Mental Illness And Christianity

[oladotun]

“Visit a psychiatric ward in a hospital and you will find some of the most religious people you have ever met.â€

Neil. T. Anderson

 

“It wasn’t that I was looking for perfectionism to be a problem. It just seemed to keep cropping up as an issue with almost everyone who came to see me for counseling.â€

Dr. David Stoop

 

On the surface, you would think that the above quotes are by secular or non-religious counselors or psychiatrists, but they are both from Christians, and I got them from Christian books several years ago when I was still mired in Christianity and trying to get it to work for me. With this is mind, I often wonder why Christians (especially fundamentalist ones) do not see the mental damage that Christianity has on them. It was only when I realized that this “religion†that was supposed to be bringing me peace, joy, and hope was not working that I decided to let it go (I say “religion†because fundamentalist Christians will tell you that Christianity is not a “religion, but a relationship based on love†but don’t believe the hype, it is a religion and I sincerely believe that the psychological damage and oppression that it entails is just as damaging as any addictive substance out there).

 

So I ask you, based on your experiences or any studies out there that you may know of, what effect does Christianity have on the mentally ill? I ask this question because as one who has struggled with clinical depression for years, the fact that Christianity only made my situation worse is one of the reasons for my deciding to separate myself from it. I was constantly being told that if I did this, that, or the other, I would be “delivered†but nothing changed, the feelings of helplessness and hopelessness did not go away, and to top it off, I was guilt and fear ridden because of the incessant demands of the faith. I have realized now that Christianity operates by one of the age old doctrines and facts, if I can get you to be scared or fearful of the consequences of Not doing something, I can control you. I dare say that most Christians do what they do not so much because they love “Godâ€, but because they are scared of going to “hell†and the consequences of not obeying this “Godâ€. This is the worst kind of oppression that there is, and more so because it is then sanctioned by some divine being. The guilt and fear that plagued me for years because I could not overcome my mental illness (and addiction) by all the things I tried (prayer, tithing, fasting, deliverance services, countless “Christian seminarsâ€, countless Christian books, Bible study, being slain in the spirit..etc etc) nearly lead to my suicide. Today, I am free from that crap and thankfully so.

[GraphicsGuy]

Damn, sounds like we went through nearly identical circumstances.

 

Christianity damaged me. Added to and compiled my delusional behavior/beliefs. I continuously beat myself down because I believed I was nothing but a worthless piece of shit without Jesus. Made me afraid of living.

 

Once the source of the mental/emotional issues was corrected I realized how much religion had compounded my problems.

[Dave]

I'm greatful that I have not been through what you guys have. Pardon the pun, but it sounds like hell.

 

There is such a thing as a religious addiction. Looking at some christians I've met, that addiction can be as life ruining, as debilitating, as any addiction can be. It is obvious that religious beliefs can exacerbate a mental illness and I do not see any benifit of teaching it to those that are mentally deficient in any way. The saddest thing I've ever seen was a Downs kid fundamentalist. All the poor kid knew was that spouting that stuff got him treats.

[Skiergirl24]

Christianity has harmed me. I don't know if it had much to do with my mental issues though. I have what is called "complicated grief" because of how I was raised - to believe God could and WOULD answer prayer if I asked him long and hard enough. He did not, and has never, answered my prayer or anyone else's. My therapist is spiritual but not religious. She is Jewish but reformed and really Judiasm, for many Jews, is more about culture rather than belief in God. Anyway she constantly tells me "I just cannot get inside your head...the way you think about things is so alien to me because I was raised to believe 'This is it, this is life, what you see if what you get.' "

 

Taken from http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/healthier.html

 

Struggles of faith which include "feeling alienated from or unloved by God" or thinking that the devil was the cause of their diseases "were associated with a 19% to 28% increase in risk of dying during the approximately two year follow up period".

 

Many psychologists have implicated fundamentalist Christianity with the genesis of the psychological disorders of schizophrenia and depression.

 

Behavioral scientist, Dr. Robert Ellis, has concluded that there is a strong relationship between the religiosity normally seen in fundamentalists and emotional and mental illness. According to Ellis, the religious attitude "discourages self-acceptance, self-interest, and self directedness, which are all necessary for sound mental and emotional functioning."

 

In his book Deadly Doctrine: Health, Illness and Christian God-Talk, psychiatrist Dr. Wendell Watters, Professore Emeritus in Psychiatry at McMaster University, Ontario, Canada associated Christian doctrine with the genesis of schizophrenic disorders. He suggested that the Christian doctrine on sex, self-esteem and communication (exarcerbated by "prayer" which tends to make the believer withdraw from outside contact) among others, are major contributors in the development of schizophrenia in children with limited adaptive potential.

[lemon]

Christianity has certainly harmed me. What was supposed to bring me peace, joy, and love has actually brought me pain, misery, and anxiety. I actually feel nervous and tense at the thought of opening my bible or walking into a church. This religion has not met the needs of those who are suffering emotionally.

[Brother Jeff]

If Christianity doesn't directly cause mental illness, it certainly does make existing conditions worse. I have Bipolar Disorder that went undiagnosed until the age of 32, and my involvement in fanatical fundamentalist Christianity most definitely made my suffering MUCH worse than it had to have been. I spent years not knowing what was wrong with me, and several times I prayed for healing and got "Slain in the Spook" and was told that god was doing "spiritual surgery" on me, all to no avail. I was disappointed time and time again. Oh, I felt great while the emotional highs lasted, but then it was back to normal, and still bipolar.

 

This glorious article entitled "Ending Biblical Brainwash" is relevant to this topic:

 

http://archives.betterhumans.com/Columns/C...13/Default.aspx

 

This glorious book, "Serpents in the Manger", is excellent too:

 

http://tinyurl.com/2oun37

 

Glory!

[Jennywocky]

Any sort of religious faith, especially one that has a "performance-based" mindset, can be abusive.

 

The individual is basically told they have no inherent value; that their acceptance and value depends on their conformance to a particular set of rules; and that they have to pay for their deviations in one way or another.

 

I'm not really bothered by Neil Anderson's books. He is definitely a Christian counterpoint to the religiously abusive environments, whether or not you happen to agree with all of his particular theology. There is a wide range of beliefs within Christianity, and it's just odd for me to see Christians who promote such a range of faith to be lumped together ... when I've specifically seen many Christians attack the same sort of things we're complaining about here, trying to purge the abusiveness from the church.

 

I think sticking unbalanced / heavily wounded people into a religious setting without mature oversight to be extremely dangerous, both for them and for the people around them -- because what they do is tailor the religious system to support their own neurosis, rather than allowing anything good about the faith to heal THEM. It's just one more weapon to be used to abuse others and somehow vindicate the damaged/off-balanced self.

 

I dunno. Perhaps I have just been in a variety of church settings, some very very positive and others extremely negative. I can't identify solely with the purely negative outlook, because I know there are healers out there who pour themselves into others in good ways. Religion's not always a sham. But yes, it can easily become dangerous.

 

As far as my own experience?

 

I have suffered from a few different things, including depression and extreme anxiety. The majority of the time, the road to my healing involved some general insights promoted by Christianity. The ideas seemed to reflect truth to me, and indeed were very helpful to changes in how I perceived myself and others (all positive).

 

But some of the doctrinal issues have created issues for me in regards to my self-worth. The "philosophy" of Christianity is affirming and so valuable to me, but the practice and/or interpretation of Christianity by many people I interact with has torn me down in some ways and made it hard for me to heal. (Does that make sense?)

[R. S. Martin]

My family is such a dysfunctional mess that I don't know what is due to religion and what is just plain old dysfunction. But I have seen how religion is used to exacerbate the dysfunction.

 

I noted Skiergirl's reference to the study that came out of McMaster University. That's pretty interesting, given that McMaster was originally started as a religious school, if I have my history straight.

 

EDIT: I found the History of McMaster. It definitely started as a religious school--Baptist, to be accurate:

Historically, McMaster University is the outgrowth of educational work initiated by Baptists in central Canada as early as the 1830's. Named after Senator William McMaster (1811-1887), who bequeathed substantial funds to endow "a Christian school of learning", the University was incorporated under the terms of an act of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1887. The new University, housed in McMaster Hall in Toronto, offered courses in arts and theology. Degree programs began in 1890, with degrees first being conferred in 1894.

 

Hamilton is not all that far from here and McMaster (locally known as Mac) is one of the schools I've been looking at. Though it's better known as a medical university with a hospital (my brother had major brain surgery done at that hospital), it still offers a theology program.