The dangers of spiritualizing your psychological problems

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It gets even worse. The preacher will lean into somebody and, if they do not willingly fall backward (“slain in the Spirit”) everybody will be told that this person was “resisting the Holy Spirit.”

ICXC NIKA
 
Lost_Sheep said:
… medicines called Selective Serotonin Re-Uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) are often prescribed to prevent your brain from consuming Serotonin too fast so as to maintain proper levels thereby warding off Depression.

( … Mods: This is for information purposes only!) …
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SSRIs are unsuited to a very large proportion of patients. Mods: This is for information purposes only!
 
Literally just finished my research paper on eating disorders+neuroscience…and I remembered how my dad always see anorexia=stubborn girl influenced by evil when science literally points to physical problems (someone talked about serotonin, for example) :rolleyes:

Funny how a lot of people think mental illnesses are simply pure emotions that can be cured simply through prayer. I always say to treat your mental issues like how you would treat the physical.

Imo a lot of people underestimate psychology/psychiatry because they think it’s just theories and feelings, which basically leads them to think spiritual help is needed to address this. Just a result on lack of awareness imo.

Jesus can help, obviously, but you wouldn’t sit at home praying for your broken leg to heal…you would at least see a doctor.

Both combined is the ideal
 
Rosebud77 said:
Actually the idea of a chemical imbalance was disputed and proved erroneous some years ago …
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Rosebud, it can’t be “proved erroneous”, please don’t make unhelpful allegations about what is other people’s business.
 
Robert_Sock said:
Yes, in some cases like in bereavement or in an eating disorder, a psychologist specializing in a particular area may be beneficial, but I feel that nothing heals most “psychological” disorders better than spiritual and psychiatric intervention.
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To be fair, usually both a psychologist/therapist and a psychiatrist are utilized 🙂 It’s hard to get recovery with just one of them and usually pills are prescribed when the individual reeeally needs it, or at least that’s the case here (you probably know that already though)
 
Vic_Taltrees_UK said:
SSRIs are unsuited to a very large proportion of patients. Mods: This is for information purposes only!
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Again, I was only trying to provide simple explanations to complicated problems which is why I added my disclaimer that I was not offering medical advice and a person should talk to a doctor for more information. 🙂
 
Originally Posted by Robert Sock
“I should also mention that I personally believe that some sort of centering prayer is a prerequisite for all contemplative prayer.”
GEddie said:
I’m not quieting my mind. Death will do that to me against my will.

It also STM that WRT to a mind, quiet and active are opposites.
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Without knowing what WRT is - I lean towards GEddie’s side. I love what’s going on in my “upstairs space”. If I’m sad, it shows I’ve got empathy! My space has got to be good space by definition. If I’m getting silly, I can sort myself out as I go!

I think I was born contemplating (my constitution lends to it). People being so different, I’m sure there are people who have got to make a song and dance about quietening down. I won’t say it doesn’t do me good to just sit still and think (indeed exactly that is a favourite pursuit - with frequent breaks) but I don’t find the method complicated.

Contemplating, for me, doesn’t mean not busy. It means good busy. There is after all something to contemplate - God active in the world.
 
Robert_Sock said:
Yes, in some cases like in bereavement or in an eating disorder, a psychologist specializing in a particular area may be beneficial, but I feel that nothing heals most “psychological” disorders better than spiritual and psychiatric intervention.
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The thing I have most often found helpful was batch of a good books e.g on how to survive the traumas caused by church rows, cult infiltration and the like. Also on specific learning differences (workplace coaching was also a tip top thing for me).

It’s rare that someone that hasn’t been there themselves can help (except some doctors insightful about a medicine appropriate for you).
 
Rosebud77 said:
I was thinking of all this last night after reading the thread on ouija boards,

There is also the danger of misinterpreting physical and mental problems as spiritual/demonic,

As I have related before , I was, aged 27, wrongly diagnosed as being mentally and that abuse went on for three decades until the reality emerged of a major systemic illness, Each dr simply went by what the previous one had said.

As I was always of deep faith, I was well known at church and during those years I lost count to the number of “healing ministries” I was subjected to.and that included issues re ?possession??

A total lack of any real discernment,

And always the blame; that I was not being healed as i did not have enough faith.

These things need care; added to the abuse and rejection I have suffered in just about every branch of the Christian church ? My faith thankfully is in Jesus.

Needs great care and humility on the part of every doctor, priest, healer,exorcist etc.

And above all that each believe and listen intently to what the person is saying.

If you push someone who is either physically or mentally ill beyond their limits as you have mistaken their state, then of course they break.

They told me that I was agoraphobic and that I must “face the things that made me afraid” and I did and broke down often as I was simply very ill…

Now I smile as I enjoy shopping as I have rested and prepared for it. Still very ill but know this disease and the word NO is the right one.

Sometimes I meet someone who is clearly ill, and they are setting their every sight on the visit of a “faith healer” and refusing any other medical advice.
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I wonder sometimes if back in the days when people blamed most every kind of affliction on demons or possession of some kind…if they were right all along, and its society today that is wrong, in diagnosing all these things as something else, something non-spiritual in nature.

Bible tells us its not flesh and blood problems we struggle with, its spiritual wickedness in high places, but to recognize that in the type of society we live in today, would be seen as crazy.
 
mikekle said:
Bible tells us its not flesh and blood problems we struggle with, its spiritual wickedness in high places, but to recognize that in the type of society we live in today, would be seen as crazy.
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👍
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ warned us about what would happen if we do not base our endeavors on Him and His Eternal Truth. It will be “like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fall, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined” (Mathew 7:26-27)
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This applies especially to the science of modern psychology. Since it does not have a solid foundation in an authentic view of man, modern psychology is doomed to be “swept away” to the scrap heap of futility…Modern psychology has made little real progress in helping the mentally ill because it has no true understanding of the immaterial, spiritual dimension of man’s nature.
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Forward by Bishop Bruskewitz to “Introduction to the Science of Mental Health” by Fr.Chad Ripperger P.hD.
 
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