Mental Illness & Spirituality

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Wow, what beautiful thread. I have often thought about writing a book, more a collection of stories, about the genius of the “mentally ill”. I saw a website mentioned above, but have any of thought of taking the threads like this and compiling them into a book as a dialouge where the people behind the screen names are real yet are protected while sharing their story.

And not only can individuals with mental illness live a full spiritual life, they must. 🙂 And your lives teach those who do not suffer or not to the extent alternative paths of suffering. I ask that you please continue to witness on these boards and pray for us. :yup:

I will share one smal story however. In the previous diocese I lived, before one Mass, a young girl with “mental illness” had just received her First Communion. The child proceded in her white gown to show everyone in the Church of a Polaroid picture just taken (the old cameras where the picture film was inside and developed in about a minute). The joy in the child’s face was amazing and I have never seen the match. When I see individuals like that, seperated at times from their brother and sisters, I look into their eyes (I believe that eyes are the gateway to the soul) and say a prayer asking to be taught by God’s Grace what they know or understand that I cannot not.:blessyou:

I am saddened when I see individuals turn your back on you and never try to get to know you becuase you are different in your crosses. So my dear brothers and sisters in Faith, thank you for your witness, and pardon myself and the "normal mentally"in their lapses in Justice and Mercy. Pray for us that we may understand and extend open hands to you. Thanks and God Bless.
 
I did have another question I thought of as I was getting ready for some shut-eye. Please pardon if you find the question rude, but for the people on this baord that suffer from various “mental illness”, does it bother you when people say that about you??? I want your honest thoughts as I have found this to be a delicate matter. Thanks and God Bless.

P.S. I have the “mental illness” in parenthesis always because I have trouble with the broad generalizations it often encompasses as I have found diagnosed individuals more sane and together than those parading around normal and giving the cold shoulder to those who suffer. I am not sure this makes any sense. Off for some shut-eye, and I look forward to any reponses there may be. Thanks and God Bless.
 
Hi, slinky1882,

“Please pardon if you find the question rude, but for the people on this baord that suffer from various “mental illness”, does it bother you when people say that about you???” quote, slinky1882

It depends on who’s using the term! 🙂 at least for me.
I can’t speak for others.

To me, the term “mental illness” is a misnomer.
The heavy-duty illnesses are neurobiological or
possibly generated by impacted brain structure.
The term 'neurobiological disorder" would certainly
be a less “loaded” term.

No, science is* not* sure of what causes the above,
but it is a medical issue in terms of the brain,
as diabetes is a medical issue in terms of the pancreas
or of insulin resistance.

Here comes the tricky part. Depending on an
individual’s life experience, anxiety, depression,
‘dissociation’ can all become features of that
individual’s daily experience. These are thought
to be ‘psychologically’ driven phenomena.
[Although many cases of ‘depression’ are thought
to be caused by imbalances of neurotransmitters
in the brain. At least, that’s the current theory.]

When a person like me comes along, who has
both realities in her life, things get realllly
complicated.:o

My thought is that science is only on the outer
edges of understaning the etiologies of
neurobiological illness. Or, how life experience,
plus ‘hard-wiring’ in a given individual, can
exacerbate what another person may have
taken in stride, if you will. As I like to call it:
The Principle of the Double Whammy :rolleyes:

So, to respond to your question:

When ‘mental illness’ is simply used in 2005 to
categorize a medical condition, I have no problem
with the term.
When it is used as a ‘descriptive’ term, by a
person who is sympathetic to those afflicted,
I have no problem with it.
However, if it is employed in a dismissive,
demeaning way by those with a personal agenda
*,
I have a *major *problem with that.]
For me, slinky, there is an upside to all of this.
I am considered a very funny individual. I can
manage to get most people, even those suffering,
to laugh -and so, to relax.
You know what this ability is based on?
A keen perception of the absurd. And to live
life with MI, for me, anyway, is to be geared
to life’s absurdities.🙂
I look around at people’s attitudes and actions,
and say to myself: “And *I’m *the one who was
hospitalized???”:confused: heh, heh

Hope you have a fine day, slinky1882,
Maureen*
 
contd.

“When I see individuals like that, seperated at times from their brother and sisters, I look into their eyes (I believe that eyes are the gateway to the soul) and say a prayer asking to be taught by God’s Grace what they know or understand that I cannot not.”
quote, slinky1882

Yup, you’ve got it slinky. Did you see the “eyes” of
Benedict XVI as he stood on the balconey right
after his election? I was startled. I thought I was looking
into a mirror. Child-like eyes, I think.

reen
 
Hello, thread participants,

It occured to me that it might be helpful to have
an understanding of the term “dissociation.”
The following are 3 paragraphs that I posted to
a much earlier thread in a different forum:
"Are you familiar at all with the term “dissociation”?
This is created within a
human being when they are so traumatized as
a child, that that “part” of them “checks out”
and never matures with the rest of the self.

If you read some of the other threads that I’ve
posted to, the perceptive person would detect
that it’s like two different people are present,
sometimes consecutively.

I hope that I have demonstated that a person
undergoing this experience can be highly
rational…]." quote, reen12
reen12

“God’s Freelance:)”
 
reen12 said:
contd.

“When I see individuals like that, seperated at times from their brother and sisters, I look into their eyes (I believe that eyes are the gateway to the soul) and say a prayer asking to be taught by God’s Grace what they know or understand that I cannot not.”
quote, slinky1882

Yup, you’ve got it slinky. Did you see the “eyes” of
Benedict XVI as he stood on the balconey right
after his election? I was startled. I thought I was looking
into a mirror. Child-like eyes, I think.

reen
Click to expand...

Hey reen,
Yes, I saw the eyes of Pope Benedict XVI. I could see a grandfather figure, holy, humble and brilliant. Not only “child like” but "father like"simultaneously. :amen: Out of curiousity, do you picture the eyes as the “window to the soul”??? Thanks for your responses and God Bless.
 
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BarbaraTherese:
Hello to our cyberspace community out there:tiphat: :

I’m wondering what are the opinions re those who may suffer a major mental illness ie psychotic type illnesses. Do you think that sufferers of mental illness can continue to function as spiritual beings with spirituality intact? Do you think that a mentally ill person can still have a positive and quite healthy, active and functioning, quite valid, spiritual life as with the so called ‘normal’ and the chronically sane…

Thank you for your contribution if you vote and post to this Poll and the first time I have attempted to do a Poll, so if I err, please bear with me…

Barb;) …👍…Bethany…South Australia
Sunday, 17th. April, 2005 …2412hrs
Click to expand...
Barbara, thank you for starting this thread!! We crazy people need to get out of the closet. (I joke about being crazy because I was diagnosed with manic depression and I’m not sure if that diagnosis is correct but I fight depression.)

When I had my manic episode in 2002, I was obsessed with being a good Christian and praying, among other things. The downside was that I stopped doing my homework (during senior year of high school) and I was delusional (thought I was ‘enlightened’ and 'psychic). It took me a long time to heal from that school year and in some ways, I’m still healing. I recommend cukierski.net/ and that family’s free spiritual guidance series. I’m on meds too, by request…pregnancy and marriage are wonderful but I don’t want to brave it without meds.

How do you guys deal with anger? I’m learning to deal with it by praying for the people I’m angry at.

I love uniting my sufferings with Christ! I haven’t tried doing that with depression yet, though I’ve done it with this cold that doesn’t seem to want to go away.

my Mother my Confidence,
Corinne
 
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slinky1882:
Hey reen,
Yes, I saw the eyes of Pope Benedict XVI. I could see a grandfather figure, holy, humble and brilliant. Not only “child like” but "father like"simultaneously. :amen: Out of curiousity, do you picture the eyes as the “window to the soul”??? Thanks for your responses and God Bless.
Click to expand...
You probably weren’t asking me that question at the end of your post, but I see eyes as windows to the soul (no pun intended). Eyes help me see when people are angry, sad, happy, and more.

my Mother my Confidence,
Corinne

dashjr.is-a-geek.org/truth
 
Hi, slinky1882,

“Out of curiousity, do you picture the eyes as the “window to the soul”??? Thanks for your responses and God Bless.”
quote, slinky1882

Absolutely!!

There are two exceptions that I can think of,
for what they’re worth:

One is a person who learned, early in life,
that facial expressions were not responded to.
Therefore, their facial expression doesn’t give
a clue, and even their eyes sometimes can’t
be “read” if you will.

The second group is way too complicated to
explain briefly.

But as a generality, to me, eyes are the
windows of the soul.

Hope you had a very good day, slinky1882.

Maureen
 
Hi, coralewisjr,

“How do you guys deal with anger? I’m learning to deal with it by praying for the people I’m angry at.” quote, coralewisjr

Now *there’s *one of life’s tough questions.:o

If you’ve figured out who you are angry with, that’s
a big step in the right direction! Then you can,
as you say, pray for that person.

It took me 50 years to figure out step one.
I had to sandwitch in a 2nd step before I got
to the ‘praying for them’ part.
I had to come to an understanding of what
anger is.

To me, anger is an emotional response to having
been ‘injured.’ [or to having the ‘perception’ of
having been injured.]
Frustration is a kind of injury, I think, because
a ‘goal’ I’ve set is thwarted in some fashion…
either by a person or a set of circumstances
beyond my control. Does that make sense?:confused:

Once I know how I’ve been injured or frustrated,
then I can forgive the injury by praying for the
person, or simply learning how to tolerate
frustration.

The hardest part of all is when we’re injured in
some way and no one is responsible for same.
*

That circumstance constitutes a “loss” and has
to be acknowledged and grieved as any other
loss. A part of that grieving may include anger…
but anger at whom?

As for uniting suffering with Jesus in terms of
depression, I just picture myself sitting, leaning
against the cross. Jesus says nothing, I say
nothing, but I know that He knows.

All of life’s best to you, coralewisjr, and may
God’s peace be with you, as you learn to
negotiate life, even with depression!

reen12*
 
Why do you think of mental illness as being only one kind, psychotic? There are all kinds of mental illnesses and they don’t all involve delusions, hallucinations, etc.

I can think of at least a few metal illnesses that don’t involve being out of touch with reality: depression (really more a clinical illness), a whole array of neruoses, obessiveness, eating disorders, etc.
 
Hi, Sweet Pea,

I think you’re right. I’ve never had an hallucination
in my life, even though I’m ill.
Good point, and I, for one, am glad that you made it.

Best,
reen12
 
contd.
**
Sweet Pea,

I just looked at post #1. It does specifiy
a ‘major mental illness.’
However, I think that you’re point is a
valuable one.

Best,
reen12
 
Why not? Like many of those responding to this question I also have mental impairements. I have ADHD, dyslexia, anxiety and depression. I have had these things all my life but only discovered them in my late 40’s. Before I learned I had these deficiencies I sufferred a lot of disappointments as you might imagine. I got angry about things that were going wrong and was terribly frustrated because I could not figure out why. After I found out, I went through a period of anger. Then I accepted it all as a cross I must bear and offerred it all up for conversions.

The underlying question here is can we trust our spiritual experiences given our mental challenges. My answer is yes we can. We have to question any mistical experiences we may have, but with prayer and faith, we are able to discern the real from the hoped for. This is really no different for people who don’t have mental problems. Everyone sees what they want to see. People like me just look at the mistical with a more discerning eye. And, mystical experiences or not, we are priviledged to bear a particularly diffilcult cross. If we can handle it, it is a mighty powerful prayer.

For those who don’t think Jesus suffered mental stress, remember the garden of Gesthemeny(sp?). He sweated blood. He was in a state of anxiety at that moment.
 
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coralewisjr:
You probably weren’t asking me that question at the end of your post, but I see eyes as windows to the soul (no pun intended). Eyes help me see when people are angry, sad, happy, and more.

my Mother my Confidence,
Corinne

dashjr.is-a-geek.org/truth
Click to expand...
Thank you for your reponse coralewisjr:) . The question was open ended but addressed to reen12 as related to Pope Benedict XVI. I have variable hearing loss (meaning depending on the time stress, other factors, my hearing ability increases and decreases.) so I am forced to use my eyes more than a person with normal hearing does. With practice and real attempts to understand the person, I pick up on body language better. As a mart of fact when I picked up a book on ASL (American Sign Langauge), deaf people often see indivudlas with normal hearing “hearing impaired” as in the sense that one can *over *rely on the sense of hearing and miss the body language. Thanks again for your response and God Bless.
 
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reen12:
Hi, slinky1882,

“Out of curiousity, do you picture the eyes as the “window to the soul”??? Thanks for your responses and God Bless.”
quote, slinky1882

Absolutely!!

There are two exceptions that I can think of,
for what they’re worth:

One is a person who learned, early in life,
that facial expressions were not responded to.
Therefore, their facial expression doesn’t give
a clue, and even their eyes sometimes can’t
be “read” if you will.

The second group is way too complicated to
explain briefly.

But as a generality, to me, eyes are the
windows of the soul.

Hope you had a very good day, slinky1882.

Maureen
Click to expand...
Maureen,
Hope you had a good day. On the first group coming from one who used and still uses at times a face of stone (from childhood experiences, I internalize things and don’t let much show), at the least the barrier can be seen.

And on the second group you mentioned, could you give it a stab??? Thanks and God Bless.
 
Hi, slinky1882,

“And on the second group you mentioned, could you give it a stab???” quote, slinky1882

OK. There are some individuals who seem to have
no conscience. Thank God I’ve never met such an
individual, to my knowledge. But I’ve noticed that
when some awful deed is committed and a
photo of the individual is shown on TV, I often
note to myself, “From that person’s eyes, I
would never have guessed him/her to be capable
of such an act.”

And, yes, as to your point about the “barrier” being
able to be seen, I think that’s true in a lot of
instances.

And a big “yes” on reading body language.
Between reading such language, noticing
a person’s eyes, and being super-sensitive to
the timbre and volume of people’s voices…
I find two hours socializing my “max.”🙂
Maureen
 
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SweetPea:
Why do you think of mental illness as being only one kind, psychotic? There are all kinds of mental illnesses and they don’t all involve delusions, hallucinations, etc.

I can think of at least a few metal illnesses that don’t involve being out of touch with reality: depression (really more a clinical illness), a whole array of neruoses, obessiveness, eating disorders, etc.
Click to expand...
I disagree about depression. I’ve been in despair before and if that’s not out of touch with reality, I don’t know what is. I had to take a week of from college. Sure, despair (I went through that while experiencing suicidal temptations) isn’t the same as delusions or hallucinations…but it’s still really bad.

my Mother my Confidence,
Corinne
 
Hi, coralewisjr,

"Sure, despair (I went through that while experiencing suicidal temptations) isn’t the same as delusions or hallucinations…but it’s still really bad."quote, coralewisjr

Really bad. It reminds me of
people who have been in the trenches, cold,
soaking wet, dazed, possibly having pneumonia,
with noise and dark and mud…trying to ‘explain’
that experience to those who have not been there.

Oh, well.

reen12
 
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coralewisjr:
I disagree about depression. I’ve been in despair before and if that’s not out of touch with reality, I don’t know what is. I had to take a week of from college. Sure, despair (I went through that while experiencing suicidal temptations) isn’t the same as delusions or hallucinations…but it’s still really bad.

my Mother my Confidence,
Corinne
Click to expand...
You won’t get an argument from me on that…I struggled with depression for a long time till my doctor persuaded me to see a therapist who treated me with both medication and talk therapy. She’s also a devout Christian and we explored that aspect of my situation also; she’s a wonderful therapist and I still “check in” with her from time to time.
 
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