News and commentary on topics related to mental health, medicine and ministry for faithful Christians, especially those serving in positions of leadership in the church from the physician and child psychiatrist who founded Key Ministry.
Apologies for the delay in getting this edition out - the last couple of weeks have been a very busy time with both ministry and clinical activity.
Giving kids independence as a strategy for overcoming anxiety.
One theory as to why rates of anxiety are soaring in kids is that parents are too protective, and overprotectiveness results in kids who are afraid of the world. Camilo Ortiz, a psychologist and researcher in cognitive-behavioral therapy from Long Island University has begun to investigate the impacts of independence therapy on kids who struggle with anxiety. Independence therapy involves parents giving their children permission to do something they think they’re ready to do that they haven’t done before. Independence therapy can be used by counselors in the context of treatment, by schools or by parents without working with a counselor. Preliminary research (pilot studies) suggest independence therapy is more effective than medication and works more quickly than cognitive-behavioral therapy.
This story in the New York Times describes the theory behind independence therapy. (Should be unlocked).
Here’s the website on independence therapy with free resources for therapists, schools and parents.
Our Church Lost Three Men to Suicide in Two Years
A pastor from Richmond, VA writes in Christianity Today (may encounter paywall) about his experience at a church where three men have died from suicide in the past 24 months. The experience has led him to reconsider the role of pastors and the responsibility of the local church in responding to the mental health struggles church attendees are wrestling with.
How’s a kid supposed to study when they get 237 phone notifications a day?
A newly released study from Common Sense Media reports that over half the teen participants in their sample received 237 or more phone notifications per day.
About a quarter (23%) of the notifications arrived during school hours, suggesting that phones and apps could do a better job of eliminating unnecessary pings at times of day that are disruptive to young people. During school hours, almost all of the participants used their phones at least once, for a median of 43 minutes, and over six hours on the higher end. Youth Council members explained that school policies around smartphone use are inconsistent, with rules varying from classroom to classroom.
Other findings included:
Teens checked their phone on an average of over 100 times per day.
Teens admit that their smartphones can be hard to put down. Over two-thirds of 11- to 17-year-olds said they "sometimes" or "often" struggle to disconnect from technology, and use it to get relief from negative feelings.
TikTok was the longest-duration app used by 11- to 17-year-olds at almost two hours on an average day, with some study participants using the app for upwards of seven hours per day.
A Theology of the Body
Grove City College professor Carl Trueman authored a “must read” book in which he explains the origins of the sexual revolution and modern ideas about gender. In this post from First Things Trueman asserts the centrality of embodiment to what it means to be human is something that all Christians need to be taught. Here’s an excerpt:
This war against the body lies at the heart of so much of our modern politics. It connects to the sexual politics that deny that human genitals are to be used in some ways and not in others. It connects to gender politics that see the significance traditionally ascribed to sexed bodies as an oppressive social construct. It connects to debates about abortion and the status of the bodies of both mother and the child in utero. And it connects to the politics of parenting that replace the significance of biology with notions of functional parenthood. In each area, the authority of the body is utterly denied. What C. S. Lewis described as the abolition of man now manifests itself most pointedly as the abolition of the body.
Today’s reason why we need a “theology of the body” - AI girlfriends
Modern life is rapidly becoming disconnected from physical reality. The most recent manifestation has been the explosion of apps incorporating artificial intelligence to create “virtual companions.” Romantic chatbots have been developed that offer suggestive selfies, sexually explicit (and apparently, realistic) conversations, and the ability to design a virtual girlfriend’s personality who is judgment-free, encourages users to spend more time with male friends and laughs at all of the user’s jokes. What will the impact be on our ability to engage in authentic relationships with the potential of leading to marriage? Or the impacts upon self-image for women who already fail to live up to the images in brains scarred by pornography? This article from a writer examining issues impacting young women and this piece from The Hill take a closer look at the implications of AI girlfriends.
Interested in speaking at Disability and the Church?
Key Ministry’s national disability ministry conference experienced record attendance in 2023, reflective of the rapidly expanding growth of our ministry movement. Our 2023 conference featured seventy speakers with talks and training reflective of the breadth and depth of the disability ministry field.
Our 2024 conference is moving to Orlando and will take place on May 1st-3rd. The application to speak is open to any and all mature Christians with important or innovative thoughts and ideas to help grow or advance the movement. We encourage leaders doing important work in relative obscurity—lacking the connections or platforms to make their work better known throughout the church to apply. For roughly a quarter of our speakers, last year ’s event represented their first opportunity to speak at a national ministry conference. Ministry leaders with personal experience of significant disabilities are very much encouraged to apply.
For more on the conference and the link to the speaker application, click here.
