Christian, husband, father, author, pastor, speaker, counselor, biblical phenomenologist who understands mental struggles framed by neoKraepelinians as disorder
New York, USA
Joined February 2016
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DanielBerger retweeted
I had the same experience - thinking I was saved when I wasn’t.
I grew up agnostic, not knowing any Christians, in downtown Toronto where the idea of a Christian was a joke.
When I switched over to believing in God I had a pretty intense experience that made me think I was saved. A lot of things in my life turned around, I had hope, it felt like a weight had been lifted… it was convincing. I told my to be husband at the time “I think I got saved”.
Then about a year and a half later I actually got saved. It was a completely different experience. Turns out when you get saved you don’t “think” you were saved. You know it.
I had no idea what “being saved” felt like so I didn’t know any better. Or maybe part of me did, but no part I was consciously aware of. I’m so fortunate I wasn’t stuck in the “thinking” I was saved period forever. Terrifying.
Throughout my life I went from not sure about God existing, to believing Jesus existed (thinking I was saved), to knowing Jesus died on the cross for my sins (now).
Looking back I think that the belief that I was saved, before I actually was, was Satan’s attempt to blind me. 2 Corinthians 11:14: …for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
I must have played a part in it, but I can’t tell you how exactly.
That difference between believing in Jesus and knowing he’s God was everything.
After I got saved, my discernment skyrocketed, my more worldly goals changed, I felt a peace I’d never felt before. The spiritual battles that I’d been involved in my entire life became evident, my view of reality shifted to an understanding of the spiritual realm, my fear of death disappeared, Bible verses spoke to me.
(Previously I had read the Bible but after I was saved it was as if I hadn’t read certain parts - especially the demonic parts I had almost no recollection of).
I don’t know how many people who believe they’re Christians are stuck in the “believing but not knowing” trap I was in. Fooled by the father of lies. Not seeing the trap they’re in, like I didn’t see. Doing the work of Satan thinking they’re working for God.
Matthew 7:21: Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
I used to think I was a saved Christian.
The terrifying reality is I wasn’t. And imagining how I could have easily stayed in that blissful ignorance my entire life terrifies me.
So how did I know when I was genuinely saved?
When I started HATING my sin, I knew I was saved.
When I started sacrificing what I’ve built professionally to share the Gospel, I knew I was saved.
When I submitted my family to the Lord and placed them under the authority of the Word, I knew I was saved.
When lifelong strongholds were supernaturally broken, I knew I was saved.
IYKYK… so make sure you know.
Tips: Get in the Word and the Word will get in you + find a faithful pastor/local church
It is often wise not to respond on X to some people. Proverbs 26:4 says “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.” Be discerning.
I shared this must read article early this morning on Facebook, and I thought I’d share it here too. The writer is a close friend of a lady in our church. Such hope and encouragement and well written. trishawhitepriebe.substack.c…
“The idea that "the body keeps the score". . . It is an enticing metaphor-implying that experience is literally inscribed in flesh, that the body bears the scars of what the mind cannot face. . .The body does not store trauma.
frontiersin.org/journals/sys…
Reposting for my own future research
There is general scientific agreement that in utero SSRI exposure impacts fetal brain development.
Common sense, basic science, and animal & human studies all show this.
Twelve (yes 12) consecutive human MRI studies support this.
The studies are listed below:
#1 Zanni, G, et al (2025). Perinatal SSRI exposure impacts innate fear circuit activation and behavior in mice and humans. Nature Communications, 16(1), 4002. doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-5…
#2 Koc, D., et al (2023). Prenatal antidepressant exposure and offspring brain morphologic trajectory. JAMA Psychiatry, 80(12), 1208–1217. doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiat…
#3 Moreau, A. L., et al (2023). Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science, 3(2), 243–254. doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsgos.202…
#4 Campbell, K. S. J., et al (2021a). Prenatal antidepressant exposure and sex differences in neonatal corpus callosum microstructure. Developmental Psychobiology, 63(6), e22125. doi.org/10.1002/dev.22125
#5 Salzwedel, A., et al (2020). Functional dissection of prenatal drug effects on baby brain and behavioral development. Human Brain Mapping, 41(15), 4123–4135. doi.org/10.1002/hbm.25158
#6 Rotem-Kohavi, N., et al (2019a). Hub distribution of the brain functional networks of newborns prenatally exposed to maternal depression and SSRI antidepressants. Depression and Anxiety, 36(8), 753–765. doi.org/10.1002/da.22906
#7 Rotem-Kohavi, N., et al (2019b). Alterations in resting-state networks following in utero selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor exposure in the neonatal brain. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 4(1), 39–49. doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2018.…
#8 Lugo-Candelas, C., et al (2018). Associations between brain structure and connectivity in infants and exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors during pregnancy. JAMA Pediatrics, 172(6), 525–533. doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatri…
#9 Podrebarac, S. K., et al (2017). Antenatal exposure to antidepressants is associated with altered brain development in very preterm-born neonates. Neuroscience, 342, 252–262. doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscien…
#10 Jha, S. C., et al (2016). Antenatal depression, treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and neonatal brain structure: A propensity-matched cohort study. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 253, 43–53. doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresn…
#11 Salzwedel, A. P., et al (2016). Thalamocortical functional connectivity and behavioral disruptions in neonates with prenatal cocaine exposure. Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 56, 16–25. doi.org/10.1016/j.ntt.2016.0…
#12 Knickmeyer, R. C., et al (2014). Rate of Chiari I malformation in children of mothers with depression with and without prenatal SSRI exposure. Neuropsychopharmacology, 39(11), 2611–2621. doi.org/10.1038/npp.2014.114
I thought this was a fake account to mock psychiatry. No, it’s a real psychiatrist. Unbelievable!
DanielBerger retweeted
Science is defined as THE STUDY OF NATURE--not the development of technology. What do we know about the nature of psychiatric physiology? Do we know how a thought is generated? Do we know how memory is stored? Do we know how feelings are generated? What constitutes the mind? And regarding REAL diseases--what is the actual pathophysiological cause of schizophrenia, or bipolar I disorder?
Do you not think that the DSM is pseudoscientific? Diagnoses concocted by OUR TRADE ASSOCIATION--with input from the pharmacological industry and other financial interests--are not scientific. Our adoption of the DSM is an act of consensual faith--and Ibn al Haytham, who INVENTED the scientific method, stated:
The duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to make himself an enemy of all he reads, and to attack it from every side. He should also suspect himself as he performs his critical examination of it, so that he may avoid falling into prejudice or leniency.
DanielBerger retweeted
To avoid DSM reification/stigma:
No patient "has schizophrenia" or "is schizophrenic"- lazy/misleading/reductionistic terms
Proper usage: Patient "meets criteria for schizophrenia"
Why?
Mental disorders are constructs- not diseases
People are so much more than their disorder
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I’m excited for Dr Minot’s book to be out. While he holds to the Bayesian theory of inference and I believe in dualism, he is honest about his own 40 years of clinical experience and the need for change. Pick up a copy.
It's funny how very LOOOOONG each day was before my book was published by Amazon on 11/28...while the 11 days since have flown by. I spent much of that time goofing off instead of promoting. Now I'm reorganizing my study, to create a more quiet environment for production of the audiobook. Which will definitely take some time.
In the meantime, I'll be here to tell you specific reasons why you should read (or hear) my book:
Reason #1
You should read my book if you believe that modern psychiatry conforms at all to the intellectual demands of the scientific method. It doesn't.
a.co/d/2LxgcVX
DanielBerger retweeted
It's funny how very LOOOOONG each day was before my book was published by Amazon on 11/28...while the 11 days since have flown by. I spent much of that time goofing off instead of promoting. Now I'm reorganizing my study, to create a more quiet environment for production of the audiobook. Which will definitely take some time.
In the meantime, I'll be here to tell you specific reasons why you should read (or hear) my book:
Reason #1
You should read my book if you believe that modern psychiatry conforms at all to the intellectual demands of the scientific method. It doesn't.
a.co/d/2LxgcVX
My new book, Teaching a Child to Pay Attention: Proverbs 4:20-27 (2nd edition) is now available in print, digital, and or audible versions. a.co/d/15lEXkZ
Some “biblical” counselors have gone off the rails. When you give answers to questions that are not scriptural or at least biblically based, your counseling is not biblical. When you think dualism is your biblical basis for supporting psychiatric theory, you show ignorance.
DanielBerger retweeted
I don’t think we should give up on validity. I think we should be clear-eyed about what kind of assumptions guide our pursuit of validity. Once we give up the assumption that there are discrete disease entities (and the assumption is quite untenable given everything we know), it becomes obvious that simply focusing on Robins-Guze validators gives us no optimal solution and there are many competing and meaningful ways in which we can talk about the reality of our constructs.
DanielBerger retweeted
Tomorrow, Dr. Daniel Berger II will be sharing one of the most important texts in Scripture on the sufficiency of Christ and His Word for all of human nature. Join us!
BiblicalCounselorsSociety.co…
#biblicalcounseling @drbergerdr
The Body is affected by all of life. But the bio-narrative that traumatic events in life permanently damage a person's body is both unbiblical & unscientific. Here is a new peer reviewed study on the book, The Body Keeps the Score, published in several prestigious journals.
It finally happened. Some readers had asked for a concise, peer-reviewed critique of The Body Keeps the Score. 🔥🔥It’s open access, so everyone can read it — even people who think trauma made them do it. You’re welcome, science.
Evaluating evidence behind popular trauma narratives: neurobiological and treatment claims in The Body Keeps the Score | BJPsych Bulletin | Cambridge Core - bit.ly/47nKV4o
Today is suicide prevention day. Did you know that there are 8 case studies in the Bible, and one example includes a counseling framework to follow that all available empirical evidence validates? It also includes eternal life saving: a.co/d/3Tqghrh
