Mental Illness & Spirituality

  • Thread starter Thread starter BarbaraTherese
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
40.png
BarbaraTherese:
… I unite my sufferings to those of Jesus on the cross "we make up in our own bodies what was lacking in the sufferings of Christ (St. Paul) and a stupendous statement!

I figure it this way - Jesus did not have a mental illness so I am having one united to him on his behalf - a real share in the sufferings of Christ for on the cross he suffered, physically, mentally and spiritually, also emotionally…
Click to expand...
What a beautiful way to look at the cross you carry!

I voted yes. When I read the diary of one saint, she reminded me so much of a deceased friend of mine who suffered from mental illness. Both were such a tremendously beautiful and sensitive souls who sought God. I don’t know if that saint officially had a mental illness, but it made me think that God could make a saint out of any circumstance.
 
My dear, dear aunt suffered most of her adult life with severe paranoia and controlled it with medications (which sometimes brought on additional sufferings.)

Having known and loved this woman, I am fully aware that our brothers and sisters with mental illnesses frequently have a much deeper spiritual life than others. They have carried a cross much heavier than any I carry and there is not always a Simon the Cyrinean willing to bear the burden with them.
 
Hi,

Not only can the mentally ill have a* valid* spiritual life,

they are capable of an enhanced spiritual life.

I’ve written on this topic on a number of threads

because I felt that I owed it to my brothers and sisters

in Christ who suffer mental illness to use the gifts God

God gave me to assist the Chronically Normal [to borrow a

phrase] in gaining insight into the relationship between

psychological illness and spirituality.

My favorite saint, in this regard, is St. Benedict

Joseph Labre.
bowdoin.edu/~hholbroo/

[We’re in the midst of having the kitchen renovated,

so my head’s too tired to give of my best on this

topic this morning]

Those who show compassion and Christ-like

kindness to the mentally ill will, I think, hear

Christ say to them "Come, ye blessed of My

Kingdom…" for you saw Me ill, down, hurting or

confused, and you treated Me with love."

reen12
 
Yo, asteroid!!!:bounce:

I’m schizotypal as well! Try to explain that condition
to others and we’ll still be typing the post next
Christmas !!!

I never thought i’d have a chance to say “schizotypal”
and get an understanding facial expression from
whoever I said this to. While I’ve owned up to
severe depression, dissociation, post-traumatic
stress [and now realize that “scrupulosity” *literally
drove me nuts!!], now I find a fellow poster with
schizotypal. I *love *these forums!

[And, to those who might think that mental illness
has to be totally incapacitating…I have a B.A,
with honors, in Philosophy and received the
departmental award in philosophy the year of
my graduation. I was considered a brilliant
student and have a reallllly high I.Q.:bounce:] And i
did all of this while feeling crazy as a loon!

Some of the dearest hearts I ever met were my
fellow patients in a psychiatric unit, where I was
given medication to help me get “steadied” over
12 days. *

Sometimes people give me a quizzical look.
They can’t understand how someone who is so
articulate and well-read can be childlike at the
same time. If they had suffered mental illness,
maybe they would look less quizzical.

Whad’ya think?:tiphat:

reen

“Blessed are the cracked; they let in the light.”

And, yeah, nobody sent me a card while I was
in the hospital, either.*
 
A very busy and very well liked psychiatrist,that I know, said that for some reason she sees many patients with strong faith in God. It’s almost like it’s a special cross for God’s special children. She has seen in cases how this strong faith in God has sustained her patients, especially those suffering from chronic depression. Medication can only go so far. It also takes prayer.

May God bless all those special children of god.
Deacon Tony
 
40.png
reen12:
Yo, asteroid!!!:bounce:

I’m schizotypal as well! Try to explain that condition
to others and we’ll still be typing the post next
Christmas !!!

I never thought i’d have a chance to say “schizotypal”
and get an understanding facial expression from
whoever I said this to. While I’ve owned up to
severe depression, dissociation, post-traumatic
stress [and now realize that “scrupulosity” *literally
Click to expand...
drove me nuts!!], now I find a fellow poster with
schizotypal. I *love *these forums!

[And, to those who might think that mental illness
has to be totally incapacitating…I have a B.A,
with honors, in Philosophy and received the
departmental award in philosophy the year of
my graduation. I was considered a brilliant
student and have a reallllly high I.Q.:bounce:] And i
did all of this while feeling crazy as a loon!

Some of the dearest hearts I ever met were my
fellow patients in a psychiatric unit, where I was
given medication to help me get “steadied” over
12 days. *

Sometimes people give me a quizzical look.
They can’t understand how someone who is so
articulate and well-read can be childlike at the
same time. If they had suffered mental illness,
maybe they would look less quizzical.

Whad’ya think?:tiphat:

reen

“Blessed are the cracked; they let in the light.”

And, yeah, nobody sent me a card while I was
in the hospital, either.*
 
Dear Deacon Tony,

Thank you from me for your compassionate words.

My life might have been very different without MI,
but I think, ultimately, less “useful.” My Mom is
in a nursing home with advanced Altzheimer’s.
I’ve gotten to know and love those patients who
suffer with dementia, because I don’t see this
chasm yawning between us in a lot of ways.

My father had schizophrenia and spent almost
25 years in settings designed to help people
so challenged. Why, I got along just fine with
Pop and with the other patients.

Thanks for referring to us as “God’s special children”,
for I think maybe we are.
The “guileless”, as someone said above.

reen
 
I don’t know about anyone else but, I appreciate this thread.
The entries are very thought-ful and thought provoking and
non-egotistical.
Everyone is expressing very sensitive interior feelings and ideas thatt are helpful to themselves and others.
It has to be one of the most enlightening, helpful threads in quite a while.
 
40.png
magdaline:
I don’t know about anyone else but, I appreciate this thread.
The entries are very thought-ful and thought provoking and
non-egotistical.
Everyone is expressing very sensitive interior feelings and ideas thatt are helpful to themselves and others.
It has to be one of the most enlightening, helpful threads in quite a while.
Click to expand...
Dear magdaline,

I’m glad you four our bantering useful. Your quote from Fr. Groeschel is right on. I was honestly convinced that I was undergoing a personal passion when they took me away. Imagine how delighted I was in the ambulance to sign a paper they said would get “Saint Joseph” to pay for this ride. I signed it, thinking that Dad must be taking care of everything so it was OK to sign.

I told the highly amused ambulance attendants in the back with me that this is my first ride in an ambulance, and then I pulled on the railing near the ceiling. Little did I or the attendants realize that my cart was not clamped down and I ended up picking myself up, and the whole cart to which I was strapped down came up off the floor with me, and all this while the ambulance was turning a corner! I said, “woo, woo! This is great!” and the ambulance people suddenly looked all concerned there for a second until they got the cart back down on the floor. I told them there were likely to learn something if they paid attention!

Alan

p.s. St. Joseph was the hospital which captured me and held me until they could hire an ambulance to take me to Good Shepherd, their loon facility in east Wichita.

Oh, and you probably don’t even need to ask how delighted I was when I demanded of them where they were taking me and they said to “Good Shepherd.” I thought maybe somebody finally understood!
 
Psycho lab #2:

Here is a post which may show a bit of manic flavor. Last night my wife said I’m acting slightly manic. Whatever. What does she know? I’ve just been up half the night typing and drinking coffee. :coffee: :yawn:

My shrink calls it “pressured speech” when, as far as I can tell, I deliver a dollar’s worth of glop to a five cent request. :twocents:

Usually it pulls in items of personal agenda anyway it can, either explicitly or implicitly. In this case, it is the promotion of contemplative prayer. :sleep: << what I usually end up doing…

Note that compared to lab #1, this post does not feature the polar expressions and self-contradictions. That’s because when I’m manic I’m usually pushing my help on people, rather than using bipolar as a coy ploy to avoid committing to a particular point of view. :bounce:

Sometimes when I’m a bit manic I get into using smilies too!

Alan
 
Psycho lab #3:

Can you find any bipolar content in psycho lab #2? – That is, not the link to the post it discussed, but the text of the labs (and smilies) itself…

Alan
 
Dear AlanfromWitchita,

I dunno. I find that illness itself often makes
adopting a “particular point of view” difficult
for me.

“That’s because when I’m manic I’m usually pushing my help on people, rather than using bipolar as a coy ploy to avoid committing to a particular point of view.” quote, AlanfromWitchita

I have found that the illness impacts me, rather than
me “using” it. Since I have problems with “identity,”
it’s not at all unusual for me to “feel” like a Catholic
on a Monday, a Lutheran by mid-week, and then finish
things out by embracing Judaism by the weekend.

Problems with scrupulosity [which is thought to be
a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder] will drive
me from Catholicism and it’s insistance on confession
and “worthy” communions into the realm of
“faith only”. Then I think of Jesus talking about
“hellfire”, and zooommmm, I consider praying in
a synagogue. On a really stressed day, Buddhism
seems attractive as a method of calming down
my levels of anxiety.

Come to think of it, I feel like my own little
self-contained ecumenical movement.🙂

Just some thoughts on one of your observations.
reen:wave:
 
Really, magdaline?

“ditto for me on your paragraph IV” quote, magdaline

I’m truly sorry that you understand paragraph 4.
The torment that this has caused me since age
12 has to be experienced to understand, and
if you have “been there” my heart goes out to
you.

Over the last 30 years, my husband takes note
of the topics I’m reading. It helps him to understand
where I’m “at” at a particular moment. [what a
dear, understanding heart he has.]

It’s like a Catch22 for me. There’s no room at the
inn for me in Catholicism, because I will not
subject myself to the constant round of confession
followed by sweating fear of “sin” followed by
more confession…to me, it’s a choice of
sacraments or sanity.

You know what my conclusion is after more than
45 years of suffering this sacrament/sanity
conflation?
There is a normative way to go to God. Through
the Church, sacraments.
But my experience [ongoing trauma as a child]
and my MI is *not *“normative.”
When I’m not in my Judaic mindset, I recall Jesus
saying:
“I have not come for the healthy, but for the sick.”
When I’m able to rest very briefly, I rest in that.

Does this make sense to you?

In solidarity,
reen
 
An additional thought:

It occurred to me last night, like a light coming
on in a dark room, that *anxiety *is the existential
reality, and “religion” is the vector… or, vehicle
through which my anxiety expresses itself.
*

The other insight I’ve gained thru participation
in these forums, is that a theme runs thru
my posts:

“where do I fit in?”

which would be an understandable question
for a traumatized child to ask, and ask, and
ask again…throughout a lifetime.

[Does “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
somehow fit in here?] Is this an opportunity to
join that sense of “no place” to His?

Just thinking outloud,

reen*
 
Y’all are making some great points.

I’ve come to think that anxiety is a symptom which indicates weak faith. Doubt does not bother me; I think doubt is a component of faith in that acceptance of doubt means we can live our lives in faith without having to know everything. This was also quite a teaching for me, a math teacher and electrical engineer.

Bluntly, I’ve heard some rather convincing non-Catholics speak about how “faith” is itself rooted in the unknown and not in traditions, etc. Therefore, dogmatic adherence to any specific belief system is actually clinging rather than pure faith.

Of course this begs the question of faith v tradition again, made especially elusive in a person who had left the perceived “nonsense” of the Church once and was actually brought back by protestants and other non-denominational Catholics.

This stuff can be very confusing to somebody who is compelled to figuring all this stuff out. It seems that many people just investigate their faith at the surface level, attacking anyone who dares question what they believe to be their own foundation. It’s back to how children are taught to conform rather than to think and investigate when they are young. They associate wrong answers with pain, so they will avoid a wrong answer even if it means they are just parrots of non-answers.

What I found amazing while manic, is how unconcerned people seem to be with issues that are of tantamount importance. It occurs to me that if people really believe the lessons of life, death, and salvation, they would do little without trying to evangelize at the same time. Like it really helps for people to tell me that I’m too emotional or that I’m taking stuff too seriously, when they are the ones who told me this stuff is serious but themselves behave as if it is a theoretical thought exercise.

Alan
 
Hello, AlanFromWitchita,

An absolutely great point!

“What I found amazing while manic, is how unconcerned people seem to be with issues that are of tantamount importance. It occurs to me that if people really believe the lessons of life, death, and salvation, they would do little without trying to evangelize at the same time. Like it really helps for people to tell me that I’m too emotional or that I’m taking stuff too seriously, when they are the ones who told me this stuff is serious but themselves behave as if it is a theoretical thought exercise.” quote, AlanFromWitchita
Life’s funny, isn’t it? I can zoom around in ontology
and epistimology like a bird in flight. But when it
comes to thinking in mathematical terms, it’s like
hitting a brick wall at 90 miles an hour! I mean,
it’s a closed book to me. I would dearly loved to
have studied physics, but- no calculus, no physics.
So I look on your ability with mathematics as a
real gift. [you know how you study binomial [sp?]
equations in high school? I could never figure
out what application there was for same. I still
don’t know!:o ]
Also:

“Bluntly, I’ve heard some rather convincing non-Catholics speak about how “faith” is itself rooted in the unknown and not in traditions, etc. Therefore, dogmatic adherence to any specific belief system is actually clinging rather than pure faith.”
quote, AlanFromWitchita

It’s your point about “clinging” that’s interesting to me.
Makes me think of: “So I’ll cling to the old rugged
cross…”
It’s like I think: “Good. Let others cling to doctrine and
denominations. They’re healthy. I’m drowning here;
so I’ll cling to the cross and hope for the best.”
“Throw out the lifeline, throw out the lifeline,
Someone is drowning today.” :clapping:
Again, I dunno. It’s my Protestant brothers and
sisters whom seem to get the picture more
clearly on some realities. Check out some of their hymns.
So, I’m humming along today. It’s beautiful here in
the Northeast.

I appreciated your post, AlanFromWitchita,

reen
 
40.png
AlanFromWichita:
Thank you for your critique. I would love to help people believe there is healing.

What say we start a website? One of my domains is wordsfree.org; maybe I could make a subdomain called psycho.wordsfree.org or something?

Alan
Click to expand...
Hi Alan…I think your idea is an excellent one!..how about Spirituality&Mentl.Illness.worsfree.org…or is that too long… I am not conversant with computers…certainly not this domain, subdomain business.
Also incidentally I am making enquiries about setting up my own website…well I think that is what it is called for my writings and thoughts on spirituality…I have been told this can be done for free…any help you can offer in that direction.

But certainly I am all for your idea of setting up something that explains how a person suffering mental illness can have an active and very positive spiritual life. Excellent idea, Allan! Top Marks!

smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/17/17_1_12v.gif

God bless you, Alan…any venue you can find anywhere make a contribution, you have something to say that needs the hearing. Don’t forget letters to the editor, especially to your local Catholic newspaper. I’ve had two published so far and my letter on stigma in mental illness got letter of the month…hence put in a box to highlight it with headlines in big letters and that was what delighted me! It hit they eye!

Regards Barb
Bethany in Sth. Aust
Sun 24.4.05 6.10am

The Day of The Lord…Let us Rejoice and Be Glad
Alleluia Alleluia
 
Hi, Barbara Therese,

I think it would be a grand thing for you to have
your own website. Please let me know if you
get it started, will you?

I’ve thought of the same idea, but don’t think
I’d have the energy.:o *

Every best wish for your success in starting
your site, and, again, please let me know
how it goes?

reen*
 
Interesting question. Interesting discussion.

My better half is suffering from major depression and anxiety as a result of having tapered off of Benzodiazapines. I can’t really judge what effect it’s having on her spiritual life at this point, but I know it’s having a positive effect on mine.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top