Mental Illness, God

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Norm640

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I’m starting to think that God doesn’t care about the mentally ill, not in the way we would normally think.

God is a spirit, and as much as I hate to admit, it takes Him time to respond to your prayers. Patience is not something the mentally ill have. Much less, we also have to “listen” to that “small still voice” that is God. Guess what? The mentally ill normally have so much going on in their heads they cannot discern anything. It is like trying to hear the vibration of a cell phone buried inside the roar of a jet engine.

So God does what He can, and that’s all He can do. God does work miracles, but not the miracles we read about in the Bible. He isn’t going to strike you down like Paul, He’s not going to announce His presence. He is subtle, and folks like me who suffer aren’t going to find Him.

Faith is hard to have when every minute of every day is a battle.

It is hard to accept being a failure and realizing you’re not going to have what everyone else has. You’re not going to be attractive to anyone, y ou’re not going to be married, you’re not going to have a job, and you’re certainly not going to find anyone who understands you.

Bad-mouthing God won’t work either, I know this. He’s not going to get angry and enter my life. He’s not going to have pity on me. He is God, He is a spirit, and He is limited.

We choose to sin, and we choose to go to Hell. What if you don’t have a choice? What if you are destined to be mentally ill and the thumb is on the scale against you?

Because of my OCD I find myself resenting those who are happy and well-adjusted. I envy those who have loving marriages. I look at pretty girls and know I’ll never have a chance. I see the relationships I messed up. People give up on me and never want me back. No one is in it for the long haul with me.

It is just me, just me. And I just don’t know how to accept it and be comfortable with being and having nothing. I’m 38, and yes, that is young, but if you go through what I through, you’re ready to move on. 20 years I’ve had OCD and the affects of OCD. I just don’t want to be here anymore, because I cannot function in this world- can’t get or keep a job, can’t get or keep a girl, and can’t support my family.

I feel like an alien. I just want it over.

Even when you read about St. Dymphna, you read that the patients she has helped aren’t cured- they are just able to function better.

God doesn’t heal mental illness. He can’t. We’re aberrations of his world. And He is a spirit bound by that fact.

Just my thoughts…just lonely…
 
Praying to St. Dymphna for your health & recovery & for all who suffer with mental illness & their families.
 
Praying for you. I understand. I have had OCD, schizoaffective disorder, PTSD, and major depression for over 30 years. I have been happily married for 6 years. It isn’t easy but I try to offer up my illness and it brings me closer to God.

Have you tried medication, counseling and talking to a priest?

God has no limits and He loves you very much.
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Don’t give up. It can get better. God bless you
.
 
Phase read this thread: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=253909

Fr. Serpa often relates that the mentally ill are tied in.a unique way to Christ’s Passion.

Barbara Therese said, " Mental Illness is particularly close to the sufferings of Christ as it is to suffer mentally and very deeply, as Christ did in Gethsemane, sweating drops of blood, so extreme was his mental anguish, and also on Calvary “My God, why have you forsaken me”. Mental illness is also particularly marked often by another suffering of Christ … ignomy and stigma, rejection, failure. Some who suffer mentally also experience a feeling of abandonment by God and friends, of ignomy and stigma, rejection…"
 
Let’s assume that the mentally ill ARE cradled by GOd, and are closer to him. The mentally ill do not feel it. They do not experience it. They have no reprieve. We can say that they are dear to God, but they get no respite, they get no rest. What possible good does that do us in the short term?

Is this the only way for these souls to get to Heaven? Is to suffer so much? Others have normal, everyday lives, with their good lives, etc. They are good Catholics. They go to Heaven.

Why us? Why do we have to take solace in faith alone? We see no fruits of our prayers. We see no rest. We see no love. We see black. We get angry. We get obsessive. We live to sleep. And when we get tired of sleeping, we look for any escape we can. And the only permanent escape, suicide, we cannot do because we know it hurts God- the very same God we feel is absent from our lives!

It never ends. Jesus suffered mental anguish. How are we supposed to process that? Because he suffered mentally does this mean our suffering doesn’t matter? That we should shut up and be good soldiers because our suffering can’t match His? Ever? Or am I supposed to feel better that Jesus went through something like I have?

If Jesus is Lord, and cares for his flock, why wouldn’t he want to help the mentally ill? But no matter how many novenas I say, no matter how many times I try to do the right thing, no matter how many times I get up every day, put on a smile and try to fight…I feel like I’m alone, on my own.

Maybe I’ll regret those words. Maybe I don’t see how much God helps me. I don’t know. But I don’t see how anyone having a mental illness helps that person. I don’t want to be an example of suffering. I don’t want to be a 70 year old learning lesson. I want a normal life, with normal things. I want a car, a house, a job, a loving wife. I want to be happy.

I don’t want to find a silver lining and pretend it is enough.
 
I have dealt with mental illness for over 30 years. God does not abandon the mentally ill. He is always with you. I’ve had OCDs, severe depression and severe anxiety. I’ve been hospitalized twice, and almost a third time.
  1. Find a support group in your area. Just google “support group” mental health or depression or anxiety for your state. I went to two different support groups. There, I was able to talk to other people who understood exactly what I was going through. And we were totally honest with each other.
  2. Depending on your income, find a good mental health clinic that will allow you to pay at a lower rate if you have no insurance. Get a good psychiatrist and a good therapist. Believe me, I’ve been going for years and they get it. You may be put on different medications but only if they suggest you need them.
  3. Pray. I’ve been there, for a long time. I know how easy it is to tend to think negatively. Ask for help.
I pray every day, I take it one day at a time. My last girlfriend totally understood my issues and was supportive. It can happen.

God be with you,
Ed
 
Norm640 said:
I’m starting to think that God doesn’t care about the mentally ill, not in the way we would normally think.

God is a spirit, and as much as I hate to admit, it takes Him time to respond to your prayers. Patience is not something the mentally ill have. Much less, we also have to “listen” to that “small still voice” that is God. Guess what? The mentally ill normally have so much going on in their heads they cannot discern anything. It is like trying to hear the vibration of a cell phone buried inside the roar of a jet engine.

So God does what He can, and that’s all He can do. God does work miracles, but not the miracles we read about in the Bible. He isn’t going to strike you down like Paul, He’s not going to announce His presence. He is subtle, and folks like me who suffer aren’t going to find Him.

Faith is hard to have when every minute of every day is a battle.

It is hard to accept being a failure and realizing you’re not going to have what everyone else has. You’re not going to be attractive to anyone, y ou’re not going to be married, you’re not going to have a job, and you’re certainly not going to find anyone who understands you.

Bad-mouthing God won’t work either, I know this. He’s not going to get angry and enter my life. He’s not going to have pity on me. He is God, He is a spirit, and He is limited.

We choose to sin, and we choose to go to Hell. What if you don’t have a choice? What if you are destined to be mentally ill and the thumb is on the scale against you?

Because of my OCD I find myself resenting those who are happy and well-adjusted. I envy those who have loving marriages. I look at pretty girls and know I’ll never have a chance. I see the relationships I messed up. People give up on me and never want me back. No one is in it for the long haul with me.

It is just me, just me. And I just don’t know how to accept it and be comfortable with being and having nothing. I’m 38, and yes, that is young, but if you go through what I through, you’re ready to move on. 20 years I’ve had OCD and the affects of OCD. I just don’t want to be here anymore, because I cannot function in this world- can’t get or keep a job, can’t get or keep a girl, and can’t support my family.

I feel like an alien. I just want it over.

Even when you read about St. Dymphna, you read that the patients she has helped aren’t cured- they are just able to function better.

God doesn’t heal mental illness. He can’t. We’re aberrations of his world. And He is a spirit bound by that fact.

Just my thoughts…just lonely…
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Well, there is nothing wrong with your mind, your writing is gramatically correcrt and intellitent. That alone should give you hope for a meaningful life and even a happy and continted life. You just have to learn to accept yourself as you are and look forward to improvement " around the edges. "

Many of us are lonely at times, even those of us who think of ourselves as normal.

I know a gentleman, 34 years old, who is kind of in your situation. He is extremely intelligent and is just now getting his BA. He works weekends at a local Church managing their outreach to the homeless. He goes to Mass each day and is very active in the Cursillo movement, which I would highly recommend to you. He has never had a steady job, he couldn’t get along with people at all and he has a felony record. He has never been married and still lives with his mother. And he is over weight. But he is not giving up. He had a spiritual experience about four years ago and he is a new man, positive, and self confident, and reasonably happy.

The point is you should not give up. But you do have to get your spiritual house in order, volunteer to help out wherever you can, as much as you can.

Make a list of all your good points and all the things you are good at, what things you like to do. Concentrate on these. And don’t worry about how successful and happy you think other people are. Just be content with who you are. And don’t give up.

Linus2nd
 
I have Major Depression, OCD, Anxiety disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder. And I’m 51. I know it’s hard, some days especially. But there are days when I feel like I can cope really well. It’s not just me, it’s me and God. If there wasn’t a caring God, I would have been dead for years. I attempted suicide three separate times in my life. God still has a use for me, otherwise I wouldn’t still be here. Don’t give up on life, or on God. He has use for each and every one of us. It just might not show up in your life right now.

I pray to St. Dymphna for your mental well being, as I often pray to her for mine. 👍
 
I don’t want to be used by God. And I’ve tried suicide twice. I’m fairly sure I suffer from major depression too.

I want to go back in time before I had all these troubles and start over. I could have done so much. I could have a more comfortable life, a woman that loves me. But here I am, living in my childhood home, no job, no girl, nothing. And for a guy this is humiliating.

Thanks.
Christy_Beth said:
I have Major Depression, OCD, Anxiety disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder. And I’m 51. I know it’s hard, some days especially. But there are days when I feel like I can cope really well. It’s not just me, it’s me and God. If there wasn’t a caring God, I would have been dead for years. I attempted suicide three separate times in my life. God still has a use for me, otherwise I wouldn’t still be here. Don’t give up on life, or on God. He has use for each and every one of us. It just might not show up in your life right now.

I pray to St. Dymphna for your mental well being, as I often pray to her for mine. 👍
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I’m sorry for what you’re going through and will pray for you.

All suffering matters and can be offered for the conversion of sinners. If ever I am in pain, I offer it for the conversion of sinners and it lessens the pain.
 
Saint Michael, the archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil, may God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do you, O’ Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God thrust into Hell Satan and all the other evil spirits who prowl about the world for the ruin of souls.

Amen.

†

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

†

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

†
 
You need to allow the Holy Spirit to “take control” of your mind in order to ward off spiritual attacks and/or despondency and depression due to negativity, here’s a prayer I think will help you (part of it):
I recognize that this is Your will for me and I therefore reject and resist all the endeavors of satan and his wicked spirits to rob me of the will of god. I refuse in this day to believe my feelings and I hold up the Shield of Faith against all the accusations and distortion and insinuations that satan would put into my mind. I claim the fullness of the will of God for my life today. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I completely surrender myself to You, Heavenly Father, as a living sacrifice. I choose not to be conformed to this world. I choose to be transformed by the renewing of my mind, and I pray that You would show me Your will and enable me to walk in all the fullness of Your will today.
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I am thankful, Heavenly Father, that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, to the casting down of imagination and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge God, and to bring every thought into obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, in my own life today I tear down the strongholds of satan and smash the plans of satan that have been formed against me. I tear down the strongholds of satan against my mind, and I surrender my mind to You, blessed Holy Spirit.
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I affirm, Heavenly Father, that You have not given me the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind. I break and smash the strongholds of satan formed against my emotions today and I give my emotions to you. I smash the strongholds of satan formed against my will today, I give my will to You and choose to make the right decisions of faith. I smash the strongholds of satan formed against my body today, I give my body to You recognizing that I am your temple. I rejoice in Your mercy and goodness.

Heavenly Father, I pray that now and through this day You would strengthen and enlighten me. Show me the way satan is hindering and tempting and lying and distorting the truth in my life. Enable me to be the kind of person that would please You. Enable me to be aggressive in prayer and faith. Enable me to be aggressive mentally, to think about and practice Your Word, and to give You Your rightful place in my life. Again, I cover myself with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and pray that You, blessed Holy Spirit, would bring all the work of the crucifixion, all the work of the resurrection, all the work of the glorification, and all the work of Pentecost into my life today.
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I surrender myself to You. I refuse to be discouraged. You are the God of all hope. You have proven Your power by resurrecting Jesus Christ from the dead, and I claim in every way this victory over all the satanic forces in my life. I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ with thanksgiving and praise to You, alone. Amen.
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alighthouse.com/powerfulprayer.htm
 
Oh Great God, please come to the aid of this person and grant them some relief from their pain. Help them to know that in our “dark night”, You are the closest to us. Please grant them the grace to persevere through these trials and to reach out for earthly help.
 
Praying that the Lord may mercifully strengthen you and grant you all necessary graces.

O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!
 
Norm, I understand too well the torments of mental illness. It isn’t easy. It is like a dark cloud stands between you and God’s love, making it harder to feel His love. His love is
always there.

It is in times like that when we need God more than ever. Run into His loving arms. Accept his Divine Mercy and love. Forgive God, yourself and others. Know that He is your loving Father and he wants a close relationship with you.

If we can think more positively about God, others and ourself, we will feel better. Science has proven that. Christian psychiatrists and Cognitive therapists have stated it.

Read the Gospels. Read Story of a Soul by Saint Therese. Read the diary of St. Faustina.

Don’t give up. Don’t let the devil tempt you to discouragement. Try to reframe your thinking into a more positive one. Talk to a priest.

You will remain in my prayers and Mass intentions for life.

God bless you.
 
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