John MacArthur denies mental illness: says there is no such thing as PTSD, OCD and ADHD

Speaking recently at a church conference, popular author and pastor-master John MacArthur told attendees that mental illness does not exist. He also implied that children who take medication because of mental health diagnoses become a potential drug addict or a “potential criminal.”

The biggest noble lie is that there is such a thing as mental illness, MacArthur said during a question-and-answer session at a conference April 20 at Grace Church of the Valley in Kingsburg, California. Now this is not new. You have Thomas Szasz in the 1950s, who was a psychiatrist, writing a book about The Myth of Mental Illness. (Szaszs’s book was first published in 1961.)

MacArthur continued: There is no such thing as PTSD. There is no such thing as OCD. There is no such thing as ADHD. These are noble lies to basically give the excuse, at the end of the day, to medicate people. And Big Pharma is in charge of a lot of that.

MacArthurs comments came after Grace Church of the Valley pastor Scott Ardavanis asked MacArthur why he wrote The War on Children.

The War on Children was originally scheduled to be published by Thomas Nelson. However, after The Roys report (TRR) published an exposé, revealing that MacArthur failed to protect victims of child abuse and excommunicated a mother for refusing to allow her abusive husband back into her home, that deal appears to have failed. Other Christian publishers also rejected the book, so in March, MacArthur published the book through his ministry.

The 84-year-old pastor spoke briefly about the sinful nature of children and how the entertainment industry has targeted children. He then referenced a book, A Profession Without Reason by Bruce Levine. It’s a book that basically shows that this is quite shocking to some of you that psychology and psychiatry are finally admitting the noble lies they’ve been telling for the last hundred years.

MacArthur, the doctor of theology, discussed post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, which public health officials report is more common in military veterans than in the general population.

Take PTSD, for example, MacArthur said. What it really is, is grief. You are fighting a war. You lost your friends. You have some survival guilt because you got it back (and) they didn’t. How do you deal with grief? Grief is a real thing. But pain is part of life.

In a statement to TRRclinical psychologist Philip Monroe, challenged MacArthurs statements.

This is an old argument that says that because you can’t see PTSD on a slide, then it doesn’t exist, Monroe said. And yet he wants to call it PTSD pain. Well, show me grief on a slide? You can not. In both cases, you may show clusters of symptoms.

MacArthur added: If you can’t navigate pain, you can’t live life. But if you define it clinically that you can give them a pill, a series of drugs, and they end up in Los Angeles, homeless on the sidewalk.

Dr. Monroe disputed these claims. (MacArthur) suggests that the only reason to get the diagnosis is to take a drug, Monroe said TRR. Yes, sometimes medicine can help. But the vast majority of people with these diagnoses do not take large amounts of medication.

Alarming advice for parents, says the psychologist

MacArthur returned to children, the subject of his book. He said:

The deadliest thing that has been unleashed on children (is) medication. I was trying to make it clear to parents that behavior is essentially the result of choices that children make. And if you stop them right, they will make the right decisions.

But if you blame something other than their choices, and identify them with something they can’t do anything about but medicate, you’re literally turning your child into a potential pit, not just a potential addict. drugs, but perhaps a potential criminal because they never learned to navigate life in a socially acceptable way.

After seeing MacArthur’s comments, Dr. Monroe said the pastors’ analysis was alarming.

It’s almost criminal to say that kids taking medication turns them into criminals or drug addicts, Monroe said. Surely you can back it up with evidence, right? Or that taking medication makes you homeless. The lack of logic and statistics is alarming.

User X Shaun Jones he stated that the prospect of MacArthurs parents worried him more. In the same clip that included MacArthurs statement on mental illness, he also stated: If you parent (children) right, they will make the right decisions.

Jones compared MacArthur’s claim to the prosperity gospel. Parents should obviously strive to train their kids well, but this guarantee of doing A+B to get C is bs.

As previously reported TRRMacArthur has disqualified elders from the ministry because of unruly children.

Yet last year, when MacArthur’s son, Mark MacArthur, was charged with defrauding clients in a $16 million investment scheme and agreed to pay more than $367,000 to the SEC, MacArthur did not he was disqualified.

Zero understanding

Christian leaders and authors have widely condemned John MacArthurs statements.

Reformed pastor Steve Camp published to X, I love my brother John MacArthur. . . but his conclusions here are shockingly reckless, ill-informed, and unscriptural.

Alan Noble, Christian author and professor at Oklahoma Baptist University, he stated: This is a denial of reality, dangerous, arrogant and destructive. And embarrassing. Christians who believe in the truth should not spread falsehood.

This is a denial of reality, dangerous, arrogant and destructive. And embarrassing. Christians who believe in the truth should not spread falsehood.

— . (@TheAlanNoble) May 1, 2024

Abby Johnson, a conservative pro-life activist who left her past role at Planned Parenthood, spoke of his recent PhD experience. John MacArthur has just publicly proclaimed that he does not understand PTSD or any other mental health disorder.

He added: I have my doctorate in Christian counseling and anyone reading this who is struggling, this is NOT the truth. This is NOT what Jesus wants for you. He wants health and wholeness for your mind, body and spirit. This often includes therapy and sometimes medication. And that’s okay. . . Seeking help is a brave thing to do.

Bestselling author Beth Moore referenced age by replying to a video clip shared online.

“I’ve had several very serious conversations with my daughters and my board about my public voice as I get older, when the filters naturally loosen and we’re more at risk of saying more than we should,” she said. Please love and respect him enough to sift through what should and should not be made public.

She pointed to her family’s experience with these issues: There’s just no way she could know, for example, what my husband went through being in a fire with his brother when he was a little boy and watching him burn and not recognizing the reality of PTSD. .

MacArthur’s partner defends MacArthur

However, Phil Johnson, executive director of MacArthurs Grace To You Ministries and an elder at MacArthurs Grace Community Church, defended his boss.

John MacArthur has a long, long, long history of finally being vindicated when he has taken positions contrary to the popular narrative, Johnson said.

He continued: MacArthur’s (sic) position is NOT that distress, mental distress, confusion, grief, etc. they don’t exist, so labeling them as illnesses and pretending they can be cured with drugs or psychotherapy doesn’t help. .

Johnson concluded: MacArthur does not hold this view alone or without reason. JM’s view is not materially different from that laid out in detail by psychiatrist Thomas Szasz in his 60-year-old classic, The Myth of Mental Illness.

Several responses said Johnson’s defense was inadequate.

Mark West, minister in Batesville, Arkansas, saidAs a Christian pastor, SBC who also serves the mental health community, I can say for a fact that this teaching is neither biblical nor helpful to the body.

It’s the equivalent of an eye that says it doesn’t need hands. It is misinformed and divisive.

Pattern of hurting the vulnerable

In the early 1980s, the GCC was sued by the parents of someone who committed suicide after receiving biblical counseling at the GCC. The case was eventually dismissed. But at the time, GCC leaders said the church would change its counseling training programs.

However, just last year, the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC) removed a pastor from MacArthurs Grace Community Church (GCC) as an approved ACBC counselor.

Pastor Bill Shannon oversees the biblical counseling ministry at GCC. And ACBC’s move came after numerous victims of abuse said GCC had a dangerous pattern of protecting abusers and harming victims.

It also came later TRR reported that MacArthur had publicly excommunicated a former member, Eileen Gray, for refusing to take back her child-abusing husband, David Gray.

A follow-up story of TRR revealed that even after David Gray was convicted in 2005 of sexually abusing her children, MacArthur and GCC continued to shun Eileen and support David.

TRR also published an exclusive story on Paul Guay, a former GCC pastor. According to an eyewitness account, Guay confessed to MacArthur in 1979 that he had molested his daughter, Wendy Guay. However, MacArthur retained Paul Guay at GCC, calling him a loyal part of our staff in a letter obtained by TRR.

Decades later, Wendy Guay wrote to MacArthur, begging him to help expose her father, who was still a pastor, as a serial pedophile. MacArthur refused and responded in an email: I’m not sure why all this has become an obsession for you after so many years.

MacArthur has not responded to TRR’s repeated requests for comment about its handling of the Paul Guay or David Gray cases.

Additionally, MacArthurs The Masters University and Seminary (TMUS) has videos posted on its YouTube channel in which John Street, Chair of TMUS’ Graduate Program in Biblical Counseling, teaches that a spouse should endure abuse as a missionary endures the persecution

The victim of abuse is the key to reaching and changing the abuser, Street told the conference.

Josh Shepherd is a reporter and production editor. Julie Roys is the founder and editor of The Roys Report.