Psychopathology

Respond to the two discussion posts below .

You Call Me

Joy F.

Admittedly, being intentional about taking time to be alone with God is not something I excel at, but I find myself talking to God often throughout the day while I’m doing different activities, whether I’m alone or not. I used to feel awkward when I’d practice alone time with God because I didn’t know what to say or do, but what I learned is that is okay. Another reason I was also uncomfortable being alone with God was that growing up in the church, I compared myself to other church members and always felt like other people were more pious or more connected to God, so that became a point of internal shame for me. The quiet moments with God felt that much more anxiety-inducing.

I was missing the whole point, though, and Satan was working on my own insecurities. Quiet moments alone with God are not moments of competition. It’s not time to see how much holier or pious I can become. It’s about being utterly open and honest about my joys, pains, fears, and questions with God so that I can grow my relationship with Him. God is pure love and it is in these quiet moments where I have learned to release expectation and surrender, palms up, to His guidance and love. I found this moment – and all of these moments with God, now – freeing and a place of respite.

In the past, I carried a lot of shame and was afraid to be who I really was in front of other people. I was people pleasing, not because I wanted to please other people but because I was so worried about disappointing others and for them to see the shame that I carried in the deepest parts of my heart. After experiencing several life-changing experiences like a divorce and deaths of people close to me, however, I started to realize that the people who truly love you will love you no matter what and the thoughts and opinions of outsiders bear no weight on my worth or purpose as God’s child. At this stage of my life, I strive to have my actions match my words, so the genuine  me is almost completely aligned to the  me that others encounter, daily. And when I speak to God about this, He’s confirmed to me time and time again that this is exactly how I am to show up in this world.

We put so much pressure on ourselves, but God asks two things of us: to love Him and to love others. If we’re doing these things, what reason do we have to worry, fear, or doubt? He has promised us He will carry us and make all things work for His glory, no matter the circumstance. So, I live by faith and surrender to God in my quiet moments and in my daily life, and hopefully people around me also give themselves the freedom to do so, too, because He is the way, the truth, and the life for all of us and wants nothing more than to love us and be loved by us.

Sexuality and Gender

Joy F.

I want to say, as a side note, something that I’ve been thinking about, as we answer these questions and discuss these sensitive issues: the truth is, none of us know the exact answer to these questions because we are not God, but we can do our best to understand a perspective, a glimpse, of these issues using various resources and coming to our own, critical conclusions. Something that I’ve realized limits our understanding, or perhaps creates dissonance or miscommunication, is language. We get stuck on the semantics of the words people use about these concepts and they’re also filtered through the lens of how we hear them from others. This also reminds me further the importance of relationship with God, and God knowing the intents of our hearts when it comes to these issues. We can read all we want, engage with others in these tough conversations, do the best to piece together the words we have available to us to convey meaning and understanding, but our words and sentences are still limiting because we are constrained to the words we have available in the languages we understand. We see these limitations more clearly when we consider multiple languages, which all convey meaning in slightly different ways – some languages articulating concepts that there aren’t even words for in other languages. Again, all these things considered, this is why difficult concepts, such as these, boil down to how our hearts are posited and God knowing our hearts.

            My response to the statement in the DSM-5 that gender dysphoria is not in itself a mental disorder has more to do with using more compassionate language and viewing people benevolently, as human beings, avoiding more instances of perpetuating dangerous stigmas surrounding mental health. The word  dysphoria, in general, has a less harsh connotation, referring more to anguish that an individual experiences due to being subscribed a gender biologically, but personally identifying with the opposite gender, whereas  disorder implies that a person is negatively identified, stigmatized, or defective (American Psychiatric Association, 2024). I would agree that the language needed to be amended from the DSM-4, because individuals likely experience enough shame because their struggle conflicts with societal norms and we don’t need a manual bringing that shame to the surface through more labels readily available to the general population of people who don’t struggle with this dynamic. It is widely known that when people don’t understand someone else’s struggle, when they’re trying to appease their own insecurities, they tend to “other” or judge people who are transparent about their struggle or condition. Being labeled as specifically  disordered makes that much easier to do.  Dysphoria is synonymous with distressed, for which I would hope people could be more compassionate, as we all struggle with some type of dysphoria throughout our lives in many ways. As a classroom teacher who works closely with students, I have seen true instances of gender dysphoria in the impact statements of students who struggle in these ways. The students struggle with this are extremely selective in who they share their experiences with and want the  opposite of attention (I believe there is also a common misconception about people who struggle in this way are only being overt about their circumstances for attention). The changes in language in the DSM-5 don’t play around with whether gender dysphoria is real – which it is, from my experience in working with students – but humanizes individuals who struggle in these ways.

            I both agreed and disagreed with the article, but my thoughts and feelings about the article don’t really matter. What truly matters is God’s purpose and design on these issues. This article offered one person’s perspective, and while I appreciated both sides of the issue were presented and those positions were supported by scripture, it reminded me, again, that people can use scripture to substantiate a wide range of viewpoints on sensitive issues. For instance, we could say that it is not our job to judge someone’s psychology and/or ontology and only love them, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (ESV, 2016, Matthew 7:1-3). On the flip side, as the article notes, it is imperative that Christians discern circumstances by means of God’s word, and someone could say that gender dysphoria is rooted in a deceitful heart – supported and bolstered by modern day political correctness – as a product of our sinful nature, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? ‘I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds’” (ESV, 2016, Jeremiah 17:9-10).

            All in all, I think the author did a decent job of presenting multiple perspectives, through a Christian lens, and got his main point across that as Christians, we must love others regardless of their struggles – not by means of condoning, necessarily – by simply through our words and deeds. Everything else is in God’s hands. I also realize that my writing does not necessarily present a hard-lined stance on this issue one way or another, and that is not because I’m afraid of asserting my stance, it’s because I don’t truly know where I stand on this on this issue – or that it totally matters where I stand on this issue – other than that I am called to love others (ESV, 2016, John 13:34-35).  

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2024).  Gender dysphoria diagnosis. American Psychiatric Association. https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/diversity/education/transgender-and-gender-nonconforming-patients/gender-dysphoria-diagnosis

English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Bible Gateway – Jeremiah 17:9-10 ESV. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+17%3A9-10&version=ESV

English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Bible Gateway – John 13:34-35 ESV. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2013%3A34-35&version=ESV&scrlybrkr=96856d67

English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Bible Gateway – Matthew 7:1-3 ESV. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%207%3A1-3&version=ESV&scrlybrkr=96856d67

Walker, A. T. (2016, September 9).  The Christian response to gender dysphoria. The Gospel Coalition. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/the-christian-response-to-gender-dysphoria/