Iatrogenesis
by Mike James
Iatrogenesis: Harm or illness caused unintentionally by medical treatment or advice.
The term iatrogenesis comes from the Greek and literally means "originating with the healer." It refers to anytime a healer (doctor or psychiatrist) ends up harming a patient during treatment. You probably have heard of a person going in for an operation to remove something like a spleen, and the doctor made a mistake and took out a kidney.
This same type of thing can happen when we are dealing with psychological or mental issues too. There is no doubt that talk therapy can help some people, and sometimes even medication can help with serious mental issues, but mistakes can also be made.
For example, police officers who responded to a plane crash and received debriefing sessions about the experience afterward showed more symptoms of hyperarousal 18 months later than police officers who did not get the same treatment. So, is it possible that focusing too much on your feelings for too long might be detrimental to your mental health?
Again, let me be clear. I do believe it is good to vent and communicate your feelings about bad experiences to trusted people. There is no doubt that many people can be helped by this in the immediate aftermath of trauma or upset. But if we keep focusing on these negative experiences repeatedly, could that be detrimental to us?
Less than half of Generation Z (Born 1997-2012) believe they have good mental health. According to some stats, 40 percent of Generation Z have received some mental health assistance from a professional compared to only 26 percent of the previous generation (Millennials, 1981-1996).
Some other interesting trends that show an increase in people using mental health professionals include that since the mid-1980s, there has been a doubling of expenses on mental health from the previous decade. But the stats also show that the number of kids suffering from anxiety and depression over this same period has mushroomed.
Is all this extra therapy and medication helping us? Apparently not. Is there something else we should also be trying to do?
Camilo Ortiz is a tenured professor and leading child and adolescent psychologist. He says, "The evidence is pretty clear that parent-based approaches are more effective." What he means by that is a therapist should treat a kid's anxiety by helping the kid's parents. The parents should be dealing with their children rather than medicating them or having them visit a therapist on a regular basis.
When parents push their kids toward the therapist route, the child begins to think there is something wrong with them, and the parent can't help. This is not what we learn from the Bible. Notice some of these verses from the Bible on the parent and child dynamic:
"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).
"Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4).
"Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged" (Colossians 3:21).
"For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights" (Proverbs 3:12).
"Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord" (Colossians 3:20).
"Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching" (Proverbs 1:8).
There are a lot more scriptures like these in the Bible. What we can glean from this is that there has to be some type of relationship between children and their parents. That is part of the problem; today, in our busy world, there is less time for children and parents to build a relationship. Perhaps if we started there, we could begin to alter the issues that are manifesting with children and mental health in our world.
Now, relating to your kids is one thing, but we also need to be teaching them about God.
Here are a couple more scriptures on this.
"And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise" (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).
"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:14-15).
So, two ideas to try to help our kids: Be in relationship with them to a greater degree, and in that relationship, teach them about God and the Bible.
Sources: "Disaster-related post-traumatic stress in police officers: a field study of the impact of debriefing," Ingrid V. E. Carlier PsyD, PhD, Regina D. Lamberts PsyD, Annephine J. Van Uchelen PsyD, Berthold P. R. Gersons MD, PhD, 4 December 1998, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/%28SICI%291099-1700%28199807%2914%3A3%3C143%3A%3AAID-SMI770%3E3.0.CO%3B2-S
Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up, by Abigail Shrier, (New York: Sentinel, 2024).