It's more or less health and wealth. Don't be a sinner and you won't get PTSD.
No, he definitely needs to retire.
Right. I was thinking keswick in the sense that you have this Spirit-empowered ability to overcome anything with the right mindset.
I think there's an interesting investigation into some of the socially-constructed nature of PTSD and a conversation to be had. Key thing here though, is even if far on the "socially-constructed" vs objectively real spectrum, socially constructed doesn't mean "fake," which is how many understand it.
This is one of the problems. People who have no training in mental health making blanket statements of what is best for the mental health of others. Do you really think quickly scanning 5 journal papers equates to 12 years of University study and residency to become a psychiatrist? How bold to make such a statement as "is more likely to lead to happy individuals." Have you ever set foot inside of a psychiatric hospital? With people who would love nothing more than to be free from the illnesses that torture them? Do you really think voting for Trump is going to help them, or walking around their block, or doing a few jumping jacks? As Christians we are to speak where the Bible speaks, and not to add to the Word. The Bible is silent on how to treat cancer, as it is also silent on how to treat bi-polar, schizophrenia, personality disorders, and the list can go on. We do not go to the Pastor to have a tumor removed, we go to the Doctor. The same goes for mental illnesses in which the expertise of psychology (which is usually limited to verbal counseling) is not enough (whether Christian or secular) and the expertise of psychiatry is needed. At one point in history, people who suffered from mental illnesses were oft-times lobotomized, and made a walking-dead because there was no other alternative. Either that, or they were thrown in an institution and forgotten about. Is psychiatry infallible? No. But neither is theology. For statistically, there is a good chance you have more heresy coming from pulpits on a weekly basis, than you do biblical malpractice coming from psychiatrists.
You're kidding, right? They just got out of a bloody civil war with at least 70,000 deaths. That's as many deaths per capita as every war the US has ever fought in (civil war, world wars, Vietnam, Iraq, etc) combined. My wife's step-dad fought the commies here as a Peruvian marine in the 1990's before going to Iraq as a US contractor and seeing even more combat. And with all that going on, their mental health is 6 fold better than Americans.
Wonderful post!! Some mental illnesses are from chemical imbalances whereas others are from brain damage due to trauma, overuasage of drugs, etc. One person and his wife or girlfriend bought Glucophage from someone who told them they were painpills. They both overdosed on them and the guy ended up with permanent brain damage as his glucose was down to 8. His wife or girlfriend, recovered without any longterm effects.
This is just an argument from authority brother. According to this logic only a psychiatrist has a right to comment on psychiatry.
Merely expressing greater probability isn't particularly bold. If I were bold I might say something like "I'm absolutely certain and there are no exceptions." But I actually was quite a bit more measured.
I can do you one better. I've been to multiple psychiatrists and I've been mentally ill. (Praise the Lord that is no longer the case). One Yale psychologist told my mother when I was four years old that Christianity was responsible for my problems. Surely you think it's OK to be skeptical of that professional, right? Even with his 12 years of education?
Well this is a bit of a straw man, but the answer is "yes." According to research, daily exercise and a worldview grounded in reality are immensely positive for mental health, and psychiatry isn't. If you think that's incorrect, feel free to point out the errors in the study.
I disagree. I don't think the Bible is silent. Even setting aside the correlation between sin and depression, which the bible certainly speaks on, many of those diagnosed in the Bible with demon possession would fit the clinical criteria for schizophrenia, and given that modern psychiatry has no criteria for demon possession, it's fair to assume all demon possession is misdiagnosed. Now, Jesus gave specific instructions for possession ("only by prayer and fasting"). So is it really true the Bible is silent?
And this would be the argument wouldnt it? If mental illness were confined to demon possession, how would medication bring relief to the possessed? One is spiritual, the other physical. So there is a chance that in the case of ailments where medication is useless, that it is demon possession, but wouldnt it seem to be the case that most of what is labeled mental illness is not demon possession since many cases can be treated with proper medication?
It doesn't. I just shared multiple studies that make that point. I have myself been medicated, and it did not help me, and it brought very, very unpleasant side effects.
This is a lower quality source than the ones I shared."The best treatments for serious mental illnesses today are highly effective; between 70 and 90 percent of individuals have a significant reduction of symptoms and improved quality of life with a combination of pharmacological and psychosocial treatments and supports."
I am not mocking it at all. I have just known someone very close to me that has dealt very extensively with mental health. I remember when they first started experiencing their episodes, they ran to the church; and the Pastor was dumbfounded as the person sitting in front of them was rambling thinking they were Neo from the Matrix. As this person tells it, he recalled going up to the elders and getting anointed with oil, as the voices were screaming in his head. He tells me about the times he was restrained, stripped naked, and put in padded rooms, with nothing over him but a weighted smock, and a hole in the ground to use the restroom in. Or the times he was forcibly bound and tied to a gurney, and sedated. This is not to mention the times he left a perfectly good home to go play out his manic fantasies, walking miles and miles thinking every crack in the concrete had world annihilating consequences. Or even the suicide attempts, not from wanting to end his life, but because his sickness convinced him his death was the pathway to reality. But then he recalls when he finally started taking his medication; after all those times of taking it briefly only to believe he was "cured," yet falling back into devastating psychosis. I guess its like you, when it is you, or someone close to you that has suffered, you form very strong opinions about what does and doesnt work. But to this guy I know, he is just as grateful to God to be able to live a normal life, medication or not; the same as if Jesus told him directly "pick up your mat and walk."
