**  Please read the following articles together as a series,  in order to fully understand our position on these important issues.         Are Psychotherapies Coherent Science?           What Makes Counseling "Biblical"?           Medicine & Counseling: The Interface                Hopefully I'll be able to synthesize these articles into one article soon.  We agree that neurology, physiological psychology, comparative psychology (animal behavior / ethology), and limited dimensions of educational psychology (phonics validation, some psychometrics, training of Autistic or Down's Syndrome children, etc.) are valid disciplines, which have collected some useful observations.  When such observations do not conflict with biblical principles, they can potentially enhance the application of biblical, relational truths.  This, by the way, was an important fact that saved my life a few times, back when I was a zookeeper, training carnivores (lions, tigers, & bears).  In contrast, however, there are hundreds of changing "psychotherapeutic" philosophies and practices, claiming to offer "scientific" facts for Solving People-Problems.  Yet they involve non-material variables, such as mind, will, and emotions, which are beyond the reach of coherent, experimental science.  Remember, Jesus claimed that Holy Scripture contains sufficient counsel for developing mature psychological character and intimate relationships.  That is the realm of biblical counseling.  Sadly, few Christians, and not nearly enough pastors, seem to know or apply God's sufficient, biblical counsel for the progressive sanctification of the soul (Greek = psyche).

The history of psychotherapeutic counseling in the Church is a simple story of how biblical beliefs and practices about progressive sanctification were replaced by the world's prevailing philosophies regarding the soul and relationships. These philosophies subtly changed into pseudo-scientific psychologies. Now a new solution is "promised" for the problems of life and relationships. This new promised panacea is based on the erroneous belief that the etiology is somewhere in our brains not our souls, thus the cure must somehow be drugs.

Please note that no reputable "biblical counselor" would recommend that anyone who is currently taking any medication either reduce or stop the medicine without the advice and monitoring of a medical physician. The body often develops a dependence on some psychoactive medications, and a sudden change in the ongoing biochemical equilibrium can cause a serious rebound affect.

Also, we recognize that the careful and conservative use of psychoactive medications for proven, demonstrable, organic brain conditions such as Alzheimer's, brain lesions due to accidents or tumors, autism, etc., can help certain individuals process information more efficiently. Nevertheless, the following evidence will show that such medications have significant side effects, and that they are being grossly over prescribed for symptoms that have not been proven to arise from an organic etiology. What is worse, their use often simply covers over unpleasant affective symptoms that are actually caused by habitual patterns of destructive attitudes and actions. This makes the person feel better, so that they no longer feel the need to choose better attitudes and actions. Such treatment is qualitatively the same as a person who uses marijuana to feel better, when the real etiology of his problem could be a pattern of bitter self-pity, irresponsible behavior, and broken relationships. Far too often, the current psychiatric and psychological field fails to properly distinguish between symptoms, temptations (influences), and root causes (etiology), when it comes to soul/relational problems. The variables are so illusive and intangible that it is impossible to make such a distinction with certainty. We are therefore dependent upon the Creator, the Lord, and His Word about us, in order to recognize issues that are spiritual/relational in origin, rather than organic in origin. Remember Galatians 5:22-25, "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. . . ."

In order to discern truth from error on this issue, a number of crucial questions must be answered both Biblically and scientifically:

- Is psychotherapy a true coherent science, like chemistry, physics and medicine?
- If psychotherapy is not coherent science, then what is it?
- Do psychiatrists & neuroscientists sufficiently understand the CNS in order to justify the
    claims made by drug companies and physicians prescribing psychoactive medication?
- Does the evidence show drug treatments to be worthy of our trust and practice?
- What does the Bible say about this interface between the physical and the spiritual?
    * Is all apparent "truth", really God's Truth?
   * Is there any interaction between the physical & spiritual dimensions?
    * Does the Bible distinguish between truth about the physical realm and the spiritual?
    * Is medicine ever Biblically allowable? Is it ever Biblically prohibited?
    * Can biological problems hinder information processing in the brain?
    * Can biological problems prevent the fullness of the Spirit & His fruit?
    * What did God do before Freud, Jung, Maslow, Prozac, Ritalin, et. al.?

Is psychotherapy coherent science, like chemistry, physics, & medicine?

The AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION appointed Dr. Sigmund Koch to direct a study focusing on this question. It was subsidized by the NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, and involved 80 eminent scholars. Dr. Koch concludes:

"I think it by this time utterly and finally clear that psychology cannot be a coherent science." (Koch. Psychology Today, Sept. 1969, p.66)

Dr. Koch further illustrates this widespread deception about the pseudo-scientific superiority of psychotherapy in THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR, Vol. 42, No 4, Autumn 1973, p. 636)

"The hope of a psychological science became indistinguishable from the fact of psychological science. The entire subsequent history of psychology can be seen as the ritualistic endeavor to emulate the forms of science in order to sustain the delusion that it already is a science."

Dr. Robyn Dawes, Acting Department Head, Dept. of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, winner of the APA William James Award in 1990,  in his book House of Cards:  Psychology and Psychotherapy Built on Myth, 1994, published by The Free Press says:  

  "We also know that the credentials and experience of the psychotherapists are unrelated to patient outcomes, based on well over five hundred scientific studies of psychotherapy outcome." (p. 38)  

  "Psychotherapy, has often been categorized a medical procedure, but as we have seen, it lacks the scientific grounding that characterizes modern medicine."  (p. 133)  

  "Professionals in psychology and psychotherapy clearly benefit from a New Age psychology - it brings them clients.  Unfortunately, they in turn contribute to and reinforce that psychology.  . . . . the professionals' ‘view' has become highly compatible with the new Age view.  In particular, that very egoism . . . has come to be viewed as a necessary component of ‘mental health.'  . . . they are highly influenced by cultural beliefs and fads:  currently, the obsession with ‘me.'  . . . . in particular, a view that feelings and self-esteem ‘cause' certain problems, in the absence of evidence."  (p. 250)  

Dr. Thomas Szasz, has written many works addressing the legal and pseudo-scientific problems with the field of psychology including Psychiatric Slavery, also The Myth of Mental Illness, and its sequel, The Myth of Psychotherapy.   

  ". . . . psychotherapy . . . consists simply of talking and listening.  Since this conversation, regardless of how pretentiously we name it, concerns the question of how people should live, it is axiomatic that psychotherapy is a ministerial rather than a medical enterprise."  (p. vii, The Myth of Psychotherapy, 1988, Syracuse Univ. Press)  

Psychiatrist-lawyer, Robitscher, M.D., in THE POWER OF PSYCHIATRY, p. 8,
"His advice is followed because he is a psychiatrist, even though the scientific validity of his advice and recommendations has never been firmly established."
(and on p. 183 he says:)
"The infuriating quality of psychiatrists is . . . their insistence that they are scientific and correct and that their detractors, therefore, must be wrong."

If Psychotherapy Is Not Science, Then What is It?

Dr. William Kilpatrik, professor of educational psychology at Boston College, with degrees from Harvard and Purdue provides a fascinating suggestion:

"It is true that popular psychology shares much in common with Eastern religion: in fact, a merger is well under way. But if you're talking about Christianity, it is much truer to say that psychology and religion are competing faiths. If you seriously hold to one set of values, you will logically have to reject the other." (Psychological Seduction: The Failure of Modern Psychology, 1983, p. 14)

E. Fuller Torrey, M.D., research psychiatrist, says: "The techniques used by Western psychiatrists are, with few exceptions, on exactly the same scientific plane as the techniques used by witch doctors." (THE MIND GAME, p. 8).

Karl Popper, Ph.D., considered by many to be the greatest 20th century philosopher of science speaks to this question in "SCIENTIFIC THEORY AND FALSIFIABILITY", PERSPECTIVES IN PHILOSOPHY, Beck ed. 1975, p. 343. After examining various theories of psychotherapy, Dr. Popper says: "though posing as sciences, (they) had in fact more in common with primitive myths than with science...."

Paul Vitz, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at NY University and author of PSYCHOLOGY AS RELIGION: THE CULT OF SELF-WORSHIP, says:
"In university psychology departments, hundreds of thousands of students every year still take courses in which the books and critical analyses cited above are almost never, if ever mentioned. Far from being concerned with scholarly and intellectual debate, our psychology departments and their courses focus on supporting the profession, keeping student enrollment up and faculty morale high.
". . . .More specifically, contemporary psychology is a form of secular humanism based on the rejection of god and the worship of the self." (p. xii)

Tana Dineen, Ph.D., p. 104, Manufacturing Victims:  What the Psychology Industry is Doing to People.  Robert Davies Publishing, 1998.  Dr. Dineen is the former treatment director of a large psychiatric hospital in Canada, and a former psychotherapist.  In response to the growing evidence, she resigned from her psychotherapeutic practice in order to research and write this comprehensive expose of the mega-business of psychotherapy.]  

"The growth of psychology as an industry is conveniently ignored or over-looked in most records of the history of psychology.     . . . . a parallel history exists involving deceptions to mislead consumers, economic associations to advance the profession, and biased attention to whatever pays."   

Do psychiatrists & neuroscientists sufficiently understand the CNS in order to justify the claims made by drug companies and physicians prescribing psychoactive medication?

Peter Breggin, M.D., & David Cohen, Ph.D., in YOUR DRUG MAY BE YOUR PROBLEM: HOW AND WHY TO STOP TAKING PSYCHIATRIC MEDICATIONS. 1999.
[Please note, Peter is not a Christian, so his "spiritual" views are generic and unbiblical. In August of 1998, I had the privilege to speak at a conference along with Peter Breggin and others. My personal discussions with him convinced me that he is one of the most sincere, committed, and knowledgeable experts in the realms of neurology, CNS biochemistry, and psychopharmacology. So I believe his works are well worth reading in order to balance the prevailing propaganda about biopsychiatry and medication.]
     "Do we know what we are doing to our brains and minds when we take psychiatric drugs? Do we know what we are doing to our children when we give them these substances?
     Consider this extraordinary reality. The human brain has more individual cells (neurons) than there are stars in the sky. Billions! And each neuron may have 10,000 or more connections (synapses) to other brain cells, creating a network with trillions of interconnections. In fact, the brain is . . . . more complex than the entire physical universe . . . of galaxies."
     "Scientists have well-developed ideas about how the physical universe works. They possess mathematical formulae for describing the various forces that control the relationships among physical entities from black holes to subatomic particles."
[But] ". . . those trillions of interconnections between brain cells, for example, are mediated by hundreds of chemical messengers (neurotransmitters), as well as by hormones, proteins, tiny ions such as sodium and potassium, and other substances. We have limited knowledge about how a few of these chemicals messengers work, but little or no idea as to how they combine to produce brain function." (p. 5)
"Are There Biochemical Imbalances? As one of our colleagues recently said, 'Biochemical imbalances are the only diseases spread by word of mouth'." (p. 6)

Does the evidence show drug treatments to be worthy of our trust and practice?

Peter Breggin, M.D., & David Cohen, Ph.D., in YOUR DRUG MAY BE YOUR PROBLEM: HOW AND WHY TO STOP TAKING PSYCHIATRIC MEDICATIONS. 1999.
"Psychiatric drugs are much more dangerous than many consumers and even physicians realize. All of these drugs produce numerous serious and potentially fatal adverse reactions, and most are capable of causing withdrawal problems that are emotionally and physically distressing." (p. ix)

"If people do feel better when drinking alcohol or smoking marijuana, it is because they feel better when their brain is impaired. Psychiatric drugs are no different. The people . . . may feel less of their emotional suffering. They may even reach a state of relative anesthesia. But to the degree that they feel better, it is because they are experiencing intoxication with the drugs." (p. 2)

What does the Bible, God's Word, say about this interface between the physical and the spiritual?

* Is all apparent "truth", really God's Truth?
* Is there any interaction between the physical & spiritual dimensions?
* Does the Bible make a distinction between truth about the physical realm and the spiritual?
* Is medicine ever Biblically allowable? Is it ever Biblically prohibited?
* Can biological problems hinder information processing in the brain?
* Can biological problems prevent the fullness of the fruit of the Holy Spirit?
* What did God do before Freud, Jung, Maslow, Prozac, Ritalin, et. al.?

For answers to these and similar questions, please see the following related articles:
http://www.soulcare.org/articles_counseling.htm

October 2000 Volume 62 Number 5 September/October 2000 Psychosomatic Medicine Journal of the American Psychosomatic Society 633 Exercise Treatment for Major Depression: Maintenance of Therapeutic Benefit at 10 Months
Michael Babyak, PhD, James A. Blumenthal, PhD, Steve Herman, PhD, Parinda Khatri, PhD, Murali Doraiswamy, MD, Kathleen Moore, PhD, W. Edward Craighead, PhD, Teri T. Baldewicz, PhD, and K. Ranga Krishnan, MD
Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the status of 156 adult volunteers with major depressive disorder (MDD) 6 months after completion of a study in which they were randomly assigned to a 4-month course of aerobic exercise, sertraline therapy, or a combination of exercise and sertraline.
Methods: The presence and severity of depression were assessed by clinical interview using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) and by self-report using the Beck Depression Inventory. Assessments were performed at baseline, after 4 months of treatment, and 6 months after treatment was concluded (ie, after 10 months).
Results: After 4 months patients in all three groups exhibited significant improvement; the proportion of remitted participants (ie, those who no longer met diagnostic criteria for MDD and had an HRSD score |Ld8) was comparable across the three treatment conditions. After 10 months, however, remitted subjects in the exercise group had significantly lower relapse rates (p = .01) than subjects in the medication group. Exercising on one's own during the follow-up period was associated with a reduced probability of depression diagnosis at the end of that period (odds ratio = 0.49, p = .0009).
Conclusions: Among individuals with MDD, exercise therapy is feasible and is associated with significant therapeutic benefit, especially if exercise is continued over time.

April 2000 Interview with Dr. Peter Breggin, psychiatrist and author of "Talking Back to Ritalin" and "Toxic Psychiatry" - about the use of psychoactive drugs in children.
The following is a sample of the Q & A:
Question: "That’s interesting. You’ve basically implied that they’ve turned our schools into something other than schools. What do you think the government has in mind by turning our schools into little clinics?"
Breggin: "It’s going to get even worse if Hillary follows her plan that I describe in Reclaiming Our Children."

JAMA - Feb 23, 2000 (Journal of the American Medical Association) "Trends in the Prescribing of Psychotropic Medications to Preschoolers", Julie Magno Zito, PhD; Daniel J. Safer, MD; Susan dos Reis, PhD; James F. Gardner, ScM; Myde Boles, PhD; Frances Lynch, PhD.
Context - Recent reports on the use of psychotropic medications for preschool-aged children with behavioral and emotional disorders warrant further examination of trends in the type and extent of drug therapy and sociodemographic correlates.
WND REVIEW of the JAMA report.

You can request a copy of a 7 pp editorial by David Powlison, Ph.D. on "Biological Psychiatry" from The Journal of Biblical Counseling.

And be sure to see our companion article: "Are Psychotherapies Coherent Science or Religious Philosophies (What did God Do Before Sigmund Freud)?"

Pharmacracy: Medicine and Politics in America (2001)  Dr. Thomas Szasz, professor of psychiatry emeritus, State University of New York Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, author of over 400 articles and 19 books, has written many works addressing the legal and pseudo-scientific problems with the field of psychology including: Psychiatric Slavery, also The Myth of Mental Illness, and its sequel, The Myth of Psychotherapy 

Margaret A. Hagen, Ph.D., psychology professor at Boston University, Whores of the Court : The Fraud of Psychiatric Testimony and the Rape of American Justice, Elizabeth Loftus, Ph.D., author of The Myth of Repressed Memory and Eyewitness Testimony, says: "This sizzling expose by a courageous psychological scientist shines a brilliant light on the incalculable harm done to millions of Americans by the purveyors of psychological pseudoscience who have invaded our courtrooms."

John Horgan, The Undiscovered MIND: How the Human Brain Defies Replication, Medication, and Explanation. (Free Press, 1999). This new book expands on the questions, critiques, and evidential examinations he began in a couple of the chapters in his acclaimed work, The End of Science. As he turned his award winning investigative skills and expertise on the field of "mind-science", he says he "didn't become any less pessimistic about the current state of mind-science. Quite the contrary (p. 10-11).

Walter A. Brown, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Brown University School of Medicine and Tufts University School of Medicine says about The Undiscovered MIND:
"John Horgan has done it again.   . . . . Horgan makes complicated lines of research accessible and compelling to the nonprofessional . . . ."

Howard Gardner, Harvard University Graduate School of Education says:
"Freud, Prozac, genes, evolution, smart machines - John Horgan offers a healthy antidote to facile claims that the enigmas of the human mind will be solved - or dissolved - by a single scientific approach."