Cognitive Distortion, Physiological Imbalance, or Mental Handicap

In my last article I mentioned those who do not have Mental Handicap's but do have Cognitive Distortions, and I wanted to talk about different things that affect mental health, because not all things are as they seem in a world that is quick to flip out a prescription to patients instead of treating root causes.

A Word About Doctors

Before I begin, many of you who read this post will say, what does Brother Mitchel know about Mental Health? He's not a "professional"...

Let me ask you a common sense question. Where is the money?

"What does money have to do with being professional in the field of mental health or health in general", you may ask. Doctors and pharmaceuticals do not make money by curing people. Only by prolonging the issues so you will continue making appointments, continue in therapy, continue to take the medications, until your insurance or pocketbook have been exhausted does Big Med continue to survive. If the cure didn't cost much, or could be completed quickly then the amount charged would never be enough to cover the industry of Big Med and Big Pharm. How many times have you heard people going in to repeat tests that they just took a few days or weeks before only to get the exact same results?

I am not anti-medicine, but I am against the big corporate hospitals that claim to be non-for profit, but bankrupt people who rely on them to get better. I'm against the corporate pharmaceuticals who have lobbied against new medication that is available in other countries but is somehow unsafe for Americans. I'm against the anti-homeopathic doctors that believe only pills can save the day. I'm against a doctor who would readily prescribe insulin pumps instead of a non-carbohydrate diet to a diabetic.

Let's Work Backwards From The Most Severe To The Least Severe Cases Of What I'm Talking About.

1. Mental Handicaps: Now this may not be politically correct, but these are the people we think of when we talk about Mental Retardation. There is a physical attribute to why there is a mental learning disability or physical learning disability. Whether this is caused by down syndrome, or sever fetal alcohol or drug syndrome, a birth defect or some other physical issue, this is a physical condition that affects the mental capacity or capability. This does not mean that these people are not able to contribute to society, only that there is a physical condition that affects their mental faculties.

2. Physiological Imbalance: There are other mental issues that arise because of a Physiological Imbalance. Nutritional issues such as Immunoglobulin E allergies brought on but the use or overuse of gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, corn, and nuts to patients who are sensitive to these foods. Also the basic nutrition being subverted by the pop-tart society, the eating of foods loaded with sugar and refined carbohydrates can lead to a cycle of blood sugar spikes and crashes which result in hyperactivity and decreased attention. The decreased blood levels of Omega-3 fatty acids because of a lack of fish, pastured eggs, pasture raised meats, canola oil, flax and chia seeds. Deficiency of Iron, Zinc, B6 and Magnesium, to levels that would not cause them to be considered anemic, but generally low in comparison to the average patient. These deficiencies can be increased with green leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, pasture raised meat, fish, eggs as well as milk and cheese.

Before you start in with the "you don't know my situation", you're correct. What I'm saying is that while diet, exercise, counseling, group therapy and regular work routine may not "cure" every case, studies show that psycotropic drugs, antipsychotics, stimulants, and even serotonin inhibitors usually only have an immediate positive impact, after one year the benefits start to wane and after three years the benefits are almost unnoticeable, but yet all of these patients still have to learn to cope with the effects of their disorders for a lifetime.

3. Damage From Drugs and Alcohol: Whether this is wrongly prescribed medications, abused medications, medication interactions, illicit drugs use or alcohol abuse, there is a correlation between drug and alcohol abuse or prolonged use and decreased kidney, liver, digestive, nervous system, and brain functions. this will sometimes leave people in a fuzzy stage of mental handicap, physiological imbalance or at the very least more prone to cognitive distortion. Sometimes the damage may be repaired by nutrition, counseling, and therapy, but many times the damage is irreversible and the best we can hope for is to train to cope with the damage and managing life around these difficulties.

4. Cognitive Distortion: For many people, their mental health problem revolve around cognitive distortion or wrong reasoning skills. While each of us have a conscience, it may be subverted due to social stimuli from bad family lives, institutionalization from the foster care system, juvenile detention, jail, prison, influence from wrong friends, wrong teaching in the public school social experiment, ect. the God given conscience has become seared and unresponsive to wrongdoing, the sense of empathy is diminished or missing, and the sense of self-entitlement overshadows everything else. The only cure for cognitive distortion is a changed life through Jesus Christ. While counseling, group therapy and work helps, it's only in conjunction through the truth of the Bible and a changed life that any long term and meaningful positive impact will be made

At The Discipleship Center we strive to show people how to rely on God to help them manage their lives, cope with difficulties, renew their minds, and lift them to a position where God wants to use them at.