Understanding and Responding to Psychological Labels Part 3

By Dr. David Coats

I have tried to give you a brief overview of psychological labels in parts 1 & 2 of this study as well as a biblical alternative to someone’s simply describing behavior by a label. Unfortunately, the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) typically used by the world at large contains descriptions and labels that come with some definite problems. I will give you four problems to help you to begin to understand some of the roadblocks, and then I will give you the biblical analysis. I will let you draw your conclusions from there:

1. People tend to “become” their label. In other words, this label is their identity. They say they are bipolar. They look at their life and reality as bipolar from that point on. When they behave a certain way, act a certain way, or respond a certain way, their label is to blame (“It was because I’m bipolar”). This process is called blame-shifting. They are not willing to take responsibility for their actions or responses. They believe these problems are out of their control. The Bible says that all actions, thoughts, and behaviors come out of the heart (Matthew 15:18-19), not out of their psychological label/problem.
2. People believe strongly in their label, and the “illness” they suffer from is the path they must follow for the rest of their lives, so they think. Now I realize that within the diagnostic system of labels that there are physical struggles, learning disabilities, and abnormalities that will be a challenge to people. And for some, these differences will be their reality for life. But to say that a child who is labeled ADHD will be ADHD for life is to squelch hope. Labeling brings a darkness and discouragement that must be accepted as their reality, ignoring the truth and hope through Christ.
3. People believe their label is the reason they cannot do things that God calls them to do or avoid behaviors God calls them to stop. So their label becomes an excuse for not following Christ in obedience. “I have an anxiety disorder, so I must avoid the pressure of being around church family.” This problem is an outflow of #1. But I want to point out that my concern here is more than just shifting the blame. My concern is that people can so easily ignore what God says every person must do. Apparently, the reason that their behavior is not sin, in their case, is that they cannot help it. “I could not help it. I yelled at him. I was out of control. But I could not stop. My bipolar mood was at its peak.” Or a mother says to you, “You will have to excuse Billy. He might hit and yell and scream at you. It is not his fault. He is struggling with his Oppositional Defiant Disorder.” Because the labels are readily available to these folks, are these behaviors then no longer wrong before God?
4. The label is usually attached to the assumption that the person has some kind of “chemical imbalance.” The world relates this imbalance to mental illness. Now I will give you a VERY brief crash course here in this terminology. When friends say chemical imbalance, it is not the same as when your doctor says you have an imbalance in your blood sugar count or your adrenal glands or your pituitary gland.
   1. When a doctor tells you that you have low blood sugar, it is because chemicals of the blood and other fluids in the system are regulated by many automatic signals within the body that coordinate with each other.  Sugar, salt, potassium, and water, for example, are regulated by hormones through unique systems God placed within our body. But they get out of sync. Doctors can tell almost immediately by taking measurements in your blood and other body fluids what is out of sync. They KNOW what numbers should show as they read your checkup report through clinical analysis. This process is based on empirical data.
   2. Not so with mental illness that is supposedly connected to a chemical imbalance in the brain. Here we are talking about microscopic chemicals called neurotransmitters. They do exist. And the only way that we can look at them presently is postmortem. Why do people think that they are out of balance? The theory is that if we take medications that target these chemicals in the brain and we “feel better,” then it must mean the neurotransmitters are out of balance. This is dangerous theory. And remember, we are talking about drugs designed specifically to target brain function. How they work is not clear. Can physicians do a blood test or urine test to see how the chemicals in your brain are out of sync? No. They are guessing. Guessing chemical imbalance does not confirm chemical imbalance.

Conclusion: I realize I have covered this ground with the hope that you will at least put a question mark by some of these issues. Medical discoveries and technology are amazing, but limited. And more importantly, although we all struggle at times to follow our Lord and obey His commands, we cannot put anything (such as psychological labeling) in between us and truth. God’s expectations, based on His grace and Spirit within, are that we will obey whether we have a label or infirmity or not. May God help us to pursue His cause and follow Him under the hope given by His new mercies that appear daily.