Ramaswamy Claims ‘Faith-Based Approaches’ Are ‘Better Ways’ to Treat Mental Illness Than Medication
Ramaswamy Claims ‘Faith-Based Approaches’ Are ‘Better Ways’ to Treat Mental Illness Than Medication
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said mental illness may be best treated using "faith-based approaches" as opposed to pharmaceuticals.
He gets so close-
Violent crime has risen over precisely the period we have shuttered these psychiatric institutions. And you know what? The number one psychiatric institution today is jail. It’s prison. And they don’t do a very good job. And now you then get the calls to clear the jails or to have commuting of sentences or shortening of sentences. People leave those jails in a worse psychiatric condition, often, than when they even entered.
Yes! Yes!
We can do this again learning from past mistakes without those abuses. I don’t think I want to be pumping psychiatric institutions with pharmaceuticals into people.
Seems reasonable.
Faith-based approaches – there are better ways to do this.
Oh for fuck's sake.
And, of course, the ironic thing is that Ramaswamy is a pharma bro.
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tbh he isn't entirely wrong wrt depression and anxiety, but that mindset is dying - I literally can't have a faith based approach to mental illness because I know better.
I'm sure people who can actually put their faith in God's will and plan or whatever can find solace, that's literally what people did for thousands of years and why religion was invented, but that's not an option for me.
No, he is objectively wrong.
People who actually believe in that stuff can really just put their faith in God that things will be okay and He will protect them and that He loves them.
It doesn't work if you know better, which is why it can never work for me. Probably not for most people, even. God is dead and we killed Him
Believing in a higher power that’s responsible for things you can’t control can help but obviously that’s not what he’s talking about. The faith based help republicans want is to force their belief of god on people. A god that judges you which definitely won’t help anxiety.
That's my point - his faith based approach is worthless for me because I know better. God is evil and God is dead, so there's no faith based approach for me.
He'd try to force me anyway, of course.
Depression and anxiety management is a thing. It helps to have medication, but it absolutely is not a cure-all. It takes years of practice to manage this stuff effectively. Believe me, I know. Even with medication, it took me years to learn how to manage my own head.
Sometimes, our bodies and minds are simply just broken and the damage can't be wished away. Drugs can be an excellent crutch to help people live a normal life without the need to dedicate all of their precious time on this planet to healing.
Religion is also a crutch - that's why it was invented. For people who actually believe in that garbage it totally works.
Most people don't, including people who claim to be religious
I actually believe that religion was mainly born out of the fear of death. Death is a scary thing and people need to find purpose somehow. Religion is an easy out in that regard.
Prayer should be called what it really is: Meditation. Meditation subject or religion of choice aside, meditation has the potential to be healthy. Everyone needs to take time and reflect on the difficult things in their life in a healthy way.
The concept of religion to the common man or woman seems great! Do good; Feel good. Pay your tithe like a good boy or girl and you get a ticket to a trillion virgins in an afterlife, or whatever. It's only a good concept until you start looping in magic and subservience.
Other humans quickly discovered that if they start dictating what a religion is, they get to scare people into subservience because of the fear of death and being sent to hell for eternity. The original concept of religion being a good thing simply degrades into a method of control.
My point is that it is dangerous to take a person that is going through a mental crisis and point them in the direction of a religion. If it truly makes them happy and humble, cool. However, churches prey on the vulnerable by nature and it's the equivalent of sending a hen directly into the foxes den. The problem is, is that if you take a person that is in pain and promise them relief via deity and they find the illusion of a cure, you have broken and their mind and they are now willing to believe any old bullshit.
Religion is way more than a crutch, my friend. It is way more devious than that.
It's only dangerous if they get wrapped up in a fucked up religion or a cult or something.
Recovery from depression usually involves finding activities the person finds fulfilling and meaningful. This is why faith based recovery works. However, It's mostly because you're placing worthwhile meaning in an activity that is giving you purpose to let your mind heal. It is about having a regimented schedule, like attending church on Sundays, praying before meals, attending church functions.
We use the same kind of techniques in therapy based recovery too and we encourage our clients to attend church if they want to for that very reason. Faith is an excellent tool if it drives you toward being well. Again, it just has more to do with what you find meaning in and what gets you up and going. For some people, it's going for a jog, for others it's working out, for some it's faith.
I used to think that faith in a religion could be a healthy method of recovery. Unfortunately, after much thought, I believe that it is just a quick
solutionbandaid for things like addiction and other types of mental crisis that has the potential to do more harm than good in the long run.Having been through various rehabilitation programs for alcohol, I did believe for a long time that faith in something like a religion could help. Unfortunately, there is a large subset of people that will quickly get disillusioned very quickly once their mind starts to heal from whatever.
Once I learned that life just is and death just is, it helped me accept everything for what it is. Soon after, I learned I had complete control over all of my decisions. I found my own inner peace, in a way. Once that happened, I had no reason to slowly kill myself anymore with booze.
My point is that pointing someone in the direction of their version inner peace is good. Using religion to do that is dangerous as you are pointing a vulnerable person in the direction of establishments that exist to exploit people.
Having faith that there is a Purpose for you and you are Loved and that you are not Alone is, itself, powerful beyond just simple habit and ritual. People who actually believe in God can really just put their faith in Him and really be comforted by it.
That's nice for them. Worthless for me