Has Christianity Caused You A Diagnosed Mental Illness Or Thinking Disorder

[Castiel233]

For me it was OCD, numerous variants:checking, over thinking, very bad thoughts of different stripes......Gee thanks Bible Authors....although you are dead your ability to stretch across the centuries and ruin the lives and minds of the living has been a dreadful and hateful success.

[Sparky]

Yes, big time.

[bolianbob]

Same boat Cast; it defintely exacerbated my own OCD, depression and anxiety. When I first learned about the 'end times' my goodness; that really flared up my anxiety.

[Castiel233]

I hear that my friend

[Voice]

It didn't cause mine, but it aggravated and multiplied it.  Bi-polar mania.

[violetbutterfly]

It didn't cause mine, but it aggravated and multiplied it.

True this. My depression and self hatred was deeply affected, especially after my divorce. It's taken a lot for me to change the idea that I'm worthless, and some days I still believe it.

[Bayard]

As I posted in another thread:

 

I have some OCD tendencies (nothing diagnosed) and the Orthodox Church certainly exacerbated my anxiety levels. Like in the Catholic Church, the Orthodox have to confess before a priest every week in order to receive Communion. Confession must include "bad or blasphemous" thoughts. Well, it was a nightmare because I became constantly paranoid over my thoughts. Of course it's hard to consciously avoid thinking something, so something blasphemous like "I hate God" would inevitably flash through my mind and I'd have to confess it ASAP. Or I'd step on an insect and have to confess that. Etc. I felt miserable all the time. I later learned this is called "scrupulosity"- church was literally making me mentally ill. Now that I've left, I feel free and healthy again, and the symptoms have disappeared.

[FreeThinkerNZ]

Yes.  My depression has its origins in my childhood, where I was affected by xian indoctrination, particularly of a high expectations and judgmental kind.  I am sorting it out now though with the help of a very good psychologist.

[bfuddled]

I don't know that I can say it CAUSED anything, but it definitely made my ADHD/Anxiety worse. My tendency to overthink and over analyze things would leave me in a tailspin a lot of the time over spiritual issues. I used to be deathly afraid of demons/spirits as a child too, which was perpetuated by church teachings that focused on "demonic influences".

[RealityCheck]

It wasn't the cause but it did stop me from getting proper help for almost ten years.

[Bayard]

I don't know that I can say it CAUSED anything, but it definitely made my ADHD/Anxiety worse. My tendency to overthink and over analyze things would leave me in a tailspin a lot of the time over spiritual issues. I used to be deathly afraid of demons/spirits as a child too, which was perpetuated by church teachings that focused on "demonic influences".

Ohh yeah, don't get me started about the fear of demonic possession! THAT is pernicious stuff.

[milesaway]

I can't say it caused any problems I had, but it damn sure made matters worse. It got to the point where I was constantly worrying about what I did wrong, what I said, how I said it, what I thought wrong, how I thought it, etc. Throw in the turmoil I got from the super fucked up congregations I dealt with, particularly the last one, and it's a wonder how I made it out the way I did.