[rghitch]

I suffer from a mental illness. As a believer, I know I can't be "possessed", but I fully believe satan can use any frailty to render us ineffective or even worse, destructive. To the point of oppression.

There is a stigma attached to mental illness, but it is practically "non-existent" in the Christian community.

My experience has been that my disorder must be treated in all 3 areas; physical, emotional and above all, spiritual. What saddens me is very often people w mental illness are told they simply don't have enough faith.

I'd love your thoughts on this big topic! At least it's big to me....

[alwight]

Hi rghitch,
Some people might unkindly suggest that having supernatural beliefs are nothing more than a delusion of the mind.
I don't know where you get your medical advice from about your own condition, but being "possessed" or told you "simply don't have enough faith" seems to suggest me that you are currently getting it from the wrong source.

[godrulz]

Do you have a diagnosis? Schizophrenia? Bi-polar? Depression? etc.?

My son is a Christian and he is in hospital with 'psychosis not otherwise specified'. He feels he has lost his salvation and is demonized. This is delusional thinking. It is extreme suffering for him and stressful for the family.

You are correct that we need discernment as to whether something is spiritual, psychological/mental/emotional, demonic, sinful, etc. or a combo of several factors.

Christians cannot be demon possessed, but that does not mean they cannot be oppressed, buffeted, attacked, etc.

Do you take medications? Do they help? Does prayer/Bible reading help? Counseling? Have you ever been suicidal?

You are not alone. Despite the stigma and denial, Christians are not immune to these things. God/Jesus/Word is the ultimate source of healing, deliverance, wholeness, but there can be help with medical/psychological factors.

[Bradley D]

I have an anxiety disorder and am treated by the Veterans Adminstration. There are people in the church and elsewhere who think that one can live without doctors and medications. I disagree. It is important for those who have mental problems to listen to their doctors. They need to ignore those who are not doctors and have no idea of what they are talking about. People have died because of listening to such quacks.

Having a good connection with God helps one to overcome great difficulties. I came back to God and was saved. I came back to God via AA. I believe it was God who pointed me towards AA and later the VA to get help for problems I was suffering from.

[glorydaz]

Originally Posted by Bradley D

I have an anxiety disorder and am treated by the Veterans Adminstration. There are people in the church and elsewhere who think that one can live without doctors and medications. I disagree. It is important for those who have mental problems to listen to their doctors. They need to ignore those who are not doctors and have no idea of what they are talking about. People have died because of listening to such quacks.

Having a good connection with God helps one to overcome great difficulties. I came back to God and was saved. I came back to God via AA. I believe it was God who pointed me towards AA and later the VA to get help for problems I was suffering from.

You give good advice, and I'd like to thank you for your service to our country. May the Lord bless and keep you.

[glorydaz]

Originally Posted by rghitch

I suffer from a mental illness. As a believer, I know I can't be "possessed", but I fully believe satan can use any frailty to render us ineffective or even worse, destructive. To the point of oppression.

There is a stigma attached to mental illness, but it is practically "non-existent" in the Christian community.

My experience has been that my disorder must be treated in all 3 areas; physical, emotional and above all, spiritual. What saddens me is very often people w mental illness are told they simply don't have enough faith.

I'd love your thoughts on this big topic! At least it's big to me....

It's probably more common than you might think. We live in a fallen world, and it can be over-powering at times. You seem to know where your focus should be, and I'd encourage you to reach out to others in the body of Christ. That's supposed to be what we're here for. May the Lord pour upon you His peace...which passes all understanding.

[bybee]

Originally Posted by rghitch

I suffer from a mental illness. As a believer, I know I can't be "possessed", but I fully believe satan can use any frailty to render us ineffective or even worse, destructive. To the point of oppression.

There is a stigma attached to mental illness, but it is practically "non-existent" in the Christian community.

My experience has been that my disorder must be treated in all 3 areas; physical, emotional and above all, spiritual. What saddens me is very often people w mental illness are told they simply don't have enough faith.

I'd love your thoughts on this big topic! At least it's big to me....

Mental and physical health practitioners are doing the work God set for them to do. Medications which ease pain, return normal chemical and hormonal levels, stop seizures, keep the heart beating and retard the effects of disease, aging and so on are available to assist us to have more quality in our lives.

[Quincy]

Well hitch, I'm rapid cycle bipolar so I can relate. The way my neurologist explained things to me makes it easy to understand. The brain is like any other organ. Just like the heart, kidneys, liver etc etc it can get diseased. You wouldn't tell someone with heart disease that they shouldn't take their BP medicine, so it makes no sense to tell someone with a mental disease to not treat it.

So anyways he, my therapist and I developed a plan that involves my family as a support unit along with medication. That's all I want and all I need. Everyone is different though, if in your own mind you need a spiritual foundation then you do. Perception is everything so do what you know you need to, to get better and don't worry about the quackery.

[ebenz47037]

Originally Posted by alwight

Hi rghitch,
Some people might unkindly suggest that having supernatural beliefs are nothing more than a delusion of the mind.
I don't know where you get your medical advice from about your own condition, but being "possessed" or told you "simply don't have enough faith" seems to suggest me that you are currently getting it from the wrong source.

Alwight, I don't know if you noticed or not. But, this post was written in the "Exclusively Christian" forum. Please, do not post in this forum.

[Livelystone]

Originally Posted by ebenz47037

Alwight, I don't know if you noticed or not. But, this post was written in the "Exclusively Christian" forum. Please, do not post in this forum.

Especially for this particular individual who is disrespectful to the rights and beliefs of others.

On the other hand I see where there is another person in this thread who claims to be an agnostic but wrote a post that was respectful of a person's belief while sharing their first-hand experience with the diagnosis.

Personally I am good with the latter post, but the one you quoted flaunts a flagrant lack of respect for all posters in this thread as well as for the rules here.

Blessings

Doug

[alwight]

Originally Posted by ebenz47037

Alwight, I don't know if you noticed or not. But, this post was written in the "Exclusively Christian" forum. Please, do not post in this forum.

Sorry my bad, yes I didn't notice at the time, it didn't seem to have a particularly Christian theme, I hope this post to explain is allowable.

I have been there. They called me a schizophrenic and I was 12 years on welfare. This started some 30 years ago

I recovered by rejecting the notion that my agony was in fact a medical illness. It does not logically follow that suffering is illness.

If I believe I have an illness I am stuck with the proposition that I will have a 60% chance that I will have this this illness for the rest of my life. It is the Law of the Thirds. There a 3 responses to a crisis, and that is what madness- a term i and most anti psychiatrists prefer- is, a crisis. they are resolution of crisis, accomodation to crisis and, worst of all, failing to either accomodate or resolve it. Only the first is what is regarded as "cure"

But it simply is not true that these conditions are illness. I recommend Peter Breggin (Toxic Psychiatry) and THomas Szasz (many books) for their critique of psychiatry itself, but not for their suggested resolution of this crisis (I reject the term "cure" as it implies medical relevance


I reject psychiatry outright and utterly as intrinsically ungodly in its logic and assumptions, as degrading and dehumanizing in its practices, and as quack medicine for daring to treat as illness what is not illness.

And I reject medication as being dangerous, damaging to body and brain (this is well attested to in the antipsychiatric literature) and as being irrelevant for the only function it serves is not to solve anything but to cloak it

What is wrong with the notion that we who suffer like this is not that we have lack of faith , for that is in fact true. What is wrong is that we are condemned for this by other christians, or condemn ourselves for it when self condemnation is a total waste of time; and that we are expected to conjure up this faith by our own efforts.

In long and intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit I was brought to admit the unbelief that drove me mad, and I was led to repent of it for the sin it is.

ALL of this was done in peace without the slightest condemnation from this Spirit.

It worked for me. it is 28 years since my dealings with psychiatrists.

I know this is utterly unorthodox in terms of the world and unacceptable even to most christians.

It is not my intention to offend or condemn, for I have in fact been so crippled by my suffering that I could not get out of bed of a morning.

Let me reiterate, no demons were involved at all, neither possession nor influence.

The only problem was the extremity of my sin and my unbelieving response to it

[Tambora]

Originally Posted by rghitch

What saddens me is very often people w mental illness are told they simply don't have enough faith.

They should get a good swift rap in the mouth for saying that.

Paul prayed for healing and did not get it.
It certainly wasn't for his lack of faith.

[Lighthouse]

Originally Posted by rghitch

I suffer from a mental illness. As a believer, I know I can't be "possessed", but I fully believe satan can use any frailty to render us ineffective or even worse, destructive. To the point of oppression.

There is a stigma attached to mental illness, but it is practically "non-existent" in the Christian community.

My experience has been that my disorder must be treated in all 3 areas; physical, emotional and above all, spiritual. What saddens me is very often people w mental illness are told they simply don't have enough faith.

I'd love your thoughts on this big topic! At least it's big to me....

I'm with Tambora on the whole "not enough faith" rhetoric. It's poppycock.

As for the spiritual side, upon which is all you would deem me qualified to speak, remember that God has given you a sound mind. This is not something to gain in the future, it is yours now.

[godrulz]

Originally Posted by Lighthouse

I'm with Tambora on the whole "not enough faith" rhetoric. It's poppycock.

As for the spiritual side, upon which is all you would deem me qualified to speak, remember that God has given you a sound mind. This is not something to gain in the future, it is yours now.

It should be normative to have a sound mind. Your statement sounds like Word of Faith where they are told that they are already healed despite still being in a wheelchair. Fact is reality, not opposite to it.

The reality is that some Christians are not of sound mind, healed, whole in every way at the moment. It is not helpful to their suffering to not walk along with them and just give them platitudes that do not match reality.

We should pray and believe for wholeness/sound mind, but not say it is there if it is not.