Regarding the Uvalde school massacre, I ask again, why does this keep happening?
I believe America has a hole in our soul. (The word “psychology” derives from the Greek roots meaning study of the psyche — meaning the soul.) In times past, soul care was a combined function of faith, family and community. But a little over a hundred years ago, we relegated soul care to psychologists and psychotherapists who have an entirely different approach, and the results are both abysmal and appalling!
Relatedly, last week, Santa Barbara County supervisors basically rubber-stamped a $1.4 billion budget. One area that should get great scrutiny are county mental health programs that have a budget upward of $144 million or one-tenth of the total monies expended. (That figure does not include drug and alcohol programs or social services, as that is another $250 million, year after year after year!)
County supervisors should ask why isn’t anyone getting better despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars year after year, and what about the efficacy of the drugs administered to mental health patients? For the underlying tragedy in America has to do with the fact that America is hooked on drugs (legal and otherwise!). In fact, nearly 1 in 4 Americans are taking some form of legal psych drugs, some 77 million people, including nearly 7 million children under the age of 17.
The pharmaceutical industries suppress relevant reports on this subject matter, as reported by the mental health industry watchdog, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International. That is, irrespective of 27 international drug regulatory warnings on psychiatric drugs citing effects of mania, hostility, violence and even homicidal ideation, there has yet to be a federal investigation (Hello, Congressman Salud Carbajal!) on the link between psychiatric drugs and acts of senseless violence.
Moreover, at least 37 school shootings and/or school-related acts of violence have been committed by those taking or withdrawing from psychiatric drugs resulting in 175 wounded and 82 killed. (In other school shootings, information about their drug use was never made public — neither confirming nor refuting if they were under the influence of prescribed drugs).
Hence, the negotiations in Congress about restricting firearm access to certain people who might pose a threat doesn’t address the underlying problem of why so many people experience serious emotional and mental issues. I believe it has everything to do with our abandoning ageless Biblical principles of faith and discipline in life, love and yes, counseling regimens administered by people who have familiarity and earned authority in our lives.
Instead, we rely on virtual strangers with a prescription pad who fail miserably in understanding and addressing our problems and difficulties. That is, psych drugs treat symptoms rather than underlying maladies of the soul.
There have been many studies having to do with the breakdown and abandonment of the nuclear family construct. This construct facilitated the inculcation of values and mores that served to establish and promote a stable and successful society. The effect of this dissolution is profound, as the emotional, familial and civil impacts on our society is beyond comprehension.
Ergo, most criminals, including school shooters, come from broken homes. Consider the fact that families started falling apart at the same time (the 1960s) that God was declared dead and numerous people started taking drugs (recreationally and otherwise) and random (non-political or racist) mass shootings began to occur.
The fact that most people no longer understand or maintain authentic soul care means their ability to find purpose and healing in this troubled world is limited. For example, consider the kids abandoned by their fathers on this Father’s Day. There is no pill for that.
Hence, droves of people continue to turn to psych drugs, rather than to spiritually effective soul care, to numb a pain that otherwise will never go away.
Andy Caldwell is the COLAB executive director and host of “The Andy Caldwell Show,” airing 3 to 5 p.m. weekdays on KZSB AM 1290, the News-Press radio station.
