Notes & News

September 15, 2007

Counseling News

I found an interesting web log: The Society of Christian Psychology. The Society is a division of AACC and “exists to promote the development of a distinctly Christian psychology”. The latest offering is the first in a series of posts by Dr. Mike McGuire on Christian Psychology as a Christian Discipline.

For clarification, let me share what I think Christian psychology is unlikely to be. I think it is unlikely to be a single theory or a single approach to counseling. Although I would confess that there is an ideal Christian psychology and an ideal approach to Christian counseling (just as there is an ideal theology), the history of Christianity and the history of psychology suggests it would be unwise to think that all would agree on a single theology, psychology, and practice.

Last week I linked to a story about the rise of children being diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. Responding to one commenter, I wrote that I really didn’t think the study reflected a rise in the number of people with bi-polar disorder. The writer of this article reaches the same conclusion.

In the study, researchers analyzed a National Center for Health Statistics survey, conducted during a one-week period of time, of office visits that focused on doctors in private or group practices. They key, to me, is that these are regular doctor’s offices. Not mental health professionals. Not professionals who are trained and experienced in diagnosing mental disorders, which often rely more on a clinician’s experience and expertise in asking the right questions to differentiate a disorder from something else.

Other Counseling News:

Suicide Rates Spike for Teen Girls

The suicide rate among preteen and young teen girls spiked dramatically in a disturbing shift that federal health officials say they can’t fully explain.

For all young people between ages 10 to 24, the suicide rate rose 8 percent from 2003 to 2004–the biggest single-year bump in 15 years–in what one official called “a dramatic and huge increase.”

Major study indicates a link between hyperactivity in children and certain food additives

The possibility of food colours and preservatives affecting children’s behaviour has long been an unresolved question for parents. This significant new research by a team from the University of Southampton’s Schools of Psychology and Medicine provides a clear demonstration that changes in behaviour can be detected in three-year-old and eight-year-old children.

Antidepressant shows early promise in treating agitation and psychotic symptoms of dementia

The findings are exciting because they raise the possibility of a new direction in drug treatment for psychotic disorders related to dementia in the elderly. However, the researchers caution that more studies are needed to replicate their early findings and that second generation antipsychotics continue to be a first-line pharmacological treatment, despite growing scientific evidence that they can be associated with serious side effects, including death.

Manic Phase of Bipolar Disorder Benefits from Breast Cancer Medication

The medication tamoxifen, best known as a treatment for breast cancer, dramatically reduces symptoms of the manic phase of bipolar disorder more quickly than many standard medications for the mental illness, a new study shows. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) who conducted the study also explained how: Tamoxifen blocks an enzyme called protein kinase C (PKC) that regulates activities in brain cells. The enzyme is thought to be over-active during the manic phase of bipolar disorder.

Global Survey Reveals Significant Gap in Meeting World’s Mental Health Care Needs

Mental disorders rank among the top ten illnesses causing disability—more than 37 percent worldwide—with depression being the leading cause of disability among people ages 15 and older, according to the Global Burden of Disease and Risk Factors published in 2006. Yet, the world’s mental health care needs are largely going unmet, especially in less developed nations but also in high-income countries, according to results from a new survey of 17 countries conducted as part of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) World Mental Health Survey Initiative. The results of the initiative, partially funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), were published in The Lancet in September 2007.

TV & ADHD

“Those (children aged 5 to 11) who watched more than two hours, and particularly those who watched more than three hours, of television per day during childhood had above-average symptoms of attention problems in adolescence,” Carl Landhuis of the University of Otago in Dunedin wrote in his report, published in the journal Pediatrics.

Young children who watched a lot of television were more likely to continue the habit as they got older, but even if they did not the damage was done, the report said.

The Influence of School Smoking Policies on Student Tobacco Use

Younger girls may be more susceptible to social influences at school related to tobacco use. School policies banning smoking by teachers and other school personnel within and outside the school should be an important component of comprehensive adolescent smoking prevention programs.

Church Notes

A 21st Century Churches

Of greatest importance is that we stop viewing the church as an end rather than a means to an end: it is God’s means of sculpturing a new humanity, a spiritual kingdom out of the dross of humanity. It is time for constructive new proposals, and more and more churchmen (including bloggers) are asking what can be done. If the Spirit is willing, and if we act together, change can happen – change for the better, for the advancement of the kingdom, and for the glory of God.

Timmy Brister has posted an interview SBC Life did with Dr. Danny Akin. Timmy writes,

I was really encouraged by Dr. Akin’s responses and was really inclined to share this interview here on P&P. May there be a groundswell of impassioned believers with minds on fire for the truths of God.

The Secrets of a Dysfunctional Family

…there exist parallel situations among some of our SBC agencies, trustee boards, schools and churches. Sadly, the dynamics of “smiley-face” fronts masking frightful emotional/relational realities behind closed doors–or effectively ‘knifing people in the back’ almost immediately after smiling at their face–is at work among us. And, in God’s timing and way, it will require people who choose to look to the power of the Holy Spirit, by faith, and take courage to act in regard to what they know–if they’re honest–are “toxic” relationships and behavior that, in some cases, have not been honoring to God for quite some time.

If Ed Stetzer’s Monday is for Missiology isn’t part of your regular reading, it should be. (Be warned: it’s sometimes Tuesday or later before “Monday…” is posted.)

I think it is a good thing to understand and engage popular culture and practical ministry. I talk a lot about biblical fidelity, cultural relevance, local church ministry, and leadership. And I try to write some things to help pastors and leaders. But, I also think it is a good thing to engage in scholarly discussion of the issues that undergird such conversations. As such, I am co-editing a forthcoming missiology book with David Hesselgrave.

It will be a missions “issues” book, looking at hot topics from multiple angles, and intended for people thinking through God’s mission, missions, contextualization, and the future, In other words, it is an “issues” book to help students, pastors, and missiologists wrestle through important subjects.

The tentative title is Mission: God’s Initiative in the World.

There are three grand essays and then people respond to each grand essay.

On the great opportunity to make conventions morph into a 21st century form …

I have argued, and argue still, that limiting convention messengers to the persons able to attend a two day meeting in June is no longer practical. When I say this, people tell me to convene messengers any other way disenfranchises persons interested enough to attend the convention. As a contrarian, I note that to limit participation to those in physical attendance overvalues a fraction of persons able to attend an event for one day out of the year. Indeed, those who would exercise power over us need only to produce a majority of instructed messengers for one twenty-four hour period in order to have control over the convention apparatus.

We should, instead, go to regional sub-conferences with technological hookups to the designated meeting place. A baptist Christian in China could attend and vote electronically. Debate over policies and procedures could take place for weeks in print and on screen before hundreds of thousands were allowed to exercise the franchise in their home church or their computer station at Starbucks.

Reggie McNeal’s six tough questions for the church The question that captured my attention and imagination was the third: