However, the community had a different opinion. Some of the neighbors had set up a tent to watch the house, many protested his living in their community, others were interviewed by GMA and when asked if their attitudes didn't go against Christ's teachings, they hesitated and answered "there are more deserving people to support if you are looking for someone to help". Basically, many didn't believe that people can change.
When the minister was asked if he believed that someone can change and that evil people are always evil. His response was that there was no reason to preach the Gospel of Christ, if that was your belief.
This idea that people are always what they have done is supported by the psychologist and mental health profession that see man as a bag of chemicals and doesn't recognize that he has a soul or that there is something in man that can allow him to see his wrongs and repair his mistakes and do differently.
I am afraid that this attitude is held by more people that I would like to think. This attitude is behind the support for psychiatric medications and drug use in general. Most addicts believe that they can't live happy lives without their drugs. This prevalent attitude is frightening to me in terms of who we are an American society.
Ineffective alcohol and drug rehab must also take some responsibility for these rigid attitudes since most programs preach that addiction is a chronic (lasting forever) and progressive (get worse over time) disease. That no matter what you do, that once you have this "disease" you are sentenced to a life time of struggle in terms of alcohol and drug cravings and relapses. Also, since most alcohol and drug treatment centers get less than 10% success, it adds to the idea that most people are incapable of change.
As a skilled therapist, I have learned that if certain internal/personal conditions are confronted and if a person doesn't want to confront his life and his "crimes", he many not make significant change, but if given a real therapeutic environment, meaning a therapy that truly is effective, people will ALWAYS change for the better. I couldn't have dedicated my life to helping others if I believed otherwise, or if I had witnessed more successes than failures. I am not the strongest guy on the planet, so I needed to find practices that made change possible. As I have followed many of those that have lived disreputable lives when they were in their addiction, but after treatment, they have lived stellar lives of love, kindness and helping of others to the point that I know that MAN is basically good and that anyone can change for the better, or the worse, at any time in his/her life.
We can fix the financial crisis, we can have peace on this planet and we can open our hearts and minds to the idea that there is such a thing as hope and that real help is available. To have this type of change in one's life or that of a loved one, it only requires that you want to change, that you find the vehicle to help you and don't get caught in mental health programs and with psychologist and psychiatrist that dispense drugs to change your chemical makeup, and believe that you are worthy of change.
I would hate to live in a society that believes otherwise and if I didn't realize that ABC network and stories like the one I saw this morning are created to help their sponsors who are selling psych drugs, I would be worried about our country. I am confident that there are many that believe that evil is a constant and can't be changed, but there are many more than have changed themselves and believe that others can as well.
Be aware of these attitudes and let me know your experiences. Learn more at www.drug-rehab-colorado.com and www.texas-drug-rehabs.org
Mac
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