"Ironically, the one culprit which has
been the major cause of the rapid and deep slide into immorality in the
last forty years is generally promoted rather than opposed by those
leading the crusade against immorality. That culprit is psychology.
Psychology's redefining of sin as
sickness has excused immorality and thus encouraged it. Instead of being
held accountable and called upon to repent, the sinner is diagnosed as
in need of "therapy." Everything from disobedience to murder is excused
these days as some kind of syndrome or addiction. Adulterers are now
"sex addicts" whose insurance covers lengthy "treatment" at Christian
psychiatric hospitals. Christ's command to "Go and sin no more" (Jn
8:11) is "too simplistic" these days.
The explosion of crime, rebellion and
immorality has coincided with the exponential growth of psychology since
the early 1950s, a growth which is still accelerating. There was a 43
percent increase in the number of Americans in the 10-19 age bracket
committed to psychiatric hospitals from 1980 to 1987, while the number
of private psychiatric beds per 100,000 persons more than doubled in the
five years from 1983 to 1988. What a growth industry! Psychology has
been rightly called the only profession that "creates the diseases which
it claims to cure."
The firm discipline which children need
and the Bible commends (Prv 13:24; 22:15; Heb 12:6, etc.) is now called
"child abuse," and children have even been taken by government agencies
from Christian parents who lovingly "applied the rod." What once was
recognized as laziness, disinterest, stubbornness or rebellion is now
excused as some new "syndrome." The number of children diagnosed as
having "learning disabilities" nearly tripled from 1977 to 1992!
Difficult children are placed on Ritalin after they and their parents
have been convinced by some therapist of their abnormality, a stigma
(and excuse) which will probably be with them for life. In spite of its
addictive nature, disputable evidence of its helpfulness, and many
reported incidents of violence and suicide brought on by withdrawal from
it, Ritalin is currently being given to about 1 million American
children. Whatever did we do without it?!
Inventing new kinds of "mental illness"
has increased the power of psychiatrists and psychologists over society.
Americans now suffer by the millions from alleged maladies that were
unknown a few years ago. These are defined in the "bible of mental
illness," the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM). When first
published in 1952 it listed 112 mental disorders, compared with a half
dozen 100 years earlier. DSM-II in 1968 listed 163. There were 224 in
DSM-III, published in 1980. DSM-IV came out in 1994 and the list of
disorders had grown to 374! Whence this raging epidemic of new mental
illnessesor are we being duped?! One newspaper editor wrote
sarcastically,
Does your 10-year-old dislike doing her
math homework? Better get her to the nearest couch because she's got No.
315.4, Developmental Arithmetic Disorder. Maybe you're a teenager
who argues with his parents. Uh-oh. Better get some medication pronto
because you've got No. 313.8, Oppositional Defiant Disorder....I
am not making these things up. (That would be Fictitious Disorder
Syndrome)....
I know there are some cynics out there
who...wouldn't be caught dead on a psychiatrist's couch....[Y]our
unwillingness to seek professional help is itself a symptom of a serious
mental problem. It's right here in the book: 15.81, Noncompliance
with Treatment Disorder."9
These newly defined "disabilities" are
creating a host of new "rights." George Will points out, "You have a
right to be a colossally obnoxious jerk on the job. If you are just
slightly offensive, your right will not kick in. But if you are
seriously insufferable to colleagues at work, you have a right not to be
fired, and you are entitled to have your employer make reasonable
accommodations for your 'disability.'" In a word, the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) encourages irresponsible and obnoxious
behavior. The authority behind ADA is DSM-IV's nearly 900 pages of
folly. Will continues:
Consider the DSM's definition of
"oppositional defiant disorder" [ODD] as a pattern of "negativistic,
defiant, disobedient and hostile behavior toward authority
figures...often loses temper ...is often touchy...or spiteful or
vindictive."
The DSM's list of "personality disorders"
includes "anti-social personality disorder" [ADD] ("a pervasive pattern
of disregard for...the rights of others....); "histrionic personality
disorder" [HPD] ("excessive emotionality and
attention-seeking...inappropriately sexually provocative or seductive");
"narcissistic personality disorder" [NPD] ("grandiosity, need for
admiration ...boastful and pretentious...may assume they do not have to
wait in line"), etc., etc.10
Selfish and sinful behavior is no longer
wrong but simply a sign that one is "special" and even entitled to
"rights" denied to the rest of us! Is it because so many of those
Christians leading the crusade against immorality in society are
committed to "Christian" psychology that they fail to sound the alarm
that psychology itself is the major contributor to today's growing
immorality? The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, not only from
the penalty of sin but from its power in our lives. The church has lost
confidence in God and His Word to meet our needs. The Christian
mission yes, Christianity itself has been redefined. Let us return to the
Lord and to His Word in obedience to our mission!"
From The Berean
Call - www.TheBereanCall.org
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