“Psychologists and
psychiatrists have the highest percentage of any profession under the care of
psychiatrists, committing suicide, divorcing, and on prescription drugs.
Consulting them is like asking directions of someone who is himself hopelessly
lost.“
David Hunt,
Psychology and the Church
I shared this with
some people recently, and while this might be pretty well known to those who
have examined the psychological profession closely in the past, many ordinary
people who might be tempted to look to a psychologist for help may not be aware
of this. Well, now you know, now you know that those who purport to be the
experts at helping people deal with emotional issues, are often those most in
need of help,
-
“Psychologists
are at greater risk of dying by suicide, and the rates may be increasing.
-
Factors
including the burden of managing care for vulnerable individuals contribute to
psychologist suicide.”[1]...
...The Link Between Psychologists and Suicide
A significant body of research shows that health
professionals in general are at an elevated risk of death by suicide, but
research on the risk of suicide in psychologists specifically is limited and
mixed. However, most research does indicate that suicide is a problem among
psychologists. Some past findings include:
- Older data suggest that more than 1 in 4
psychologists have felt suicidal: A 1994 sample of 800 psychologists found that most had received therapy
themselves. Of the psychologists who had received therapy, 61 percent reported
a history of clinical depression, 29 percent reported a history of suicidal
ideation, and 4 percent reported a suicide attempt.
- Rates may be increasing over time: Compared to the 1994 study, a 2002 sample of 1000
psychologists found that 62 percent of respondents were depressed, and 42
percent of that depressed population experienced suicidal ideas or behaviour.
- Professional stressors often contribute to
psychologists feeling suicidal: A 2009 survey found that 40 to 60 percent of responding psychologists
reported disruption in their professional functioning because of burnout,
anxiety, or depression, and 18 percent reported suicidal ideation while dealing
with personal and professional stressors or challenges.
- Psychologists may have the fourth highest rate of
suicide among health professions: In a sample of 4,733 suicides across various health professions from
2003-2018 psychologists had the fourth highest rate of suicide.”[2]
Human mental health
was never meant to be attended to by a pseudo-scientific profession. Human
beings are comprised of body, mind and soul, and all three of these things need
to be in good health for us to be in optimal physical or mental health.
Psychology, literally ‘soul science, is a profession that purports to be able
to heal the body and the mind, often without even recognizing the reality of
the soul, and the importance of spiritual factors in the mental health of any given person.
As I said in a sermon
recently, we Christians often forget just what an advantage we have over many
people in this world, because we know that our sins are forgiven. Just the
burden that this takes off our minds is incredible. Many people in
our world live in expectation of some kind of judgment or reckoning, and this is not just true of the religious. Even our modern
secular world is fixated on a hypothesized human driven climate catastrophe
that is meant to strike in some not to distant future and bring about a reckoning on
all humankind for the way we have treated this planet. Imagine living with this
sense of dread, and having no spiritual relief or recognition that there is a way for
your sins to be forgiven? This is how much of the world lives, this is how many
psychologists live. No wonder so many people are depressed.
Of course, there is
much more that goes into a good state of mental and spiritual health, like being
accepted into a loving family and wider fellowship, eating well, looking after
our bodies, getting out into nature, working hard, but in a balanced way, taking
rest, getting enough sleep, and much more. But the truth is that the Bible
gives good advice about all of this and much more. Psychology can speak to many
of these material needs for human beings, but it offers nothing for the soul and
for spiritual matters. And this is an area where both psychologists and their
patients are in desperate need for counsel.
Psychology is a sick
profession, in large part because its own therapists themselves are deeply
spiritually ill and in need of healing, so they do not really have much to
offer people. Christianity was designed to fill this gap. I hope the church
remembers this.
[1] Simon
Sherry, 2024, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psymon-says/202302/why-are-psychologists-at-greater-risk-of-suicide
[2] Ibid.
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