Ron Fraser's Hatred of Mental Health Science Exhibited by PCG Again

On the front page of PCG's thetrumpet.com is a link to an article by the late Ron Fraser entitled 'A Better Textbook for Mental Health'. It was published in the September 2013 issue of The Philadelphia Trumpet.

In this article Ron Fraser denounces psychology as a "pseudo-science". However he says in this a rather confusing way so it could be missed by the casual reader.

My eventual career in human resources required at least some study in psychology, which is where I soon discovered that the whole field of human behaviorists was infected by an anti-God, evolutionary rationale. For more than a century, this pseudo-science has claimed to offer answers to the most fundamental of human questions. 

Ron Fraser exploits disagreements and arguments regarding the then newly released fifth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to say psychology is nonsense.

Ron Fraser then says certain disorders are just kids having a temper tantrum and the result of neglectful parenting.

ADHD, for example, has been a childhood “illness” for decades. And as the Economist notes, “Children may now, for example, be diagnosed with ‘disruptive mood dysregulation disorder’ [DMDD]—what used to be known as temper tantrums.” When I was a child, the schoolteacher quite correctly identified these “disorders” as resulting from poor parenting. Children who were well disciplined at home were well disciplined at school and were able to learn. And we used to have a way of dealing with “DMDD” that really worked: Proverbs 13:24. 

And what does the Scripture cited says?

He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

So all these people who spend so much time treating and studying mental illnesses and spend their entire careers studying and treating mental illnesses are all wrong and we should simply take the opinion of a child who listened to his schoolteacher as the truth about this matter.

And Ron Fraser just said that it is the parents' fault that their kids have mental disorders. Those parents who worry so much about their kids and do so much for their kids are obviously responsible for giving their kids mental disorders, according to Ron Fraser.

What can one say when reading things so ignorant? This article is stupid. And actually quite cruel towards the parents struggling with the mental disorders of their beloved children.

Almost 40 years ago, when I began studying psychology as a student, I could not help but note that the names at the forefront of this field were Germanic. From Wilhelm Wundt, most often identified as the “father of psychology,” to Hermann von Helmholtz, Gustav Fechner and Ernst Weber, many early authors of psychology textbooks had a uniquely Teutonic tone and hailed from the school of German rationalists. That same school discounted biblical revelation and replaced that foundation with its own pseudo-science: the theory of evolution.

No doubt one reason why Ron Fraser noticed this was because he had been reading and accepting the dogmas of HWA's WCG which even then spent so much time demonizing and fear mongering about the Germans. As may be seen in a previous post Ron Fraser began to accepting the dogmas of Armstrongism around 1968 which would have been before he "began studying psychology as a student" around 1973 or later and concluded it was largely the creation of "Germanic" people. He came to that conclusion because he was listening and reading HWA's recruitment writings.

In contrast to the supposedly nonsensical psychology Ron Fraser has a better textbook to offer readers. What could it be?

Our “experts” on human behavior rely on an admittedly false text, diagnosing false “disorders” and prescribing false “cures.” Yet we have at our disposal a textbook written by our Maker! It contains the truth about human behavior and the purpose of human life!

Herbert W. Armstrong wrote a book based on this revealed knowledge called The Incredible Human Potential. It reveals the plain, simple truth: that your Creator desires for your life to be filled with success, free of “science falsely so called” (1 Timothy 6:20). It describes the truth about the enigmatic human brain and, even more importantly, the human mind.
 
If you sense that something is missing—if not terribly wrong—with psychology and psychiatry, you owe it to yourself to consider this eye-opening, Bible-based book. It shows that there is a pharmaceutical-free, clear, trustworthy, inspiring manual out there that contains guaranteed diagnoses and cures for human behavior: the Word of God, our Maker’s own textbook for success in this life!

So Ron Fraser's answer to mental health issues is to offer a book written by a man who committed incest with his own daughter for ten years. Recently this shameful conduct was confirmed to have occurred by HWA's own niece and HWA's own grandson.

The Incredible Human Potential is largely devoted to teaching HWA's God Family doctrine which is complete nonsense.

Here are some other posts that discuss the God Family doctrine.

• The God Family discusses how I first learned of this doctrine and how Roderick C. Meredith claim it was 'revealed' to HWA's group.

• A Problem in the God Family Doctrine discusses how HWA taught that humanity was simply Plan B for God. According to HWA God originally intended to have Angels govern the Universe but Lucifer's rebellion forced God to create Humanity instead. This aspect of HWA's God Family doctrine is never discussed in Stephen Flurry's booklet.

• Called to the Truth? Will all in the God kingdom be Equal? discusses how the COGs teach that those who become God Beings at the return of Christ will be superior in rank then all other people who become God Beings afterwards, even though all are supposedly as fully God as God is God. The COGs nevertheless teach that there will be ranks and that the God Family will be divided into an elite (the deified church) while the rest will be inferior in rank. This aspect of the God Family doctrine is never discussed in Stephen Flurry's booklet.

• Why I no longer believe in the God Family doctrine (and never will) (offsite article by Felix Taylor Jr.) discusses how the God Family doctrine is simply not in the Bible.

• Reading PCG's Booklet, God is a Family discusses Stephen Flurry's booklet (1995) which teaches the God Family doctrine. It also discusses how Stephen Flurry misleadingly uses a Protestant commentary to insinuate the Bible teaches the God Family when the author of this commentary never taught the God Family doctrine at all.

Also The Incredible Human Potential happens to teach that dinosaurs did not reproduce.

So Ron Fraser's response to mental illnesses and to combat the supposed negative influence of psychology is to offer a book teaching nonsensical heresies and which denies that dinosaurs reproduced. If only his readers knew what Ron Fraser was really offering to them.

It is clearly based on an earlier article of his that was posted May 30, 2013 entitled "What Mental Illness is Not" that was discussed in a previous post and at Banned by HWA. In that article Ron Fraser condemns mental health science as a big money making fraud of "Germanic" origin. Several readers left behind comments actually agreeing with him.

I shudder to imagine how Ron Fraser's attitude towards mental health science may negatively affect PCG members and their children. Armstrongism have a long and shameful history of teaching and enforcing anti-medicine superstitions upon lay members, sometimes even causing members to die due to medical neglect. This started with HWA himself.

Alas, Ron Fraser's condemnation of mental health science shamefully continues this monstrous and dangerous tradition.