altogether if they value their mental health.

Treatments for medical based disorders should be effective regardless of the religion of the afflicted.

Christian mental health is not medically based though.

If this Christian based mental health practice was legitimate, it should be able to effectively treat non-Christians as well.

Only when non-christians are ammenable to studying the Word of God and willingly accept the healing and salvational power of the Holy Spirit.

The problem is you are trying to separate the affected population by ascribing different causation to the ailment. Without empirical data to support this, it amounts to voodoo.

Voodoo is a form of witchcraft and mentally unhealthy to practice.

Their is no empirical data to suggest that a religious approach to treating mental health is effective.

Millions of Christians are enjoying sound mental health today as the result of practicing effective systems of Christian Mental Health.

The fact is this areas falls into the medical arena.

Drugs have a negative impact on Christian Mental Health.

If you think having your church members say a prayer for someone will benefit them, then by all means, do so. But to ignore the medical modalities in treatment because of this prayer is neglect. Pure and simple.

Christians with neurological problems are advised to visit a competent Christian neurologist.

Religion serves a good deed in society in offering hope and helping with grief when it comes to terminally ill patients. But it shouldn't offer a cure that it can't deliver.

The cure of souls has always been a Christian practice.

That is what you are implying. A spiritual cure in place of solid medical research into methods of behavioral modification with postive reinforcement and medications when appropriate.

Christians don't need drugs to solve their mental problems.

If you wish your child to be treated by a Christian counselor, then by all means, that is your right. But if you choose to ignore medical treatment when indicated in favor for this alternative and your child or someone elses gets hurt, it is neglect and can do nothing but offer even more negative attention to religion. Is this what you are seeking?

Psychosocial and psychiatric treatment is not necessary for Christians with mental problems. If they have neurological problems then they visit a qualified neurologist.

Regardless, until you are actually faced with the issue, you should remain silent. Why? Because you know not what you are speaking about.

Should you remain silent just because you know nothing about Christian Mental Health?

It would be the equivalent of saying you should never take anti-depressants if you are depressed. Instead you should seek a Christian counselor. Unless you have been depressed, you have no idea what it is like.

Depression is a spiritual disorder and everyone gets depressed from time to time.

Drowning one's sorrows in drink or drugs is no solution for Christians.

Therefore dictating the treatment without knowing this illness is making bad decisions for a population you can't identify with.

Mental illness is a myth. - Dr. Thomas Szasz.

Rather than combining medication and therapy, you have decided therapy is the only way and the next thing you know, the person has committed suicide.

Suicides only result from psychopharmaceutical drug use. Christians don't commit suicide.

1) You need to LISTEN. The repitiion is getting old.
2) ADHD: did you not look at the sites I listed, nor the posts of some exerts that Micatala listed. Or are you really that blind. These are neurobiologists and neuropsychiatrists that show the neurological component.
3) The rest of this post is utter nonsense, rambling and ignorance. Christians don't commit suicide? Suicide only results from antidepressants. Only a Christian neurologist should treat a Christian with neurological problems.

The sad part of all of this is not only do you actually believe this nonsense, but you will procreate.

[Confused]

Goat, you are not thinking circularly enough. Pentecostals had three times the rate of depression than anyone else because it was godless secular evolutionist deluded psychologists who were the ones doing the measuring. And they probably did not even think to do the study with a double blind.

I think I am starting to feel 3 times depressed myself.

Non-Christians using drugs feel depressed 30 times as often as Christians who practice Christian Mental Health do.

I suppose some like Crawford would just make the measument simple, Believe like me vs don't believe like me.

Believing in Christian Mental Health and the salvation of your soul is what makes Christian Mental Health techniques and practices far superior to taking drugs for the cure of your soul.

Solution, think like me.

Thinking God's thoughts after Him is the key to Christian Mental Health.

How do you know you are thinking right? By quoting magic veses from the bible.

You know you are thinking right when you reach for the Bible instead of some mind-altering and brain-damaging drugs.

Of all the "research" you have listed thus far: 90% is books we can only validate if we go out, purchase the books and read the crap listed, the other 10% doens't back up any of the statistics you list. Your references are mostly authors who publish for profit, not for scholarly research.

I will return to my original request. State what a "Christian Mental Health Practitioner is", what is their education? What is their state credentialing? What evidence based research have they conducted and published? What methodology to they ascribe to? What evidence is their to the efficacy of this methodology?

[Cathar1950]

I'll stand by the writings of the internationally acclaimed author, Dr. Thomas Szasz, in defending the right of any church to challenge and expose the death cult of psychiatry.

The question was not about the right of a church to challenge psychiatry. The question was for you to provide evidence to support your own assertions:

1. those who take anti-depressants on a daily basis are depressed daily
2. the average mentally healthy Christian gets depressed about once a month
3. psychiatric repression, suppression and oppression is the cause of depression in most Christians.

Now, please, stop evading and post the evidence you have to substantiate your own claims.

I am using Mack's post because it was a nice clean list of JCrawford’s assertions.

Given we have not been shown what Christian mental health is or how we could recognize it except they read for their bible instead of an aspirin, meds or something.
Of course this might just be obsessive-compulsive behaviors and nothing more. Like reaching for a rabbit’s foot or flipping your lucky coin..
I want to see studies that show “mentally healthy Christians” only get depressed once a month?
Also why would those on anti-depressants be depressed every day? If they are working, they would not be depressed.

But it would help if you could possibly answer Confused's questions.

I will return to my original request. State what a "Christian Mental Health Practitioner is", what is their education? What is their state credentialing? What evidence based research have they conducted and published? What methodology to they ascribe to? What evidence is their to the efficacy of this methodology?

[Goat]

Also why would those on anti-depressants be depressed every day? If they are working, they would not be depressed.

If they weren't depressed to being with, they wouldn't be given anti-depressents

[micatala]

Mental illness is a myth. - Dr. Thomas Szasz.

Rather than combining medication and therapy, you have decided therapy is the only way and the next thing you know, the person has committed suicide

.

Suicides only result from psychopharmaceutical drug use. Christians don't commit suicide.

Perhaps jcrawford can also document these claims. The last two would be particularly interesting, if they were true.

[Cathar1950]

Mental illness is a myth. - Dr. Thomas Szasz.

Rather than combining medication and therapy, you have decided therapy is the only way and the next thing you know, the person has committed suicide

.

Suicides only result from psychopharmaceutical drug use. Christians don't commit suicide.

I would like to see that data on that too.
Both I believe are false assumptions.
Is this the kind of knowledge base used in Christian home schooling?

Perhaps jcrawford can also document these claims. The last two would be particularly interesting, if they were true.

Dr. Thomas Szasz's book is called "The myth of Mental Illness" not "Mental illness is a myth". The scope of his ideas are liited to Game Playing and a psych-social theory. He would hardly support the ideas being proposed, wha ever they are, by Crawford. I have not read his stuff in years and the only book I have left is the Myth book.

[jcrawford]

Yes, he said that he would be quite lax in the evidence. A link to a bunch of books doesn't even qualify as a source for your claims, since it can not be verified that any of these books made the claim you made.

Can you show the specific place where you got your information? PUtting a link to a bunch of books that are being sold does not even approch even lax standards.[/quote]
The books contain testimonies which are considered acceptable evidence in a court of law.

http://www.spiegelgrund.at/en/Topic/The ... sychiatry/

http://www.antipsychiatry.org/weitz2.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... t=Abstract

http://www.oralchelation.net/data/Psych ... ata18n.htm

http://www.springerlink.com/content/72jffq1jnw0vwky4/

http://www.freedommag.org/english/vol27I5/page05.htm

[Cathar1950]

That is like putting up a bunch of Nazi doctors as a charge against medicine.
Or maybe you could give a bunch of murdering Nazi bureaucrats as an indictment against bureaucrats. I guess the ones that aren’t fascists are the liberals.

I do see some similarities to simple minded focus.

[jcrawford]

I ask for evidence and I get assertions.

Testimonies are evidence.

You say that the average mentally healthy Christian gets depressed about once a month. Where is the evidence to back up that assertion. Could it not be that the average mentally healthy Christian gets depressed about once a fortnight?

Depends on what you mean by depression. I get depressed two or three time a day sometimes, especially when I read some of the posts on the Internet. Of course I immediately bounce back to my usual buoyant and cheerful self once I apply Christian Mental Health techniques.

You also imply that those who take anti-depressants on a daily basis are depressed daily. This claim has been made without evidence.

If they were not depressed daily why would they take anti-depressents on a daily basis?

Speaking of depression, psychiatric repression, suppression and oppression is the cause of depression in most Christians.

https://www.cchr.org/store/index.php?cPath=25

I call again for evidence.

I call for evidence of "mental illness" also but none is produced.

Please site any study that has been done showing that the most frequent cause of depression in Christians is psychiatric repression, suppression and oppression. Your credibility would be improved if the study you cite used a double blind.

Patholigical psychosocialists conduct that kind of statistical research and so far they have refused to confirm my theories.

I did a search on the cchr.org site for "depression Christian" and found no results.

Just proves what I said about Christians not needing psychotropic drugs to deal with their mental health even if their souls do get spritually depressed once a month.

[jcrawford]

It is your turn to provide some evidence that psychiatry is not a death cult which dispenses mind-altering and brain damaging psychotropic drugs to children.

Read a book or two by Dr. Thomas Szasz and you too will be qualified to challenge and expose the evil death cult of psychiatry in America.

http://www.reason.com/news/show/27767.html

You are doign what is known as 'SHifting the Goalposts'.

Asking you for some evidence of Mental illness is "shifting the goalposts?"

Show me how someone who is pushing the cult of scientology is qualified.

Show me how members of the cults of psychoanalysis and psychiatry can analyze Christian minds and souls?