Welcome to the January 2009 issue of the Psychology Debunked newsletter!
Our calling is to be "watchmen on the wall" for the church, protecting her from the harmful influence of psychology, psychiatry and pharmaceuticals. This year, we also want to focus on ways we can improve our marriages--an area frequently pervaded by psychological thinking. As a former Marriage Family Therapist intern, my passion is relationships, and in a day when the Christian divorce rate rivals the world's, knowing and obeying biblical marriage principles is more important than ever.
Along these lines, we've created "The Ten Commandments of a Blessed Marriage." Here is Commandment #1:
1.Remember your roles.God has ordained specific roles for the husband and wife that when followed, will bring blessing. Remember the purpose of marriage is not happiness and self-fulfillment; the purpose of marriage is to reflect Christ’s relationship with His church to the world. It’s not about pleasing ourselves; it’s about pleasing God.
Eph 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Eph 5:24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so [let] the wives [be] to their own husbands in every thing.
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Eph 5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
This month in the news, Eli Lilly takes the honors for paying the biggest Department of Justice settlement amount in U.S. history, more FDA suicide warnings, a sneak peak at the new DSM, a review of the biggest corrupt drug pushers of 2008, and a don't-miss video interview with Dr. Peter Breggin, the conscience of psychiatry.
In the personal growth file, this month we start a pharmakeia series of audio sermons by Pastor Scott Johnson; we learn what true love really means; and we review the biblical diagnosis and treatment of borderline
personality disorder.
May you be informed and encouraged!
As unto the Lord,
Lisa and Ryan Bazler
Lilly to pay $1.42 billion to settle DoJ Zyprexa probe
You read that right: $1.42 billion. Lilly intentionally marketed their blockbuster antipsychotic drug Zyprexa for unapproved, or "off-label," uses, which is against the law. The drug raked in $4.76 billion for Lilly in 2007 alone, and accounted for 25% of the company's revenue that year, in part due to pushing the drug to treat many off-label conditions beyond bipolar and schizophrenia. The settlement is the largest ever in U.S. Department of Justice history.more »
Zyprexa and its antipsychotic brethren are known to cause rapid weight gain, type-2 diabetes, and cardiovascular conditions, and a recent CATIE study showed increased risk of coronary heart disease from taking the drug.
FDA: 2X risk of suicide with mood stabilizers / anti-epileptic drugs
The FDA has ordered a label update for all anti-epileptic drugs (aka "mood stabilizers") warning patients of an increased risk in suicidal thoughts or behaviors. Test data showed a 2X risk over placebo.more »
New DSM promises more disorder nonsense
The fifth edition of psychiatry's bible, the DSM of mental disorders, promises more of the same: subjective, pseudo-scientific labels created by pharma-funded panel "experts." These contributing psychiatrists have been forced to work in secrecy by the head of the APA DSM-V committee, Dr. Darrell Regie, who also happens to head an APA "research" wing that receives millions in drug company funding.
How can the DSM-V reflect true science when its disorders are not discovered, but rather invented by drug company interests behind closed doors? How can proponents of the DSM-V proclaim its scientific basis when disorders are defined by checklists of subjective behaviors and then voted upon with a show of hands (more in Ryan Bazler's "The DSM: Psychiatry's Bible Exposed" CD)? How can anyone take the DSM seriously when it has grown from a few dozen unusual mental disorders 50 years ago to likely over 400 in DSM-V, including behaviors once thought normal or idiosyncratic?
NY Times: "The [DSM-V] book is at least three years away from publication, but it is already stirring bitter debates over a new set of possible psychiatric disorders.
"Is compulsive shopping a mental problem? Do children who continually recoil from sights and sounds suffer from sensory problems — or just need extra attention? Should a fetish be considered a mental disorder, as many now are?"more »
SSRI pushers under fire in 2008
Investigative journalist Evelyn Pringle reviews stories of the many prominent psychiatrists in 2008 who were exposed and disgraced by the Senate Finance Committee for not disclosing millions in drug company gifts, even as they pushed disorders and the drugs that "treat" them to a trusting public and medical establishment. more »
Breggin's Medication Madness hits store shelves
Drug-opposing psychiatrist (an oxymoron nowadays?) Dr. Peter Breggin, who we quote extensively in our book, has just released a new book entitled Medication Madness.This interview between Breggin and a newscaster shows Breggin summing up the no-drug position with grace, tact and effectiveness. May we all aspire to model his approach!See the interview »
Pharmakeia and modern day drug use, Part 1
Pastor Scott Johnson dissects the biblical concept of pharmakeia and ties it to modern day mind-altering drug use in this hard-hitting, truth-telling sermon audio series entitled "Pharmakeia: Sorcery, Pharmaceuticals & the Roots of Modern Day Drug Use."Here is Part 1.
Do we love our spouses?
Most of us think we do, but how do we measure up to the Bible's definition of "love?" The article "Assessing Love in Marriage" by Jeremy Lelek, President of ABC, helps us gauge our current condition and areas needing improvement.more »
Letters
These readers courageously spoke the truth to their Christian co-workers and friends, and trusted God for the results.more »
Q&A
This reader asks, "How do you help someone diagnosed with borderline personality disorder?" See our answer.
"Quite a few of the top pushers are also under investigation by the Committee due to revelations that millions of dollars has changed hands between the SSRI makers and the academics who signed off on some of the most fraudulently reported research in the history of modern medicine...
"All total, Dr Nemeroff earned more than $2.8 million from drug companies between 2000 and 2007, but failed to disclose at least $1.2 million to Emory [University], according to the Senator." --Evelyn Pringle, Investigative Journalist
"HTML clipboard"After protests by gay activists provoked a scientific review, the “homosexuality” diagnosis was dropped in 1973. It was replaced by “sexual orientation disturbance” and then “ego-dystonic homosexuality” before being dropped in 1987.
“You had, in my opinion, what was a social issue, not a medical one; and, in some sense, psychiatry evolved through interaction with the wider culture,” Dr. Drescher said." --From DSM-V article
"Couples are often much more astute in their understanding of "love" from the vantage point of commercialism (books, movies, commercials, etc.) than from the viewpoint of Scripture. One important aspect of biblical counseling is educational, and for Christian couples, acquiring biblical knowledge of true love is imperative."
--Jeremy Lelek, President of ABC
"Isn't it just amazing how even those that are in the Word can be so blind to the truth and fail to trust in the sufficiency of the Word?"
Do you have a question relating to secular or "Christian" psychology, mental disorders/diseases, psychiatric medications, or biblical counseling? Ask us.
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The mission of this ministry is to inform mental sufferers and those from whom they seek help of the physical, mental and spiritual dangers of mental health disorders and treatments, and to encourage them to pursue a drug-free, psychology-free, Christ-centered life. Visitors to this web site taking psychotropic drugs who wish to discontinue use are strongly advised to consult a qualified physician for assistance and supervision before starting the discontinuation process. This ministry and web site provides information to help visitors make the most informed decisions about their mental health, and should not replace the advice of a medical doctor.
