Dr Paul Allen

Why does this cultural issue have such vehement backing when all science points against it? When the rare mental illness known as gender identity disorder became “gender dysphoria” under the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in 2013, it set in motion a chain of events that led to the “transgender” craze. This relatively small name change effectively morphed a well-documented mental illness that had always presented in young boys into a more generalized feeling of discomfort with one’s own body that’s become much more prevalent in adolescent girls. “Dysphoria” means being uneasy or dissatisfied with life. In essence, the APA name change expanded something serious to make it more codable by the medical system, but in actuality, it helped start to foster the monster that would later be   dubbed by Dr. Lisa Littman   as Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD). In the early 2010s, renowned Finnish psychiatrist Dr. Riittakerttu Kaltiala was asked to   head Finland’s first gend...

David Murray When a friend or family member experiences mental illness, it can often be a time of great confusion. What’s happening? What should I do or say? What should I pray for? I want to give you some specific petitions to bring to God, but our attitude in prayer is as important as our words, so I want to encourage you to pray with hope, patience, and love. Pray with hope because we are praying to the God of hope (Rom. 15:13), who encourages us to believe in his power when we and the sufferer feel powerless. God can fully heal mental illness, or he can give varying degrees of improvement, or he can give help in managing the condition better. As Jesus said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God” (Luke 18:27). Pray with patience because changes for the better can take a long time, and we can easily give up praying when so little change is evident. Praying for someone with mental illness is more like a marathon than a sprint. It will develop your patience muscles more tha...

By Dan Crabtree According to a 2020 study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 21% of American adults suffer from a mental illness. Johns Hopkins says it’s 26%. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) says that in the US, 7 million people have a bipolar disorder, 21 million people have a major depressive episode each year, and 19.1 million people suffer from an anxiety disorder. As a result, NAMI records, suicide is the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-24, which has increased by 35% since 1999. Although many have, on the whole, become more educated, more technologically sophisticated, and our hospitals more medically advanced than ever before, according to these statistics, we are also more depressed, more anxious, and more attention deficit than ever before. In short, we are living under the sovereignty of psychology. Ours is a culture ruled by mental health diagnoses. For those who desire to live by the Bible, the ubiquity of ps...

Maybe you’ve received a psychiatric or psychological diagnosis from a doctor or a therapist. Maybe you’ve been told that you have General Anxiety Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Bipolar Disorder, Conduct Disorder, or some form of Substance Abuse Disorder. Or maybe you’ve diagnosed yourself by looking up information on these disorders online. However, you got it; now you’ve got a mental disorder diagnosis. You want to understand yourself rightly and honour the Lord with how you respond. What do you do? Before even dealing with a particular diagnosis, the worldview behind the diagnosis must be understood. In a previous article, we explored the assumptions behind the psychological bible’s classification of mental disorders. In short, the DSM-5-TR can’t explain our spiritual problems sufficiently because it assumes a non-spiritual, unbiblical worldview.  God’s Word, in contrast, is sufficient for “all of life and godliness” (2 Pet 1:3) and to ...

Is Christianity bad for our mental health ? Popular atheists often say so. Some go as far as to say that teaching children religion is really a form of abuse — at least any religion that teaches a doctrine of sin and divine punishment. They claim such teaching heaps a load of guilt on people and then traumatizes them with the terrible fear of the threat of hell. How could this not psychologically damage people? I’m glad the question is being raised, especially by those whose own worldview demands that people come to terms with their ultimate existential meaninglessness: that life is fundamentally a brutal fight to survive and pass on one’s genes. That love, compassion, and psychological well-being are at root naturally selected adaptations to encourage one to preserve DNA . That good and evil are only human psychological constructs. That all our frenetic activity and gene-passing is ultimately futile since sooner or later homo sapiens will undergo species extinction. And th...

The self-esteem movement as we know it really began when Adam and Eve ate the fruit in Eden . Before that, self-esteem wasn’t an issue. Adam and Eve were not lost, and so had no need to “find themselves.” They had healthy self-esteem because they knew God and esteemed him above all things, certainly above themselves. This made them healthy selves, secure in their identity as children of God and complementary members of each other. Their self-esteem was rooted in a glorious humility, and defined and experienced in a God-designed community where they both knew and were known by God. But that changed when they (and all of us since) detached themselves from God in their effort to be “like God” (Genesis 3:5). Self-esteem became rooted in pride, and seeking it became infected with selfish ambition. It mutated from a God-glorifying, complementary pursuit into a self-glorifying, competitive pursuit. Looking in the Wrong Places Around the turn of the twentieth century, theories o...

The self-care movement strives to address the stresses of everyday life with simple, practical habits. Clinically, “self-care” has to do with anything someone might do for the sake of their own physical or mental health , including, for instance, eating well, exercising , or sleeping eight hours a night. Functionally today, the articles seem to focus more on stress management , and often target women in the workplace (often with major responsibilities at home and at work). Self-care strategies attempt to apply structure and discipline to “me-time,” re-centering our world around ourselves (wouldn’t Ptolemy be proud?), and looking for hope, healing, and stability from some hidden place deep within ourselves. The list of strategies will vary from website to website, but they will often be some combination of the following steps (in this case, developed by the faculty at the University at Buffalo ): Start eating healthier. Work out regularly. Reduce stress. Prioritize and ...