#109 - "Concept Creep" (Dr. Shaw)

Proverbs 26:4 "Answer not a fool according to his folly lest you be like him yourself." [1]  "Concept Creep: Psychology's Expanding Concepts of Harm and Pathology" This article was released on Feb. 12, 2016, through the online publication Psychological Inquiry. "Concept Creep" is the secular phrase used by psychologists to describe the broadened terminology, now inclusive to more behaviors than prior. Addiction, abuse, bullying, trauma, mental disorder, prejudice, and tanning; this sort of psychology describes and categorizes behavior in a way that shifts terminology. Many view this as a good occurrence, proud to proclaim this advance. Is this missing the deeper understanding of God and mankind as revealed in the Bible? Our goal as believers is to glorify Him and live for Him.  Haslam acknowledges "the risk of pathologizing everyday experience and encouraging a sense of virtuous but impotent victimhood." [2] Dr. Shaw explains why the expansion of these terms is not positive, but tends to be misguided labeling. "If the addictive process is internal, it makes little sense to restrict the concept of addiction to dependence on substances." [Haslam, page 9] [3] Biblical counselors call these "habitual" – addictive behaviors learned in this habitual response in thoughts, words, and actions. We can help people put off bad habits, put on new godly habits – the great hope and help of biblical counseling. These psychologists use the concept of compulsion and are observing that behavioral addictions and substance addictions both involve "recurrent failure to resist urges to engage in a particular activity that is harmful to the person, generally with a subjective experience of compulsion and powerlessness." [Haslam, page 8] [4] The shifting sand of psychology and addiction will continue to expand and label any and all behavior. Biblical terms or secular psychological constructs? Terms like bipolar, ADHD, Generalized anxiety disorder, clinical depression, addiction issues or substance use disorder...  ...fear, worry, sadness, drunkenness, idolatry, idolatrous heart desires, and those things that are explicitly in the Bible. Will we embrace biblical truth to pierce the heart's motivation? [1] Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible. [2] Nick Haslam (2016) Concept Creep: Psychology's Expanding Concepts of Harm and Pathology, Psychological Inquiry, 27:1, 1-17. [3] Ibid. p.9. [4] Ibid. p.8. Read the full article online at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/295247201_Concept_Creep_Psychology's_Expanding_Concepts_of_Harm_and_Pathology