Pastor John MacArthur recently addressed his highly criticized comment that “there’s no such thing as mental illness.”
MacArthur made the remark during a panel discussion at the For the Valley Bible Conference when he was asked to share why he wrote his latest book, “The War on Children: Providing Refuge for Your Children in a Hostile World.”
MacArthur said he believes that children are being misdiagnosed with mental health issues and wrongly prescribed medication. “In regard to children, [medication] is the most deadly thing that’s been unleashed on children,” he said.
“We are trying to make clear to parents that behavior is essentially the result of choices that kids make. And if you parent them properly, they’ll make right choices,” MacArthur told the panel.
MacArthur then claimed that by blaming a child’s behavior on “something other than their choices” and prescribing them medication, parents are “literally turning your child not only into a potential drug addict but maybe a potential criminal, because they never learned how to negotiate and navigate life in a socially acceptable way.”
During his sermon on Sunday, May 5, MacArthur told his congregation,
I was told within a matter of a few hours that [what I said] blew up the internet. And one of the headlines was, ‘A Doctor and a Woman Preacher Take Issue With John MacArthur.’ I don’t know about the doctor, but I’m happy to take issue with a woman preacher. That’s fine.
MacArthur said he recently received a phone call from a person who represents the “leading psychologists in this country” and who also manages the “largest facility for juveniles who commit adult crimes.” MacArthur said the individual told him, “I’m calling the church to let Pastor MacArthur know that everything he said is exactly true.”
“And he went on to say,” MacArthur added, “if [I want] to write a book, [he’ll help] supply all the data.”
MacArthur reiterated, “There’s no such thing as mental illness.”
The pastor then shared research he gathered from psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, who wrote the book “The Myth of Mental Illness.”
