Welcome to the March 2010 issue of the Psychology Debunked newsletter!
In the latter portion of Psychology Debunked: Revealing the Overcoming Life, we explain what the Bible teaches about overcoming common areas of struggle for the Christian: the flesh, the world, difficult circumstances, and Satan. But before we can tackle these specific areas, we must first "qualify" for the overcoming life, discussed in Chapter 14. This month, we will look at the first of three qualifications:
Qualification #1: Die to Self
Mat 16:24Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Mat 16:25For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Gal 2:20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Jhn 12:25He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Dying to self means to stop giving time and attention to sinful and selfish thoughts and behaviors. Dying to self means to consider your self life (everything sinful, self-pleasing and contrary to God's good and perfect will for your life) as dead and nailed to the cross. If it's on the cross, then God has cleansed, forgiven, and forgotten it forever. It should no longer capture my attention and affection because God has declared my self-life--my old life--is dead and buried with Christ.
We don't hear much about dying to self these days, but it is the necessary first step in overcoming that which is overcoming us. In next month's issue we will explain why dying to self is so important.
In the news this month, psychiatric drug use continues to explode, leaving death and disease in its wake; managing our nursing home elderly with mind-numbing antipsychotics; baseball bats and TVs at WalMart; a rigged depression quiz that benefits pharma; poking more fun at the upcoming DSM-V; and another psychotherapist debunks the medical myth of depression. This month's Q&A reviews dementia, and Letters offers us more insight on sex addiction.
We hope you enjoy the issue and forward to others.
Crucified with Christ,
Lisa and Ryan Bazler
Rx drug-related harm and deaths continue to rise
Vera Sherav of AHRP quips, "One has to wonder why discovery of defective cars are front page news while defective FDA-approved prescription drugs are accepted as part of life's risk.
"According to the database maintained by the National Highway Safety Administration there were 34 deaths alleged to be attributable to defective Toyota cars (13 of those deaths occurred between 2005 and 2010). Toyota has recalled 8.5 million cars.
"Yet, defective FDA-approved drugs that kill thousands of people every week!"
Avandia and Seroquel are the worst offenders. The antipsychotic Seroquel causes diabetes and Avandia, touted as a diabetes treatment, causes a 43% increase in heart attacks. more »
Military psych drug use growing, along with suicides
"At least one in six service members is on some form of psychiatric drug. And many troops are taking more than one kind, mixing several pills in daily 'cocktails' for example, an antidepressant with an antipsychotic to prevent nightmares, plus an anti-epileptic to reduce headaches despite minimal clinical research testing such combinations.
"The drugs come with serious side effects: They can impair motor skills, reduce reaction times and generally make a war fighter less effective. Some double the risk for suicide, prompting doctors and Congress to question whether these drugs are connected to the rising rate of military suicides.
"'It's really a large-scale experiment. We are experimenting with changing people's cognition and behavior,' said Dr. Grace Jackson, a former Navy psychiatrist. A Military Times investigation of electronic records obtained from the Defense Logistics Agency shows DLA spent $1.1 billion on common psychiatric and pain medications from 2001 to 2009. It also shows that use of psychiatric medications has increased dramatically about 76 percent overall, with some drug types more than doubling since the start of the current wars. more »
Also see this article describing our veterans diagnosed with PTSD, given Seroquel and other drug cocktails, and dying as a result.
J&J pushes antipsychotic Risperdal on elderly for dementia; nursing home use out of control
"Based on its review of the documents, Bloomberg reports that the company tried to sell Risperdal for a variety of off-label uses, including dementia, an indication for which the drug was never approved. Janssen expanded its geriatric sales force almost threefold during that time." more »
"Data collected by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services show that 28 percent of Massachusetts nursing home residents were given antipsychotics in 2009. Of that group, 22 percent - or 2,483 - did not have a medical condition that calls for such treatment." more »
WalMart TV basher on antidepressants
"The man who attacked a row of flat-screen televisions at a Walmart in Lilburn on Wednesday told police that he was on medication for depression." more »
WebMD depression quiz: every person tests "at risk"
Many mental health web sites are simply fronts for drug company promotion and propaganda. WebMD is no exception, with their Eli Lilly-sponsored "Depression Symptoms Quiz." By design, every person is at risk for depression, because every person is a potential drug customer.more »
The quackery continues with the DSM-V task force, inventing disorders without a shred of scientific inquiry or chemical markers, as this article admits:
"‘Hoarding’ is just one of the new mental conditions being added to the psychiatrists’ bible, or the Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders (DSM), to give it its proper name.
"Other new conditions identified as possibly needing professional help include binge eating - which is said to affect many people who are seriously obese - and ‘cognitive tempo disorder’, which seems very like laziness (symptoms include dreaminess and sluggishness).
"There’s also ‘intermittent explosive disorder’, which involves occasionally becoming very angry suddenly.
"Most bizarre of the proposed additions is one defined as ‘getting a thrill at being outraged by pornography’." more »
Psychotherapist: "Disease" of depression is manufactured
Psychotherapist and author Gary Greenberg argues that "depression can be debilitating -- but that it’s also been largely created by doctors and drug companies as a medical condition."more »
Q&A
This reader asks, "How can I help my grandmother who has dementia?" See our response here.
Letters
This letter from a reader is in response to last month's Q&A on how to deal with a sex addict. She has personal experience living with a sex addict and offers some good advice, including referring that reader's spouse to a ministry specializing in sexual impurity issues (Pure Life Ministries). Read the letter »
"The chairman of the task force, Dr David Kupfer, claims the updates are firmly based on scientific evidence. However, while scientists have made huge strides in understanding the brain’s workings using scans, DSM-V will rely on descriptions of disorders because there’s not a single biological marker for them. So while doctors predict your risk of heart disease from your cholesterol levels and blood pressure, there are no physical tests for hoarding, say."
--Jerome Bryne, The London Daily Mail: "Psychiatrists want to call being angry a mental illness. How utterly mad!"
"It’s two decades after Prozac was introduced, which saw an explosion of two things: one of them is sales of antidepressants in the Prozac generation, and the other is the rates of diagnosis of depression. And in the book, what I’m trying to do is to show how these two things go together and how, in many respects, the drugs came first, and how this was something that has grown historically."
--Psychotherapist Gary Greenberg, author of "Manufacturing Depression: The Secret History of a Modern Disease."
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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.
