Influential evangelical-fundamentalist Church leader John MacArthur (who recently passed away) was apparently a "mental health denialist". He didn´t believe ADHD, OCD, PTSD or depression were real things?! Or, to be more precise, he seems to have believed they were forms of negative thinking you can somehow out-God away (or out-Church away).
For some time now, I´ve been baffled by the fact that many conservative Christians in the affluent West seem unaware of things such as autism or flatly deny it. Obviously, if people like MacArthur were preaching against the very concept of mental illness, that´s part of the explanation.
Maybe this is a case of "positive thinking" and some kind of Christian or Protestant perfectionism coupled with the American craving for success in this world. Of course, there might also be a (perhaps legitimate) worry that Big Pharma and Big Shrink just wants to sell you their shit for profit and hence over-medicate. Or over-charge you for lifelong therapy?
Still, the outright mental illness denialism in these clips doesn´t strike me as a very good solution to the problem...
Han var kalvinist.
ReplyDeleteJo, men han kan ju ha varit omedvetet påverkad av andra saker också, som kanske är vanliga i amerikansk kultur eller amerikansk evangelikal kultur. Verkar ha varit en rätt obehaglig typ.
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