Depression is increasingly common, with malfunctioning brains as the prevailing cause as claimed by psychiatry. But what if much of the research is flawed or at least does not support this prevailing mantra? Some prominent researchers in psychiatry are making such a claim. What are the implications for the Christian suffering from depression?
Do you have a “soul” or are you a “soul”? Many theologians and modern translations have essentially “banished” the soul since the 1950s. The resulting vacuum has been filled by the mental health industry with often not the greatest results. But the Scriptures do support the soul and spirit integral to our being. This must be reclaimed to more fully understand healing and transforming prayer, among other reasons.
Some psychiatric drugs have been renamed and used for disorders or “mental illnesses” quite different from their original use. Patients are often under the impression that they are getting the latest, newest drug researched and developed just for their needs. That amounts to a “shell game” with medication. Some psychiatric diagnoses have gone through a number of different names until a “marketable” name was decided on. Then, a drug for that disorder or mental illness was soon easily prescribed and widely used. The end goal in all of this: increased market share and profitability for the pharmaceutical industry.
If depression “runs in families”, it is at least partly genetic, as many claim. But greed, atheism, criminality and more can “run in families” as well, which raises many ethical issues and problems. Some scientists even claim there is a gene for spirituality. With eugenics as the origin of the “runs in the family” concept, reductionism and the now known complexity of genetic effects, the genetics of mental illness is seriously flawed.
How valid are psychiatric diagnoses? Should you trust them and accept the influence they can have on your life? You might be surprised to discover that some prominent psychiatrists and researchers claim that these diagnoses are pseudo-scientific and problematic.
Healing Prayer and Wholeness 