5 Biblical Foundations

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National Alliance on Mental Illness

National Alliance on Mental Illness •

“Approximately 1 in 25 adults in the U.S. experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.”

National Alliance on Mental Illness •

“Approximately 1 in 25 adults in the U.S. experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.”

•

“18.1% of adults in the U.S. experienced an anxiety disorder such as post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and specific phobias.”

5 Biblical Foundations

5 Biblical Foundations 1. God’s Word is sufficient for a life that pleases God.

5 Biblical Foundations 1. God’s Word is sufficient for a life that pleases God. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

5 Biblical Foundations

5 Biblical Foundations 2. God created humans as complex beings.

5 Biblical Foundations 2. God created humans as complex beings. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

5 Biblical Foundations 2. God created humans as complex beings. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

5 Biblical Foundations

5 Biblical Foundations 3. God has given humans the right to do science.

5 Biblical Foundations 3. God has given humans the right to do science. Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

5 Biblical Foundations “This mandate…underwrites true science, technology and the necessity to develop a God-glorifying culture; in other words, this action of subduing denotes a conscious effort to discover the secrets and treasures of creation for the enrichment of humans to the glory of God.” -Rolland McCune

5 Biblical Foundations

5 Biblical Foundations 4. The Fall of humanity into sin impacts every aspect of humans as well as the physical world in which we live.

5 Biblical Foundations 4. The Fall of humanity into sin impacts every aspect of humans as well as the physical world in which we live. 2 Corinthians 4:16b “…Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”

5 Biblical Foundations Colossians 1:21a “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind…” Romans 8:7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.

5 Biblical Foundations Genesis 3:17-18 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.

5 Biblical Foundations Romans 8:20-22 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

5 Biblical Foundations

5 Biblical Foundations 5. When God regenerates a person, as they believe the gospel of Jesus, He gives them a new spiritual mind and then continues to renew their minds in the sanctification process.

5 Biblical Foundations 5. When God regenerates a person, as they believe the gospel of Jesus, He gives them a new spiritual mind and then continues to renew their minds in the sanctification process. 2 Corinthians 4:16b “…Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”

5 Biblical Foundations Ephesians 2:1-5 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved…”

5 Biblical Foundations

5 Biblical Foundations 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

5 Biblical Foundations 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. Col. 3:9-10 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

5 Biblical Foundations

5 Biblical Foundations Ephesians 4:17, 23 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds….23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds.

5 Biblical Foundations Ephesians 4:17, 23 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds….23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds. Romans 12:1-2a I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…”

Descriptions and Prescriptions: a Biblical Perspective on Psychiatric Diagnoses and Medications by Michael Emlet

What is mental illness?

What is mental illness? Mayo Clinic: “Mental Illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions — disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior…Many people have mental health concerns from time to time. But a mental health concern becomes a mental illness when ongoing signs and symptoms cause frequent stress and affect your ability to function.”

DSM-5

“A mental disorder is a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental process underlying mental functioning.”

What is mental illness? Mayo Clinic: “Mental Illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions — disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior…Many people have mental health concerns from time to time. But a mental health concern becomes a mental illness when ongoing signs and symptoms cause frequent stress and affect your ability to function.”

What is mental illness?

What is mental illness? Examples from DSM-5: Addiction, Autism, Asperger’s, Bipolar, Depression, Eating Disorders, OCD, Borderline Personality Disorder, PTSD, and Schizophrenia.

What is mental illness? Examples from DSM-5: Addiction, Autism, Asperger’s, Bipolar, Depression, Eating Disorders, OCD, Borderline Personality Disorder, PTSD, and Schizophrenia. Examples from DSM-5: Pyromania, Kleptomania, Voyeurism, Sadism, Pedophilic Disorder, and Exhibitionism.

What is mental illness?

What is mental illness? Michael Emlet: “It’s important to recognize that there are no laboratory tests or radiological studies (e.g., CT, PET, or MRI scans) that are generally used to arrive at diagnoses. For the vast majority of psychiatric diagnoses, the patient’s selfreport of his symptoms and the psychiatrist’s observations of the person are the foundation of the diagnostic enterprise.” [exceptions being substance or sleep-related diagnoses]

What is mental illness?

What is mental illness? Mayo Clinic: “But if your child or teenager has a frequent and persistent pattern of anger, irritability, arguing, defiance or vindictiveness toward you and other authority figures, he or she may have oppositional defiant disorder.”

What is mental illness? Mayo Clinic: “But if your child or teenager has a frequent and persistent pattern of anger, irritability, arguing, defiance or vindictiveness toward you and other authority figures, he or she may have oppositional defiant disorder.” Mayo Clinic: “Kleptomania is the recurrent inability to resist urges to steal items that you generally don't really need and that usually have little value.”

What is mental illness?

What is mental illness? Michael Emlet: “We should take care that behaviors that are first and foremost violations of the first and second great commandments to love God and others are not neutralized, sanitized, or fully excused by a particular diagnosis. Their victims [i.e. the ones violated by sinful behavior] deserve at least that much.”

DSM-5

“A diagnosis does not carry any necessary implications regarding the causes of the individual’s mental disorder or the individual’s degree of control over behaviors that may be associated with the disorder.”

Unhelpful Reactions to Mental Health Trials

Unhelpful Reactions to Mental Health Trials 1. Inappropriately judge individuals by saying, “No true believer can really struggle with mental health issues.”

Unhelpful Reactions to Mental Health Trials 1. Inappropriately judge individuals by saying, “No true believer can really struggle with mental health issues.” Jeremiah 20:14-18 Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed! 15 Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, “A son is born to you,” making him very glad. 16 Let that man be like the cities that the Lord overthrew without pity; let him hear a cry in the morning and an alarm at noon, 17 because he did not kill me in the womb; so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb forever great. 18 Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?

Unhelpful Reactions to Mental Health Trials

Unhelpful Reactions to Mental Health Trials 2. Make a mental health diagnoses the sum total of a person’s identity.

Unhelpful Reactions to Mental Health Trials 2. Make a mental health diagnoses the sum total of a person’s identity. 3. Avoid those with mental health issues.

Unhelpful Reactions to Mental Health Trials 2. Make a mental health diagnoses the sum total of a person’s identity. 3. Avoid those with mental health issues. 4. Try to be their doctor.

Unhelpful Reactions to Mental Health Trials 2. Make a mental health diagnoses the sum total of a person’s identity. 3. Avoid those with mental health issues. 4. Try to be their doctor. 5. Use Bible verses like pixie dust.

Game-Plan for Dealing with Mental Health Issues.

Game-Plan for Dealing with Mental Health Issues. 1. Be Sure You Have Been Regenerated.

Game-Plan for Dealing with Mental Health Issues. 1. Be Sure You Have Been Regenerated. 2. Pursue Ongoing Mind-Renewal.

Game-Plan for Dealing with Mental Health Issues. 1. Be Sure You Have Been Regenerated. 2. Pursue Ongoing Mind-Renewal. Colossians 3:1-4 If then you have been raised with Christ [that is, if you’ve been regenerated]…2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Game-Plan for Dealing with Mental Health Issues.

Game-Plan for Dealing with Mental Health Issues.

3. Get Appropriate Medical and Physical Care. “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life…” (1 Kings 19:4)

Game-Plan for Dealing with Mental Health Issues.

Game-Plan for Dealing with Mental Health Issues. 4. Learn How to Handle Yourself.

Game-Plan for Dealing with Mental Health Issues. 4. Learn How to Handle Yourself. Psalm 42:5 “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation…”

Game-Plan for Dealing with Mental Health Issues. 4. Learn How to Handle Yourself. Psalm 42:5 “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation…” 5. Seek Christian Community.