Dear Lisa and Ryan,

 

I would like you both to know that I read your book and in fact I bought two copies. At that time I was off meds for 1 year. One year later I started dry heaving and experiencing weird and almost painful physical symptoms. I could not concentrate at work. I was suicidal. I suffered for two years.

A lie is that all mental disorders are spiritual problems. I know it makes perfect scripture sence but it is not true.  I became Christian while I was off meds and I fixed my heart but my head was all messed up. Yes you can have a good heart and still be mentally a wreck or you can have a bad heart and a clear head. Or you can have a bad heart and a messed up head or a good heart and a clear head. I learned that the heart is separate from the mind!!! I would like you to know I prayed and God made the suicidal thoughts go away but the physical symptoms just got worse. I got worse.

Good work can be accomplished off meds but sooner or later one needs to go back on meds for their own health. All people should be able to make there own disisions about wheter they would like to take meds or not. I regret staying off meds for so long. God was telling me to go back on meds but because I read your book and I was stubborn and I was against psychology (I was even apart of an activist group on-line which is a group of people against psychology) I couldn't`t for the life of me make my self get back on meds. The worse I got, the more I pushed psychology away. I wish I would have listened to God tell me to get back on meds instead of your book. There are Brain scans out now of peoples brains while they are off meds and they look really sick.

Believe me your logic makes sense but it doesn't work. There are alot of good things in your book for the heart but not the head. I would hate for some reader to read your book and get really sick and suffer physically and make a bad discusion that they tryed their hard est not to make even though they were a good Christian and applied the principals you taught in the book but apart of them was so messed up that their decision turned out to be really bad and if they just took their meds they would have not made that disision.

With all due respect, Please know that unless you suffer from a mental disorder you do not know what it is like and you have no idea the hell it is and the physical suffering that it causes. I know your logic makes sense (trust me it was my logic too) and it seems like it is so smart and right that it is from God but its not. Encouraging people to suffer so they will get close to God is all wrong. That is like encouraging someone not to get help from a physical injury so they can suffer so they can cry out for God. Why do you encourage people to suffer to get close to God? Isn't there a better way to get close to God? Suffering can lead people away from God too you know.

I am not trying to criticize but this is true, mental illness is real, it is physical and there is a difference between the heart and the mind. Let psychology take care of the mind and let God take care the the heart. I appreciate some of the things you wrote but I wish you would write another book that empowered people to seek both God and help. Thanks for reading this.

Thank you for your email. It sounds like you are making the assumption that all your physical symptoms you were experiencing while off the drugs were a result of your mental disorder, and that going back on them helped resolve them. Did you ever consider that your physical symptoms could have been the result of your brain and body withdrawing from the drugs to which they became so accustomed? All psychiatric drugs are very potent and alter the brain and mind to a certain extent. Prolonged use can cause permanent brain alteration/damage. Taking the drugs again makes your brain feel better, but that doesn't mean it's treating your mental disorder--it's meeting your brain's need for the drugs.

 

Central to all of this is that you seem to be confusing mind and brain. The brain is an organ; the mind is part of your soul. Scripture teaches that we are triune beings: body, soul and spirit. The body consists of our bones, flesh and organs (including the brain and heart); the soul is who you are as a person--your personality, will, and mind; and the spirit is the part of you that communes with God and lives forever after your soul leaves your body. For more on mental vs. physical, see http://www.psychologydebunked.com/email0508_Q&A.htm.

 

When the Bible says that God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3); that God's grace is sufficient for us (2 Cor. 12:9); and that we are complete in Christ (Col. 2:10), the Bible is essentially saying that God is enough for our soul. We don't need psychology, which is not science but philosophy. In fact, psychology means "study of the soul" and is a worldly philosophy about which the Apostle Paul warns (Col. 2:8). What did the saints for the last 2,000 years do without psychology? Without a drug? Did they fail to live the Christian life because they lacked the benefit of psychology and psych drugs? No, the same God who was enough for them then is the God who is enough for us today.

 

Why would we look to psychology to treat the mind when the Bible says "we have the mind of Christ" (1 Cor. 2:16) and "let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus..." (Phil. 2:5)?

 

Regarding brain scans, what you see in the media every so often is junk science and driven by profits and other non-scientific motives. See a past newsletter that discusses exactly what brain scans can and cannot do: http://www.psychologydebunked.com/email0603_home.htm

 

Please understand we would certainly not discourage someone from getting treatment from a medical doctor for a truly physical problem, but psychiatry has yet to prove mental disorders are physical in nature. The field of psychiatry's chemical imbalance theories have convinced the world that mental disorders are medical/physical in nature, so we should see a psychiatrist just like we see any other medical doctor. But to date, none of the 374 mental disorders of DSM-IV have been found to be caused by chemical imbalances in the brain--this would include schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, anxiety, etc. None of these disorders have ever been proven to be organic brain diseases.

 

The psycho-pharma complex has used the chemical imbalance theory to sell disorders and drugs to people, and it's working, even without a lab test proving to the doctor and patient that a chemical imbalance actually exists.

 

If you believe the drug works, the perceived benefit is usually that the underlying symptoms are masked, smothered and numbed. But the physical health risks associated with psychiatric drugs just aren't worth this perceived benefit. If we used this logic, we could all get high on marijuana and say it helped us--what it really did was mask the true issues.

 

Have you considered the true causes of your mental problems for which you are taking meds? The causes could vary widely, as we describe in a past newsletter here discussing the causes of bipolar disorder: http://www.psychologydebunked.com/email0607_Q&A.htm.

 

Please know that we don't want to encourage people to suffer; we want to encourage people to consider the causes of their problems, and if it's not medical, practical or spiritual, then it's a normal part of suffering in this world. God wants to use that suffering to mature us--but escaping reality with a mind-altering pill cheats us out of that blessing of growth and maturity God desires.

 

We hope we've clarified some things and given you some food for thought.

 

God bless you.

 

Ryan and Lisa Bazler

www.psychologydebunked.com