Mental Illness And Christianity

[Variable]

Looking in retrospect and coming from a pentecostal background, I've realized that a lot of the people I used to fellowship with were mentally ill. Since reading up on mental illness I've seen that many of them must have been obsessive compulsive and schitzophrenic. Has anyone else noticed that same thing? Especially if you came from pentecostal/charismatic circles?

[Guest eejay]

Yes! Without question.

[Munk]

There's actually a form of religious OCD called "Scrupulosity". I was diagnosed with regular OCD and depression disorder myself, which I inherited from my mother, who is still desperately clinging to her faith. My family is southern baptist, so I never saw the people who "saw/spoke/heard things", but there is a high degree of people with neurotic disorders and behavior in the branch I came from. Your theory makes perfect sense.

[Piprus]

I would offer...WHOA!!!

 

In all honesty, I would say, wait...don't jump to conclusions. Evaluate, think on it, and judge what you see with prudence. Be cautious as you navigate these things, because you don't want to condemn anyone or a group of anyones prematurely. If you do, you are no better than the Grand Inquisitors summoned by the early Church, to investigate and stamp out "heresies".

 

In other words, go forth, seeking to be wise...I believe that is the best way to go.

[gradstu09]

It is less visible in Catholicism (at least since they stopped making anchoresses), but it is there.

[WCrystal]

You can't really say that they were schizophrenic without asking them whether they really had hallucinations/delusions.

 

They may have had OCD, yeah, but schizophrenia, that's a bit touchy.

 

As for mental illness, being diagnosed with some myself, I'd have to say that with seeing different services myself, I'd have to say that no, not many of them are mentally ill. Some of them may be, but the majority are just a bunch of brainwashed idiots who are too lazy to think for themselves and are afraid to question anything/are living in fear. They have a tendency to want to be accepted by anyone at all costs -- so they participate in bizarre behavior and cruel treatment of others in order to fit in.

 

When it comes to the churches, I've seen, they usually see mental illness, hallucinations, and delusions -- aside from seeing god/s or having an experience with angels or their form of messiah -- as demonic possession or their form of evil playing tricks on the person and try to find some sort of healing ritual to cure the person.

 

 

Or so I've experienced.

[R. S. Martin]

I'm glad to see this thread and to see some good answers here. Piprus and Crystal, I esp. like your answers. I also started a thread on this topic in the Coleseum. In it I posted links to a few articles.

 

I was beginning to wonder whether perhaps I was just getting hung up over words and definitions. But this thread convinces me that it is important that we understand what the words mean. Mental illness is serious stuff. People acting out a creative part of their brain in a Pentecostal service and thinking they are annointed by the spirit are just operating out of a certain very human part of their psyche. It's shamanism, as someone pointed out elsewhere on these forums a while ago. And that is not mental illness; it's a learned behaviour engaged in by the will.

 

Madame M said:

I think the nature of charismatic/pentecostal forms of worship can tend to attract people who are unstable.

 

Good point with the emphasis on certain types of worship. Because the type of Christianity out of which I come condemned that type of worship out of hand. Well, they would have if they had known it existed.

 

Where I come from, worship service was conducted with strict military formality. Even babies--anyone who had passed their first birthday--were expected to sit still and be quiet for the two-hour services. To arrive late, leave early, or get up and leave for a washroom break--these things were tolerated in the less mature and elderly; if you were over the age of 10 and had no kids yourself you really had no excuse to move from your seat except to kneel for the two prayers. And how grateful I was for those two breaks in position.

 

To laugh inside the sanctuary was sacriledge. To move or speak other than in quiet and formal order inside the sanctuary was sacriledge. Acapela singing only with no harmony or instrumental accompaniment. This, my friends, is a legitimate form of Christianity. I think it is the Anabaptist adaptation of the RC service of the late Middle Ages, as it evolved over the centuries.

 

I don't deny that it can drive people crazy. I think any form of religion can do that. But in and of itself religion is not a mental illness.

[Thurisaz]

I think the nature of charismatic/pentecostal forms of worship can tend to attract people who are unstable.

 

From what I've heard about that specific brand of morontheism, I guess your statement is pretty true Madam...

[kozimoto]

Looking in retrospect and coming from a pentecostal background, I've realized that a lot of the people I used to fellowship with were mentally ill.

 

 

Like your mature adult friends telling you that they had to quit their jobs and sell their things and go away to work with some loony preacher they had never met b/c "they heard the audible voice of god tell them" and this was confirmed by a "dream and a prophetic word through a newspaper article".

 

Hearing voices telling you to do absurd things? Seeing secret messages in the media etc? Schitzophrenia, anyone?

 

But mostly the mental illness I have seen, regularly and consistently within churches is depression. People struggling with clinical chemical imbalances in their brains, living under a cloud of anhedonia, and telling you through tears after the altar call or prayer line that they "feel so far from god." Really what they are feeling is a mental illness that is clouding their enjoyment of all of life. And worst of all, these depressed people are often (in my experience anyway) told that they feel this way b/c they are failing in their faith, or in some way not giving their all to god, and that the solution is to pray harder/longer/more fervently.

 

THAT REALLY MAKES ME MAD!!!! Sorry to yell.

[ogilvy]

fear of hell can drive a sensitive person to develop a crippling mental illness. it did that to me at a young age.

[hereticzero]

I have suffered with mental illness, depression, and PTSD since I was in the military over 30 years ago. There is nothing more degrading in life than being mentally ill and a member of a local church. A mentally ill person is not necessarily a crazy person but someone that is have troubles keeping their emotions under control. Going to a church where everyone knows you are mentally ill gives everyone there an opportunity to pray for you and tell you how bad the sins are in your life that keeps you depressed. The more depressed you are, the more sins you have and the harder it will be to truly enjoy God's graces because you are too depressed to recognize his divine intervention in your life. Plus the do-gooders will always interfere in your personal life by helping you by calling Family Services if the good brothers think you are too depressed. Mentally ill people owe it to themselves to stay the hell away from churches. Reality sucks bad enough.

[Deva]

But mostly the mental illness I have seen, regularly and consistently within churches is depression. People struggling with clinical chemical imbalances in their brains, living under a cloud of anhedonia, and telling you through tears after the altar call or prayer line that they "feel so far from god." Really what they are feeling is a mental illness that is clouding their enjoyment of all of life. And worst of all, these depressed people are often (in my experience anyway) told that they feel this way b/c they are failing in their faith, or in some way not giving their all to god, and that the solution is to pray harder/longer/more fervently.

 

That sounds true to me. Its like an endless loop of misery. I think that people who are chronically depressed are also most suseptible to the influence of these evangelists. Its easy to see yourself as a hopeless sinner when you are depressed. Christianity counts on it. I think my mother fell into the trap when she found herself with three young children and a husband who was gone most of the time. A preacher came to visit and she was hooked for life (in other words "saved").

[Guest Freepagan]

People with mental illnesses are more prone to becoming religious. My calvinist cousin claimed to have heard an audible voice from the backseat of her car. She also claims that when she disobeys her god, he takes her voice away.

[Amethyst]

I do not think that it is as simple as labeling one specific type of mental illness onto it. I think what religion does is mask certain types of mental illnesses in people, by saying they had god-given visions or whatever to make it socially acceptable, and labels other types of mental illnesses as evil or demonic possession to make those types of illnesses not socially acceptable. Fundamentalist religion also encourages people not to get treatment, but instead to rely on "strength from god", thus making things worse. I know in my personal life, fear of hell and not being perfect enough caused me to have anxiety and depression issues to this day. The practice of intergenerational brainwashing needs to end, for the sake of the human race.

[WCrystal]

...

Mentally ill people owe it to themselves to stay the hell away from churches. Reality sucks bad enough.

 

 

I can agree with that. I looked at the newspaper this morning, and they have this thing where it says where the local AA and NA meetings are held -- all of them but one were held at churches. I can remember every church type thing I went to having something for everyone with any type of problem except for those with a diagnosed mental illness. Those, they felt, were a satanic mindfuck and for that, you must be prayed over, be prayed for, and you must be praying like hell for yourself. No support groups, nothing.

 

If anyone finds some churchy thing with a mental illness support group, please tell me. I'd like to actually see that.

[R. S. Martin]

I'm not sure what you're looking for but in this area it's not uncommon for counseling agencies to operate out of churches. There's one in an Evangelical Lutheran Church and one in a Mennonite Church of Canada that I know of. I've used them and they're regular mental health counselors. I'm not perfectly sure but I think they also do group therapy. There's also lots of secular places.

[Alan Bragg]

I've noticed that people with a distinct lack of social skills can usually be found in the christian faith. This might just be because nobody else accepts them, but I always thought is a little fake when you saw churches on the telivision with one or two mentally handicaped people in the seats just to bulk out the numbers.

[hereticzero]

I've noticed that people with a distinct lack of social skills can usually be found in the christian faith. This might just be because nobody else accepts them, but I always thought is a little fake when you saw churches on the telivision with one or two mentally handicaped people in the seats just to bulk out the numbers.

I think you are correct. I have a much better self-respect now than when I was in the church. I was so immersed in the christian cult that I had no real social skills outside the church. People dreaded it when I came around because all I spoke of was Jesus. It took years of being away from the church before I could learn social skills and how to live with folks. The best church-goers are the most delusional.

[LtJayson]

I am not sure where I stand totally on this, but I do know that many people feel at home in the pentecostal movement who are mentally ill because of a) the command that they be healed through faith - and the pentecostals teach this more than anyone else and the pentecostal teachings really are more easily swallowed if you are seeking something without a sound and clear mind.

 

I, for one, have a history of severe and suicidal depression if not medicated. There are many members of one church that I pastored that were mentally ill, in fact, I think all had some issue whether it was a large disorder or simple as daily depression. It does give you something to think about!

[Guest GlitterSno]

I do know this.....if you did not have emotional problems going into this denomination, you sure will by the time they are done with you. Anxiety and depression are big ones that I deal with.

[Evelyn]

I really don't know if there are more mentally ill people inside xianity than outside it.

 

I have a brother-in-law who is a somewhat famous missionary in pentecostal/charismatic circles. His mother once said he was "different" growing up. Forget social skills but when he gets behind the pulpit he is quite the preacher. His son was diagnosed as schizophrenic in his late teens. Maybe my brother-in-law had/has an undiagnosed mental illness but was able to find a niche where he could function. The church he founded in Hong Kong has been doing fine for the past 35 years and he travels the world ministering to Chinese who live in other countries.