Born Again Christianity, Substance Addiction, Psychiatric Medication

Here I am offering a redaction of a letter I wrote to the sister of a man who has been saddled with a bipolar diagnosis and has been on psychiatric medication.  He and the sister have both bathed in the pools of Born Again Christianity.  Now this man has been charged with a serious violent crime and is being held in jail.  Many have wanted to write this man off and forget about him.  One of the reasons for this is that someone has figured that this man is vulnerable and could collapse under the weight of the legal system and end up pleading guilty.  This person wants this because he is afraid of the situation turning around and then getting charged himself.

Though this text originates in a private email, here I have redacted it for public view.  The reason I am doing so is to promote original discussion.

One of my feelings is that people who live in other countries might read this and be surprised about how so many Americans think and how their family relationships work.  Better I say, this would be my hope, that the whole world doesn't think this way.  So please do tell me how things work where ever you live.

The captains of finance and industry do not think this way, but they do yield to it.  And certainly the politicians pander to it and it does play a decisive role in our politics.  I feel that this is why many of our policies seem irrational and apocalyptic.

[ They are saying that your brother has a bipolar diagnosis and has been on medication.  Well I don't believe that such psychiatric conditions even exist.  And certainly I don't support the use of medication.

Most of the people who hang out at that park start drinking as soon as they wake up in the morning.  They need the ethanol maintenance, otherwise they will start going thru withdrawal symptoms.  So they need to do it before the church group arrives.  If not withdrawal symptoms, then certainly they will experience their own hidden depressions.   As far as I am concerned, using psychiatric medications to control ones moods is not much different from using alcohol or illegal drugs.   My own personal opinion is that Born Again Christianity is not that much different either.  I know this is why its congregations attract so many addicts and alcoholics.  I would say that its around 2 out of 3 of the people in their congregations that have serious substance abuse histories.  And with their families, every single one of them has its black sheep that is still drinking or using.  If the black sheep is female, then its also sex.  Its whatever it takes to justify their being stigmatized.   Then when the black sheep dies in a gutter somewhere they say, "Well they had stepped forward many times to be cured of their addictions.  But now I have to wonder was he/she really Saved or not?"

And then, "I know that Jesus is coming for his own.  You'll never convince me otherwise.  But there's still time for more people to Get Saved."   I remember one, she had a daughter hospitalized over complications due to long term drug use.  I sent her something commending her for standing with her daughter in a time of trial.  You know what came back?  "If I didn't, then Satan would have his way with her."   Whereas I had felt good when I wrote to her, now I thought of the daughter lying there in bed with respiratory complications and hoping that maybe for the first time in her life that her mother would get real, and then hearing about Satan.  Then I found out that the mother's position is that the daughter belongs in psychiatric hospital.  Then I really started to feel sick.  Of course this mother has her own decades long history with alcohol and drugs, before she "Got Saved".   I don't go along with any of it.  I listen to the people black sheeping their siblings and their children and I do not accept any of their rationalizations.   And when it comes to psychiatric medications, these would turn anyone into a basket case and make them completely dependent on such mood altering toxins.   A good book about such is Peter Breggin's "Toxic Psychiatry"   Video clips challenging the existence of mental illness, from Daniel Mackler's work to make "Take these Broken Wings"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBUqPOP5BEs&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN1yDZqibQQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyL0jjI93OI&list=UUx0ZQDIzJGUhmL... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsoxinC6IHs&list=UUx0ZQDIzJGUhmL... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj8Kcj1BAno&feature=plcp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkf7n0Wdy7k&feature=plcp ]

Becoming Other

Exploited Children United http://theexploitedunited.onlinewebshop.net