More to Puzzle Over
Those of privilege have all that power. All the marginalized have is their story.
People can only believe God is sovereign by cutting off people who are the spitting image of God not being sovereign.
People who say God is near those his people are drawing away from are lying.
Something unfalsifiable can’t be true. There is no failure condition for “God’s tender care”.
Often, Christians are leaving your life for the same reason you’re not one.
Logic Bombs
I’ll believe in the power of prayer when I see those in power trying to suppress it as vigorously as they do voting and collective bargaining.
Mixed-faith marriages are common, while mixed-class ones aren’t because what matters most is God’s opinion of you, not your opinion of him.
People abhor your fatalism and yet they employ it as they’re judging you.
The idea that God is near to those on the margins is unfalsifiable because those on the margins have no voice so anyone experiencing the opposite is shut up rather quickly.
I go to church. People blather on about hope, but they use conjecture when judging me. I figure if conjecture is being used on me, it’s worth using.
A kinder world disproportionately benefits the neurotic and the weak, which is why it’s looked upon with suspicion by the strong.
People tell you to pray in faith, but that means if people were praying in faith for you to get that good job, they would have to treat you like you already had that good job! So you would be treated well in church no matter what.
Therapy Response
Through our data repository, we found that the current quality of mental health care varies widely. An average of two-thirds (66%) of people who begin a 12-week course of outpatient behavioral health services do not reach remission for anxiety or depression. Roughly four out of five patients do not experience any clinically meaningful response to therapy, regardless of their remission status.
God Loves Belief, Not You
People don’t like to admit it but without belief you are nothing to God. This is true for the Evangelicals where belief gets you to God and without it you’re dammed. Even though you are required to play lip service to the idea that you are being loved unconditionally, you aren’t.
On a more universal perspective the placebo effect you get from really believing in God is largely what makes you experience his peace. The first thing to go in a dying faith is the placebo response and once that’s totally gone everything else deteriorates rapidly after. The placebo effect is a sweet, beautiful thing, there was a Ketamine study where the group that got the drug and the group that got the placebo both showed signs of their depression improving. Hope is powerful and we shouldn’t ridicule those who try to get it by any means necessary.
America Has Reached Peak Therapy. Why Is Our Mental Health Getting Worse?
Even as more people flock to therapy, U.S. mental health is getting worse by multiple metrics. Suicide rates have risen by about 30% since 2000. Almost a third of U.S. adults now report symptoms of either depression or anxiety, roughly three times as many as in 2019, and about one in 25 adults has a serious mental illness like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. As of late 2022, just 31% of U.S. adults considered their mental health “excellent,” down from 43% two decades earlier.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for the Marginalized
CBT, a popular form of psychotherapy, often centers on addressing and changing negative patterns of thinking and behavior in individuals. Its strength lies in focusing on factors within an individual’s control, thus empowering them to change their reactions to external events. However, the authors suggest that such a focus might be detrimental when applied to those facing structural discrimination. By focusing too intently on the individual’s response to oppressive experiences, CBT may overlook the more significant systemic issues at play, unintentionally placing the onus of change on the oppressed rather than addressing the oppressive systems themselves.
Can Individual Focus of CBT Harm Those Facing Systemic Discrimination?
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