Dear friend,

In 1999, Rev. Dr. Law and I published our book "Breakdowns are Good for You." In this we claimed -

1. There was no such thing as non-organic "mental illness". Patients engage in unsocial behaviour to escape personal problems and fail to grow to (Christian) maturity.

2. Research by psychiatrists themselves has shown that their cure rate (64%) was worse than just talking to a friend (72%).

3. Counselling by psychiatrists and particularly their use of drugs can have a very detrimental effect upon the patient. They have no idea how they work.

4. Psychiatry provides an excuse for the unsocial behaviour of patients and is fundamentally anti-Christian.

5. Counselling should be returned to the churches.

Such claims understandably aroused considerable opposition from those who accepted the orthodox approach. The result has been that, except for one Christian organisation that gave us full support in a review and speaking engagements, every other evangelical organisation strongly resisted us. No evangelical publication will accept an advertisement for the book, nor give it a commending review (Except one from The Banner of Truth). Two other reviews, both written by doctors, were heavily critical.

Despite this, I have been asked to counsel, mainly by email, a steady stream of people who have responded to my website www.mowden.info offer of counselling by email, and many letters of thanks have been received from individuals who have been helped and fully cured, principally of depression - www.mbowden.info/comments.

One person I am still helping surfed the internet and found some sites that are extremely damaging to the whole profession of psychiatry. In particular the link below. Every one is a qualified and practicing psychiatrist, but their open admissions on camera destroy any credibility that the profession may have.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/video/976/psychiatry_no_science_no_cures.html

In this video, Thomas Sasz mentions that mental illnesses are defined by a panel of psychiatrists sitting round a table. If they decide that certain behaviours define a particular "problem", then this is accepted as an "illness" and they can administer drugs for this and be paid by the medical insurance companies. No medical or scientific evidence is presented.

Prof. Breeding has a PhD in psychiatry and has revealed in more detail just how "mental illnesses" are defined by the profession at -

http://youtube.com/watch?v=j-wMP2Q0Ifs

There is a growing awareness of the serious ineffectiveness, indeed harm, of psychiatry and there are many other websites highly critical of psychiatry, particularly in America where it used more extensively than in the UK.

I am circulating this email to several people, and I have taken the liberty of writing to you as possibly having had correspondence with me on this subject in the past. If you have not accepted the thesis of our book and still support sending Christians with problems to psychiatrists, whether Christian or not, then I am hoping that the import of these two websites will illustrate just how morally corrupt ( a word deliberately chosen) the whole profession is - not just in America, but here [in the UK] also. Three separate institutions proved that schizophrenia CAN be cured (by training patients to take responsibility for their actions) but this has been completely ignored by the whole profession.

I am therefore asking if you would be prepared to re-assess your attitude to the whole subject of counselling - particularly that of Christians. If you are a leader of a Christian organisation, then you are particularly able to influence your members attitude to a wide range of subjects.

I am particularly conscious that anyone in an editorial position has very great power over what their journal's approach is to this subject, but with authority goes unavoidable responsibility. I am well aware that maintaining readership numbers and not upsetting subscribers is the overriding aim of editors, but I must raise what I consider an even more important subject, which is the ongoing commitment of Christians to treatments that are being increasingly demonstrated to have serious repercussions upon both their immediate and long term physical and mental health.

My reason for writing is that I am very, very deeply concerned by this continual commitment of Christians into a drugged half-life, when the Bible has all the answers to this problem that Christians need. If you are in any position of authority, could I appeal to you to think this subject through carefully. To fail to act when you have the truth before you is to evade your responsibility before God. This may sound offensive, but I am convinced it is the truth. I have learned both in my own life and in ALL the counselling that I have done never to run away from a difficult situation, but deal with it in a Christian and responsible manner. Trying to avoid problems never succeeds as I know that they will always come back with greater impact if we do NOT deal with them. We will have to face up to them eventually, for usually they will have repercussion in this life. If not then, most certainly in the next.

I do hope that this email does not cause offence, but I am trying to obtain a change of heart of the Christian community at least on this important subject by presenting to senior leaders of God's people that they may be unwittingly acting in a way that is contrary to the Bible and will therefore find themselves responsible for this before God - 1 Cor. 3:10-15.

I would greatly welcome a reply if you wish to discuss this further,

Sincere regards,

Malcolm Bowden.