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RE: Mental Health Debate - One Stop Thread - 4/8/2008 2:20:51 PM
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rmiles
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Joined: 3/15/2008
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I can really feel for those of us who have not only the burdens of the present but the present burderns of the past. I've spent years getting angry and frustrated at memories that simply won't let go. Yet, as time goes on the effects of those criticisms and condemnations have slowly become less hurtful. Nowadays my thoughts only go there once or twice a month.
It has been close to 21 years since I first became ill, and about the last ten years I have been taking a med that works for me, and takes away the major symptoms of my illness.
I have found over the years that the pains of the past don't always lose the intensity that they first had but that they can actually build in intensity because I also know how much they have effected me, and how much of my life they have taken away.
The vast majority of my friends are people who also live with illness, and when I talk about this stuff they know exactly what I'm saying. And many of them have a sincere faith in Christ.
Yet, building a Christian Fellowship is "frowned upon" within our Mental Health system, because of a) the stigmatized agenda of Christian ministry, and b) the effects of "spirituality" on delusional, manic, and depressive thinking.
I'm wondering, though, if the arms of the church are not open wide for those suffering from Mental Illness, wouldn't professionals see this as another reason for keeping Christ out of the Psyche Ward?
Luckily, (providentially) attitudes are slowly changing within our health system, but unfortunately more toward an eclectic ideology (i.e. spiritually is something which gives meaning to a person's life) within the psycho-social rehab methodology; which sees the benefits of church socialization, but not the daily activity of Jesus in our lives.
You could almost say that we find ourselves stuck with a leg in two different worlds.
So my question is,
Is it possible to bring Christ into the psycho-social rehab model, and those being treated within that framework, without running into the issues of the "promotion of delusional ideologies"?
< Message edited by rmiles -- 4/8/2008 5:24:09 PM >
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RE: Mental Health Debate - One Stop Thread - 4/9/2008 11:29:46 AM
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Leon_Figg3
Posts: 404
Joined: 4/24/2005
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quote:
ORIGINAL: rmiles
So my question is,
Is it possible to bring Christ into the psycho-social rehab model, and those being treated within that framework, without running into the issues of the "promotion of delusional ideologies"?
This is an interesting question and seems to be a question simialar to the ones I often often find myself asking whenever my wife has a bi-polar episode.
I have come to the conclusion that there is no area of human existence that is more difficult for Christians/ the church to minister to than in the area of mental health. I believe this is so because it not only challenges our beliefs in the spiritual conflict of good v evil/ God v Satan, but it challenges our beliefs in our own role/ position/ repsonsibility/ frailties. It challenges our beliefs in a God that answers prayers, but sometimes does not answer them when we want Him to, or in a way that we want Him to. It challenges the reality of problems brought into this world, and our lives as a result of Adam breaking Man's relationship with God.
I do not mean to put down the work missionaries do, but it seems to me that in some respects ministering to people in other lands with different belief systems and cultures may be easier to minister to than to minister to people with a wide range of mental health issues whether they be mild or severe, not to mention behavour lifestyles once (and sometimes still) believed to be based on mental health issues.
To some extent Christians are involved in mental health, and Christianity is accepted (as you pointed out). My experience has shown me that the problem/ the friction between mental health treatment and Christianity resullt from the disconnect; between reality and an appropriate/ realistic relationship with God/ Jesus in their situation; that many of those trying to minister to people with mental health issues seem to exhibit and preach.
I do not mean to be critical of Charismatics in general. I belong to a church that is a bit charismatic/ Pentecostal, and I am well aware that not only does God work in a person's life in miraculous ways, He is able to miraculously cure people of illnesses that are believed to be incurable. I am also well aware that He has his own reasons for not answering prayers as we humans wish He would, when w wish He would. My issues are with those with an extreme interpretation of the Bible and what it says about "naming and claiming God's promises"-the "name it and claim it" crowd. Unfortuneately these are the kinds of Christians my wife tends to gravitates to, and who seem to be involved in ministries to people with mental health issues.
From my experience it is these Christians (extreme Charisimatics)and their beliefs that, more often than not tend to make matters worse rather than better. It is also these same Christians/Charismatics that are no where to be found when a person with mental health issues relapses and once again ends up in a hospital or nursing home because God has not answered their prayers as, and when they desired Him to.
If I may I would like to ask my own little question.
Where is the Church in ministering to the family members of those dealing with mental health issues?
Too often I have felt the invisible victim of my wife's illness. Too often I have felt myself, and been viewed as the responsible party (Jesus and Satan) in the illness's processes, and recovery.
_____________________________
To whom much is given, much is expected.
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