Is it possible that we've overemphasized mental health, and mental
unhealth, as the cause for people's problems, and in doing so
overlooked the growing "moral sickness" in our society?
I would argue that it is unclear that society is any more "morally sick" than it has ever been. We know more about what goes on now - we know more about what goes on in distant places, more information, more news, and perhaps more tolerance of certain things that have always been with us.
-in the chapter on the human nervous system you are likely to encounter
descriptions of how serotonin deficits contribute to clinical depression,
and how dopamine excesses are attributed to schizophrenia
I am completelly unclear as to how the concept of sin would help us to treat the person suffering with depression or schizophrenia as well as a good scientific understanding of neurochemistry. Although if Fox News was any indication last night, there are those who would still as soon see an exorcist as a psychiatrist ; ).
Classic studies like Milgram’s teach us how
prone we are to follow authority, even when it is corrupt, and Zimbardo’s
prison studies, demonstrating our human capacity to oppress others
And so too perhaps they can help us understand why people blindly follow secular OR religious leaders who accuse certain people of being inferior, sinful, etc. and encourage them to hurt, oppress and slaughter those people. This behavior has occurred in the name of pretty much every religion on the planet. Milgram and Zimbardo's work is certainly more enlightening than any religious take on the subject I have read.
As a former Catholic, I can also tell you that I got very little help from the strategy of confess "sin" and receive "absolution" by praying. It has been much more useful for me to examine my behaviors and reach beyond my rationalizations and need to reduce the cognitive dissonance I experience and to improve my behavior. Asking for forgiveness might assauge a guilty conscience, but actually changing my behavior when I have been able to do so has been far more gratifying (morally and intellectually.)
So, my take is, no. Not for me or for most other people I know. Of course, a person seeking a Christian psychologist" is probably going to see it differently than I do. If I were practicing at this time, and had such a client present for treatment, I would most likely refer them to a Christian provider as I could not validate the perspective.
Nancy Melucci
LACCD
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