It should be a given that an industry claiming to study and treat the human brain has a baseline understanding of what the brain is — but this is not the case.
Fr. Chad Ripperger
In his book Introduction to the Science of Mental Health, Fr. Chad Ripperger rightly states that “modern psychology views man as nothing more than a physical or material thing.”
Because the mental health field takes a purely materialistic view of man, it presupposes a materialistic view of the organ that controls essentially all of his actions. Instead of “mental” being “the intersect of the brain and the soul,” as Thomistic psychologist Dr. G.C. Dilsaver proposes, modern psychology completely ignores the soul.
The soul is the form of the body, so Dilsaver goes further, stating the “intellectual [or mental] powers come from the soul, and the brain provides the physical conduit.”
If you look up “soul” in the American Psychological Association’s dictionary, you will find the concept marginalized. The APA dictionary states that “because the existence of the soul has resisted empirical verification, science has generally ignored the concept.”
This is the entire foundation of the mental health system — but it’s no surprise: The system has long been known to be a mere arm of the secular State.
What should come as a surprise is the huge number of Christians that choose to work within this system, somehow thinking they can wed Christianity with a soulless and godless psychology.
Not every contemporary profession is explicitly anti-Christian, but modern psychology is. Its bottom line, as you can see, is that the soul is a figment of the imagination. And the mental health system’s rejection of the soul goes along with its rejection of the existence of God.
Fundamental philosophical and theological truths have been rejected. And, as grace builds on nature, such realities are essential for the Christian life.
This corrupt system, which has major influence in every institution (politics, media, education, etc.), must deny Christianity, because Christianity operates by its own law. In other words, a true Christian does not look to the secular world for answers; rather, he searches the places where God reveals Himself (Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium).
Modern psychologists and psychiatrists fear this mindset because it renders their professions not only worthless but absurd.
“The reliance of adherents on their beliefs,” The APA states about those espousing the Christian worldview, “has sparked many controversies regarding refusal of medical and mental health care.”
There it is.
Modern psychology is threatened by Christ because His healing does not consist in mind-numbing medication or feel-good talk therapy (nor does His healing fill the pockets of Big Pharma).
And note that this isn’t a condemnation of those on medication or in therapy. Rather, it’s an acknowledgment that mental health issues are profound: Their treatment requires much more than rendering a patient comfortably numb emotionally in the short term.
The Christian way to heal is grounded in reality; it leads a person to a soul-deep self-examination — an examination that is measured by one’s obedience to the Almighty.
Despite the obvious resentment modern psychology harbors for Christianity, there are many Christian psychologists, psychiatrists and counselors that bend to the system in an earnest attempt to make “all things work together unto good” (Romans 8:28).
The website CatholicTherapists.com is a prime example, as it’s known to be one of the top places to find therapy that’s not purely materialistic. CatholicTherapists.com even ensures its therapists are practicing Catholics who believe all of the Church’s teachings.
But to be a listed therapist on this website, a state license is required. And a state license means, according to nearly every state, the therapist has “the accreditation of the American Psychological Association.”
This compromise is akin to being a teacher in a public school. While the purpose of educating is to instruct students in the truth, if a teacher gives instruction contrary to the counterfeit “values” of the State-sponsored system, he risks being fired. Because the mental health system does not recognize God and the soul, a therapist could get in trouble and lose his license for counseling a patient according to Christian norms.
Pope Pius XII warned of this in 1953 when he addressed the Fifth International Congress of Psychotherapy and Clinical Psychology: “But theoretical and practical psychology, the one as much as the other, should bear in mind that they cannot lose sight of the truths established by reason and by faith, nor of the obligatory precepts of ethics.”
Pope Pius XII
Reason, faith and ethics have been wholesale abandoned by the mental health field. This is seen in modern psychology’s promotion of contraception, abortion, homosexuality and now so-called transgenderism — all disordered acts, recognized as such by the light of reason and the natural law.
Forty years after Pius XII’s warning, Pope John Paul II addressed the World Psychiatric Association and the American Psychiatric Association, echoing his forebear’s message:
You and your associates will make an important contribution to the future of society. … In your work to overcome the stigma which has often been associated with mental illness, to end the abuse of psychiatry for ideological reasons, and to strengthen the family as the basic unit of society … you can be certain of the Church’s appreciation and ready cooperation.
Because the mental health system has ignored the Church and has actively worked against the family for well over half a century, the Church certainly does not appreciate its “contribution.”
To learn about the Catholic remedy to these problems, go Premium and watch the ninth episode of Church Militant’s brand new series Mental Health: Catholic Perspective.