Anti-biblical worldview and the rejection of God contributing to mental health crisis and widespread depression, says Barna
People are investing significant time and money – and potentially tens of millions of dollars – into drugs and mental health treatments that may miss the mark entirely and not address the heart of the problem, according to findings from George Barna of the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University.
Barna’s team conducted multiple studies on adults struggling with anxiety, depression, and fear, and their findings propose that addressing these issues may not necessarily require traditional methods such as counseling or medication. Instead, symptoms like anxiety and depression could stem from an unhealthy anti-biblical worldview and rejection of God that exacerbates these feelings.
What is needed is a shift in perspective, says Barna, suggesting that millions could benefit more from adopting a proven, reliable worldview rather than relying solely on mental health interventions. He clarifies that he’s not implying that all mental health problems are rooted in worldview deficiencies. Some individuals do indeed experience mental health challenges due to chemical imbalances, genetics, or other physical issues.
However, Barna warns that failing to recognize the impact of detrimental beliefs and behaviors related to one’s worldview may lead to costly and ineffective diagnoses for many. It highlights the urgent need for a reevaluation of how we approach mental health solutions in the context of broader beliefs and perspectives.
Everyone has a worldview, but many are unaware of what it is and how it influences their behavior and thoughts, according to the late theologian Ronald Nash in a lecture on Advanced Worldview Analysis. He emphasizes that key questions in analyzing worldviews include the existence of God, ultimate reality, knowledge, ethics, and human nature.
“Many early Christian thinkers found it important to draw out certain implications of the biblical view of God and stipulate that God created the world ex nihilism (from nothing), which is an important metaphysical tenet of the Christian worldview,” explained Nash. “This was necessary, they believed, to show the contrast between the Christian understanding of Creation and an account of the world’s origin found in Plato’s philosophy, a view held by a number of intellectuals in the early centuries of the Christian church.”