The Christian's Response to Psychiatry

Posted to the Association of Biblical Counselors (ABC) Discussion Board

Discussion:

Lisa and Ryan Bazler (2002) state, “Why haven’t all of our advances in modern medicine revealed how chemicals in the brain affect our behavior and mental state?  Because we are dealing with the most complex creation in the universe: the human brain.  Although researchers have discovered some knowledge of how chemical messengers (called ‘neurotransmitters’) work, they still don’t understand how they work together to produce brain functions” (p. 104).   

In light of the statement above, provide an answer and explanation to one of the following:

1. As a biblical counselor, what would you propose as the most effective way of addressing a counselee who places great faith in a particular drug for maintaining what they believe is a disease of the brain?
2. Do you agree with the above assertion?  Why/Why not?
3. Is there ever a time you would recommend drug treatment for a counselee?  Provide a rationale for your answer.
4. Does research support the “diseased-brain” model of human functioning? Support your answer with cited resources.
5. How may biblical counselors begin to effectively confront the psychiatric drug establishment that is so influential in the modern culture?

Bazler, L., & Bazler, R. (2002).  Psychology debunked:  Revealing the overcoming life. Lake Mary, FL:  Creation House Press.

Case Study:

Casey comes to see you because she is convinced that someone has bugged her apartment with video cameras, and is now spying on her when she sleeps at night. One of the evidences she provides is that every time she walks past her neighbor, he looks at her, smiles, and says hello.  Casey believes this is a mild form of mind-control, and that ultimately her neighbor is planning to rape her.  She claims that each night she goes to bed, she smells a bizarre odor that always makes her very dizzy.  Upon consuming this odorous substance, she believes her neighbor sends out an electronic signal from his apartment that forces her to remove all her clothes and lie on the bed.  It is at this time, her neighbor turns on the camera and films her as he manipulates her (via electronic signal) to pose provocatively for the camera. Casey is seeking help from you because she feels she is in danger.  She is not taking any medication, and becomes very angry if someone insinuates that this all might simply be figment of her imagination. 

1. What  do you believe is going on with Casey?
2. How would you address her issues?
3. Does she need medicine?  Why/Why not?

Bazler response:

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”[i]

Who would have believed that during Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign to combat the increasing teen use of illegal drugs in the eighties, the legal drug companies were about to launch a worldwide campaign orders of magnitude more powerful with the new antidepressant Prozac. That purple pill would usher in a new era of mental health: the era of popping a pill for every problem in life. Twenty years later, we find our churches full of people experiencing the problems of life common to all, but who are turning to the secular priesthood of soul doctors for help. These help seekers are convinced they have a mental disorder; their behavior is not their fault but rather the fault of their biochemical brain disease; and that a pill to correct that imbalance will solve their problems.

Despite the dangerous, sometimes permanent and frequently lethal side effects of all psychiatric drugs,[ii] many Christians have nonetheless put their trust in pills, turning their back on the living God who gives grace to help in time of need, and instead praising God for the numbing and disconnecting affects of these drugs that He has supposedly gifted us with to provide such effective symptomatic relief. They put more faith in a little pill than in the Creator of the universe and Savior, Sanctifier and Lover of their souls.

Our greatest ministry challenge has been to show psychiatric drug advocates in the church a better way—a biblical way—of handling problems of life. We generally take the following logical, firm-yet-compassionate approach with those who put their faith in psychiatric drugs. This approach comprises four discussion areas: industry reality, incriminating research, inevitable risks, and inexhaustible resources.

1. Industry reality

2. Incriminating research

·         You didn’t take a medical lab test when you were diagnosed. The President of the APA admitted in 2005 that no clear-cut lab test exists for identifying mental illness.[iii] How then can we know that chemical imbalances in our brain are to blame for our behavior, if no test shows this cause-and-effect relationship?

·         Researchers have continually discredited the chemical imbalance theory, but this 50-year-old myth marches on nonetheless as the culprit of our woes:

o        “Scientists currently agree that ‘the neurotransmitter-deficiency theory of depression’--the rationale for antidepressants--has no validity.”[iv]

o        “Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, told Newsweek [on February 26, 2007] that ‘a depressed brain is not necessarily underproducing something.’[v]

o        “In 1998, The American Medical Association Essential Guide to Depression stated: ‘The link between low levels of serotonin and depressive illness is unclear, as some depressed people have too much serotonin.’ That same year Elliot Valenstein, professor emeritus of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Michigan, in Blaming the Brain pointed out, ‘Furthermore, there is no convincing evidence that depressed people have a serotonin or norepinephrine deficiency.’”[vi]

o        “In 2002, The New York Times reported: ‘Researchers knew that antidepressants seemed to raise the brain's levels of messenger chemicals called neurotransmitters, so they theorized that depression must result from a deficiency of these chemicals. Yet a multitude of studies failed to prove this precept.’”[vii]

o        “Far from being a radical line of thought, doubts about the serotonin hypothesis are well acknowledged by many researchers.”[viii]

o        “In the field of mental health, not a single physical explanation has been confirmed for any of the hundreds of psychiatric 'disorders' listed in the DSM-IV.”[ix]

o        “In every instance where such an imbalance was thought to have been found, it was later proven false... A serotonin deficiency for depression has not been found.”[x]

o        “Nor do we have a clear idea about the relationship between brain function and mental phenomena such as 'moods' or 'emotions' like depression or anxiety.”[xi]

o        “We have no techniques for measuring the actual levels of neurotransmitters in the synapses between the cells. Thus all the talk about biochemical imbalances is pure guesswork.”[xii]

o        Many quotes from other authoritative sources (doctors, psychiatrists, etc.) here: http://www.behindthebadge.net/articles/a145.html

3. Inevitable risks

4. Inexhaustible resources

Common Objections

While this all sounds wonderful in theory, evaluate your relationship with God and your spiritual habits (Bible reading, prayer, worship, fellowship, good works, etc.),Win practice we can still get counselees who insist that psychiatric drugs have helped them or someone close to them. They will say this regardless of the mountains of biblical and scientific evidence you provide to the contrary. In this case we need to help the counselee understand God’s will in “helping” someone. His definition of help as described in His Word is very different than the typical counselee’s. One is God-focused and God-glorifying, the other self-focused and self-serving. See http://www.psychologydebunked.com/email0705_home.htm for a brief discussion.

Others claim that discouraging use of psychiatric drugs for mental disorders is akin to discouraging use of insulin for a diabetic, or chemotherapy for a cancer patient. To this we would argue that since there is no objective testing of the presence of a mental disorder, and no objective treatments of that disorder, psychiatric drug use becomes a philosophical and moral choice more than a scientific and medical treatment. Diabetics, cancer patients and Alzheimer’s patients do not choose to acquire these diseases. Psychiatric drug users, alcoholics and marijuana smokers, on the other hand, do not have diseases, but make a philosophical and moral choice to numb the pain of life with mind-altering substances.

Psychology and psychiatry are philosophies, not sciences. In fact, psychology literally means “study of the soul” and psychiatry “treatment of the soul.” Psychiatry is rooted in the godless view that man is a creature controlled and manipulated by chemicals, with no moral and spiritual components. Behavior cannot be right or wrong, and God cannot affect change in that person. God can use science, but He cannot use a philosophy that contradicts His word, and psychiatry’s philosophies clearly contradict His word. No one else but God knows, and has jurisdiction over, the soul of man.

Is there ever a time to recommend drug treatment for a counselee? Considering the above arguments and supporting research, we believe psychiatric drugs serve no purpose but to blunt mental, physical, emotional and spiritual functioning, as evidenced by the multitude of related side affects. Lisa Bazler has worked in psychiatric wards and has seen firsthand that even suicidal cases should not, and in fact do not, receive psychiatric drug treatment, even if on a temporary basis. They receive close monitoring and attention. The most life-threatening side effects of psychiatric drugs occur as the counselee starts, stops, changes dosage, or changes brands, weakening any justification of limited, short-term use.

The Case of Casey

What about counselees like Casey in this month’s case study who are not living in reality—shouldn’t they receive psychiatric drugs? Even though this type of counselee represents less than one percent of the population, the tendency is for relatively normal people with normal life problems to classify themselves as such in order to justify their psychiatric drug use. In any case, we do not believe psychiatric drugs benefit those who do not seem to have their right minds, and the research supports this view. Take schizophrenics, for instance. A recent study by the Univ. of Illinois, Chicago, Dept. of Psychiatry compared recovery rates between schizophrenics treated with antipsychotics and those treated with non-drug approaches. 40% of the non-drugged population showed improvement, versus just 5% of the drugged population.[xix] In short, psychiatric drugs’ blunting, brain-damaging effects do not segregate between someone who is in their right mind and someone who is not. They are equal-opportunity poisons.

What is going on with Casey, and how would we address her issues? We have commented in general terms about counselees like her, here: http://www.psychologydebunked.com/email0609_Q&A.htm. Specifically, schizophrenics like Casey have underlying fear and guilt issues that they intentionally cover with elusive behavior and delusional, irrational thinking. In their book Breakdowns are good for you!, Law and Bowden provide convincing evidence that schizophrenia is not an organic brain disease but rather a moral issue caused by fear and guilt, manifesting itself in irresponsible, irrational and isolationist behavior to escape being “found out.” They document multiple cases of full schizophrenic patient recoveries through admittance/acceptance of past shortcomings and sins and the teaching of responsible, self-disciplined behavior—all without the use of psychiatric drugs.[xx]

We don’t know what brought Casey to this point, but we can safely assume there are components of fear and guilt in her life that she is not handling biblically, but rather by withdrawing into a selfish fantasy world where she does not have to deal with the realities and responsibilities of an adult life. If she is not a Christian, we can first lead her to placing her faith in Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. If she does profess Christ, we can remind her of her position in Christ as a new creation, forgiven and justified, along with teaching her godly qualities of self-denial, personal responsibility, self-discipline and love for others over self. With a personal commitment to change and daily, in-depth discipleship from other mature believers or pastors, Casey will be well on her way to fullness of life in Christ.

Conclusion

How do we confront the increasingly psychiatric, medicated culture in which we live? The very few who are exposing the sham and dangers of psychology and psychiatry are no match for the power and influence wielded by the multi-billion dollar industries of mental health and pharmaceuticals. The challenge is daunting and overwhelming, but not hopeless.

In light of the widespread ignorance surrounding these issues—primarily due to big pharma lies, unbelieving hearts, and spiritual deception—we believe education at the grass roots level is our most effective tool, under girded by prayer. God’s people must have open hearts and ears to receive the truth of how to counsel God’s way. The church should know better than anyone how to care for souls, but we have sold our birthright for poisonous porridge. The day the church rejects mental disorders, chemical imbalances, and happy pills and returns to the Lord Jesus Christ in childlike trust, dependence, humility and purity, is the day we will see the strongholds of psychology and psychiatry fall and the power and light of the Lord shine. It is only then when the medicated world around us will wake up and see that Bible-loving, people-loving Christians truly possess the answers of life.

About the Authors

Lisa Bazler earned her B.A. in psychology and her M.A. in counseling psychology. She has worked in a variety of mental health settings, including hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, group homes, outpatient services and secular and Christian private counseling practices. After earning over 3,000 hours of work experience as a Marriage Family Therapist Intern, Lisa became a Christian and left the psychology field completely. Lisa now debunks the industry she once supported.

Ryan Bazler has a B.S. in electrical engineering and a Masters in Business Administration, and works in product management for high-technology companies. He enjoys writing Bible studies and ministering God's Word to others.

Ryan and Lisa were the founding directors of a Christian backpacking youth ministry for six years and now encourage help-seekers to turn to God instead of the futile teachings of psychology and psychiatry. The Bazlers reside in Carlsbad, California.